Remember when TracFone horrified the world with its Straight Talk phone selection back in July? Clearly the suits in Bentonville weren't so scared, as now Walmart is latching on to that very plan and claiming it as its own. In over 3,200 of the outfit's retail stores across America, consumers will be able to snag an admittedly pathetic cellie and a rather decent calling plan for just $30 a month. Three Hamiltons gets you 1,000 voice minutes, 1,000 texts and 30MB of mobile web access, not to mention nationwide coverage and free 411 calls. If that's not quite enough, a $45 per month option provides unlimited everything (voice / SMS / mobile web). Of course, the price of using an antediluvian LG 220, LG Slider 290 or Samsung 451 can't be measured in mere dollars, but hey, humiliation's only temporary -- right?

If you've paid any attention whatsoever to the goings-on in the American cellphone market, you'd know that ponying up the dough to start an MVNO here is probably not your best shot at striking it rich. One after another has fallen flat, even ones that had millions (and millions) in marketing dollars behind 'em. That said, Japan's own NTT DoCoMo is mulling the possibility of fully entering the US cell market next year, offering up smartphones and "other high-performance handsets with its i-mode mobile internet service." We're told that the operator may start as an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator), leasing capacity from T-Mobile USA or AT&T until it decides on its next move. Call us crazy, but we're guessing it just might have a shot here on US soil if it snags the iPhone, enables all those 3G services that have been running for years on other platforms and only charges one (as opposed to three or four) human limbs for a monthly plan.

[Thanks, shinbunboi]

They've taken their time, but Qwest is finally winding down its Sprint-based MVNO offering and kicking subscribers off the last shreds of its network over the next couple months. To be exact, every last customer will have be off the airwaves by October 31 -- and to really drive the point home, outgoing calls will be rerouted to customer service for friendly reminders starting next month (don't worry, you're allowed to complete your call after the reminder's over). The good news is that Qwest is waiving ETFs for folks porting away -- they frickin' better be -- and the company has hooked up with Verizon as an affiliate, so you can still work with 'em to manage your wireless life if you're so inclined.

Remember Virgin Mobile? Sure you do -- not long ago the last-man-standing MVNO snapped up Helio, and seemed ready to take its place as one of the few boutique prepaid operations still... er, operating. Well that appears to be all but done and done, as Sprint has just announced a "definitive agreement" to purchase the company for $483 million worth of sweet, succulent stock (which looks to be right about what it was valued at to begin with). It looks like Sprint will pair the acquisition with its Boost Mobile brand, which till now was in direct competition with VM. It's not quite rival city, however, Virgin Mobile USA was launched as a joint venture with Sprint, and the MVNO glides on Dan Hesse's network as it is. Still, it does seem to be another indicator that the days of the MVNO are certainly on the wane, though Sprint now looks to own the space -- what little there is.

Blyk's efforts to bring its ads-for-minutes business model to new carriers seemingly continue, but one market where we really wouldn't have expected it to concentrate its initial push is the UK. The company's British MVNO is, after all, its first live network anywhere in the world -- and seeing how they already have that infrastructure in place, the payoff for signing a carrier deal seems lower. That said, there are some synergies here: the MVNO already runs on Orange's airwaves, and rumor has it that the deal -- which has apparently been in the negotiation phase for months now -- would include a transfer of Blyk's sales team. Interestingly, the current buzz has new subscribers being offered £15 worth of credit (about $24) in exchange for receiving ads, a shift from Blyk's original strategy of trading a fixed number of voice minutes and texts. That would give Orange more flexibility to adjust voice and text charges without shifting the value of its Blyk-based customers' deals, and considering that Blyk was apparently unable to garner enough advertiser interest in its original plan, it'll be interesting to see whether the tweak ends up working out in Orange's favor.

[Via mocoNews]

They say "there's no such thing as a free lunch." They also say "there's no such thing as an unlimited contract-free $45 monthly unlimited plan that offers awesome phones," so we're not terribly surprised to see that TracFone's new blowout offering -- dubbed Straight Talk -- is rife with ancient Motorolas (with a RAZR V3a thrown in for good measure, of course) and an LG flip that we're pretty sure we saw McClane use in the first Die Hard. Then again, the plan becomes the one of the cheapest for unlimited voice and text anywhere -- and if you're less heavy on the minutes you can even step down to 1,000 minutes and 1,000 texts for $30 -- so we'll let it slide. But seriously, TracFone, we expect a V9 by 2012.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Upstart Zer01 has been touting its so-called "Veritable Mobile Convergence" technology since early in the year, promising to attach to all sorts of carriers with which it has agreements around the world to bring unlimited data and calling to the masses, and now they've launched -- sort of. It turns out that the company is actually looking for partners that'll resell the service, which focuses on data and uses VoIP to deliver on its promises; what that means to anyone navigating to the site right now to sign up for a new line is that... well, you can't. You'll need to buy service through a distributor, and since Zer01 doesn't have a distributor network yet, that's a little hard to do -- so for all practical purposes, the wait for cheap wireless data nirvana continues.

