 Well, the good news is retail plan pricing has never been lower. The are still making a few bucks on single line plans. Savvy users are going with multiple line deals when possible because the pricing drops substantially with more lines. In T-Mobile's case, why pay $70 for one Unlimited Line when two are only $100? Heck, even Verizon who is known for high plan pricing has Unlimited 4G LTE plans for $180 for four users.
What this all means is the carriers are looking for other revenue streams and can be quite sneaky in the process. We hear about it when T-Mobile decides to pay all of the fees and taxes on their plans for their customers. You may not have noticed that their formerly FREE SIM cards are now $20. Carriers are now also charging activation fees, not just on new service, but for upgrades as well. Until now, the benchmark cost of most new high end iPhones or Android rarely exceeded $650. Sure, there were some exceptions to this rule, like the S7 EDGE and some of the 128GB and 256GB memory models. The latest iPhone 7/32GB is $650 ($27.09 x 24 months). The Samsung S8 just raised the pricing bar. It appears that all of the major carriers with the exception of Verizon have priced the S8/64GB for $750 and the S8+ version for $850. Verizon is showing a price of $720 for the S8 and $840 for the S8+. Here are all of the promotions that were put together by our friends at the Verge... For Verizon... StartingMarch 30th at 12:01AM ET. Available in stores April 21st. Preorder customers receive free Gear VR with Controller and Oculus content pack, or can instead choose $99 “Experience Box” with Gear VR and Controller, Harman Kardon headphones, and 256GB microSD card. Galaxy S8: $720 full retail Monthly installments: $30 / mo for 24 months Galaxy S8 Plus: $840 full retail Monthly installments: $35 / mo for 24 months Other / trade-in promotions: Order the Galaxy S8 on device payment, sign up for Verizon Unlimited and trade-in the following phones and pay only $15/month for 24 months -- Apple: iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, 7, 7 Plus; Samsung: GS6, GS6 edge, GS6 edge +, GS7, GS7 edge, Note 5; Google: Pixel, Pixel XL; LG: G5, V20; HTC: 10; Motorola: Z Droid, Z Force Order the Galaxy S8 on device payment, sign up for Verizon Unlimited and trade-in the following phones and pay only $20/month for 24 months -- Apple: iPhone SE; Samsung: Note 4, GS5; LG: G4, V10; HTC: M9; Motorola: Turbo 2, Z Play Order the Galaxy S8+ on device payment, sign up for Verizon Unlimited and trade-in the following phones and pay only $15/month for 24 months -- Apple: iPhone 7 Plus; Google: Pixel XL; Motorola: Z Force; Samsung: GS7 edge Order the Galaxy S8+ on device payment, sign up for Verizon Unlimited and trade-in the following phones and pay only $20/month for 24 months -- Apple: iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, 7; Google: Pixel; Samsung: GS6, GS6 edge, GS6 edge +, GS7, Note 5; LG: G5, V20; HTC: 10; Motorola: Droid Z Droid AT&T Preorders start March 30th. Available in stores April 21st. Preorder customers receive free Gear VR with Controller and Oculus content pack. Galaxy S8: $750 full retail AT&T Next: $25 / mo for 30 months AT&T Next Every Year: $31.25 / mo for 24 months Galaxy S8 Plus: $850 full retail AT&T Next: $28.34 / mo for 30 months AT&T Next Every Year: $35.42 / mo for 24 months Other / trade-in promotions: Customers that preorder a new Galaxy device can also take advantage of these great offers: Up to $750 in credits towards another Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8+ A Samsung Gear S3 for only $49 with a 2-year service agreement Get a Samsung Tab E and/or a Samsung Gear S2 for only .99 cents, when you activate a 2-year agreements T-MOBILEPreorders start March 30th at 12:01AM ET. Available in stores April 21st. Preorder customers receive free Gear VR with Controller and Oculus game pack. T-Mobile @Work customers get free DeX desktop dock with in-store preorder. Galaxy S8: $750 full retail ($729 at MetroPCS) Monthly installments: $30 down payment + $30 / mo for 24 months Jump! On Demand: $0 down +$33 / mo for 24 months Galaxy S8 Plus: $850 full retail Monthly installments: $130 down payment + $30 / mo for 24 months Jump! On Demand: Same as monthly installments SPRINTPreorders start March 30th. Available in stores April 21st. Preorder customers receive free Gear VR with Controller and Oculus content pack, or can instead choose $99 “Experience Box” with Gear VR and Controller, Harman Kardon headphones, and 256GB microSD card. Galaxy S8: $750 full retail Monthly installments: $31.25 / mo for 18-month lease Galaxy S8 Plus: $850 full retail Monthly installments: $35.42 / month for 18-month lease
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 Recently, we have been moving small businesses off their plain old telephone systems to Virtual Private Branch Exchange Cloud systems. In the old days, PBX (Private Branch Exchange) office systems were available. The problem is they were extremely costly as far as hardware, service management contracts, and paying an IT guy to keep it running. A interesting new technology happened that very few people are aware of. It's called uCaaS - Unified Communications as a Service. By combining the internet with cloud storage, virtual PBX services could be offered for less than the cost of a plain old voice only telephone system. So far, 90% of the businesses we have moved to these systems have actually been able to save 20-60% less than they were previously paying.