Were it not for Helio, Virgin wouldn't be a carrier that we'd associate with anything other than the most basic handsets -- and data cards certainly don't seem like they'd be on any company exec's mind. Thing is, direct competitor Cricket recently got into this game with a $40 unlimited contract-free data plan, so it's a segment that's getting more difficult to ignore -- even in the most heavily value-weighted side of the business. We've nabbed a screen shot out of Best Buy's inventory system that shows a "Broadband 2GO" device (at least, we think that's what it says) scheduled to hit shelves on June 14 for $149.99 -- not the cheapest modem in the world, but again, there's no contract involved here. Data is data, so if the reception's good and the speeds are decent, why not?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Relabeling its first (and only) live network as a "proof of concept," Blyk CEO Antti Öhrling has told mocoNews that the fledgling MVNO -- which trades a handful of voice minutes and text messages per month for a subscriber's agreement to put up with on-device advertising -- has stopped efforts to expand to other countries. It seems the new game plan involves sacking up with other carriers to license its technology, which'll probably cost Blyk a whole heck of a lot less than setting up new MVNO deals and running operations everywhere they go. That said, users of Blyk's UK network needn't fear; there's apparently no plan to shutter the service, though odds are good they'll be transferred to another carrier should the company find a suitable partner. It's a lot of work for 43 minutes a month, isn't it?

It won't make much of a difference to the end user -- all they'll care is that they're getting unlimited voice and data for under $70 a month -- but it turns out that Zer01 Mobile's upcoming VoIP-based service won't be using AT&T alone to provide service. Instead, it'll have service agreements in place with a number of GSM carriers -- nationals and regionals alike, we'd imagine -- in an effort to keep its costs low. Because all voice calls will travel over VoIP instead of GSM or UMTS proper, it seems like things could get a little dicey if you find yourself on a crappy EDGE (or worse yet, GPRS) connection, but hey, just keep telling yourself: "$69.95."

Virgin Mobile's CEO, Dan Schulman, stated while at the Dow Jones Wireless Innovations Conference last week that Virgin's planning on adding some more touchscreen to its world. What sets is, of course, your and our first question, but sadly it's one we don't have an answer for, yet. Though whatever it or they end up being, he went on to say that it is part of a move to smarter phones targeted at low to middle-income youth on prepaid. Of course, Virgin's core business is the prepaid world, though contracts are always available if you're inspired to stick about. With CTIA just around the corner, we're thinking we could hear a little more then.

[Via Crave]

2008 marked the end for many a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), most going under in a flood of bankruptcies or getting consumed but their parent networks. It sure seems like no company in its right mind would want to wade back into that graveyard, but Zer01 is thinking differently, pledging to launch a new network within a network next month at CTIA 2009. Its services will be provided by AT&T, but it'll undercut the competition with a combination of a $69.95 monthly unlimited voice and data plan and a complete lack of contracts, as well as unlimited international calling (to 40 countries) for just an extra $10. What's the catch? The company will rely on a VOIP application for routing of all calls, and right now that app only works on Windows Mobile. That'll be a roadblock for many, and given AT&T's somewhat limited (and generally flaky) 3G data coverage we're a little concerned about call quality, but just the same can't wait to see how this one turns out.

[Via Unwired View and PC Magazine]

Our friend Mr. Blurrycam has come through once again, this time with a handful of Helio Ocean 2 snapshots. Aside from a blurry close-up of the on-screen calendar, there isn't much here that we haven't already seen in finer detail from the FCC. It's apparently got a 3 megapixel camera, which is what we reported initially but not what was listed in the FCC-submitted user manual. Our tipster says it's expected to launch early or mid-February for release, which jives with other rumors we've heard. Hit up the gallery for more pics.

Right in line with reports we heard earlier, it looks like Helio's second iteration of the Ocean could be going on sale as early as next month. Silicon Alley Insider has it that the Ocean 2 could be loosed in America "sometime this quarter," though sooner rather than later is looking mighty promising. It's still unclear how much Helio plans on charging for this long, long, long awaited handset, but we'd say it'll have to lowball pretty hard if it plans to distract anyone already focused intently on a G1, iPhone or Palm Pre.

[Via UnwiredView]

Listen, we know that something's going on with Sprint -- take the move toward leased access for WiMAX on Clear and the recent big sale of cell towers, for example -- but this is just getting fishier and fishier. Now, it looks like Sprint is trying to up its total subscriber count by paying Virgin Mobile an additional $2 per customer it signs through the end of the year while also dropping the minimum wireless services tab it was previously obligated to pay. Apparently it takes about 11 -- yes, eleven -- Virgin customers to equal the revenue generated from just one Sprint customer, and since the carrier's organic subscriber tally has been on the decline lately, maybe it's starting to rely on its MVNOs to pick up some of the slack.

[Via mocoNews]