As an integrated capability of the RingCentral Office solution, healthcare organizations can leverage Glip functionality to share confidential files, message team members, update tasks, and manage calendars, ensuring customers’ electronic protected health information (ePHI) data is protected in all forms. With RingCentral Glip, healthcare providers can streamline workflows by communicating instantaneously and seamlessly with patients and other physicians and healthcare professionals. “We’re thrilled to roll out our first ever team messaging solution to our fast-growing ChartSpan team,” said Patrick Carter, co-founder and chief medical officer at ChartSpan Medical Technologies. “RingCentral Office has been vital in streamlining our communications, both within our offices and with patients. With RingCentral Glip, physicians, nurses, and management staff now have the ability to send confidential information quickly, securely, and easily, allowing us to deliver the best possible patient care, all while complying with HIPAA/HITRUST security requirements.” For more information or to set up a quick demonstration, please contact Dr Wireless.  Who has not received those annoying RoboCalls? I've signed up for the donotcall.gov list but it didn't matter. I did find a perfect solution to end these for myself, which I'll talk about later. Here is the problem - Text to speech technology has improved leaps and bounds from the early days. The "bad guys" are using this technology for a new scam called the "Can You Hear Me Now". Do not answer, "yes"! I'm a Cyber Security consultant and they got me. I read that they also got one of my IT colleagues, David Lazarus of the Los Angeles Times.
Here's how it works... You get a phone call from what sounds like a man or woman. They may cough, or laugh to make it sound like a real person. They will then ask you a question. The "woman" who got me called and told me "she dropped her headset and asked if I could I hear her". I would have sworn it was a real person. Normally, most of the robocalls I get are trying to sell me Google ads. Last month after become certified by RingCentral, I ported my office number over to a RingCentral Virtual Cloud PBX system. You know, those annoying, but professional sounding phone systems that ask "if you know the extension of the party, you may enter it at anytime, to hear the company directory, press...". What most people don't realize is these systems no longer cost thousands of dollars. They don't require on site equipment, expensive service contracts or an IT guy. The reason is Unified Communications As A Service (UCAAS). Think cable TV. You get this service from your provider. You can buy your own router or rent one from them. If there is a problem, it is their problem and obligation to correct it, not yours. Any how, I personally implemented a RingCentral Virtual Cloud System which you can hear by dialing my office number, 310-540-6480. The beauty of this system is that the Robocallers don't know what to do when they have to input an extension. I set my system up so that if no extension is selected, the call hangs up. This is one unintended consequence that I love. It is now impossible to get ambushed. I don't even need to use the call screening feature. For more details on how you can get your own Virtual Cloud Based Phone System for under $50 per month, contact me.  I'm often asked about wireless insurance and whether it's worth getting. The short answer is generally not in most cases. This especially holds true for our larger business and enterprise accounts. If you consider that the typical monthly SmartPhone insurance plan costs $8-$12 per month with up to an $200 deductible. Now take a 20 line account and multiply that by $10 per month. There's an extra $200 per month getting wasted, if nobody loses their devices. There are only a handful of companies in the SmartPhone insurance business and none of them are very pleasant to deal with. I usually advise my clients placing claims to say their devices were lost versus stolen. If you say the device was stolen, you will be asked for a police report and other red tape. Same goes for minor damages. You are often better off "losing" a device than getting your repair claim rejected.
The main reasons to have insurance is if you should have a problem with your device. These days, it's either a broken screen, or loose charging port. Water damaged devices used to also be a big problem but many of today's devices are water resistant. Unfortunately, not all insurance plans were created equally. Most of the wireless carriers utilize Assurian. About the only good thing I can say about them is they cover lost and stolen devices. Many of these insurance companies offer a $4 service to remotely lock, erase, or find a lost device. Since Apple and Google (Alphabet) offer these service for FREE, there is no sense in paying for this. Apple also offers their own type of SmartPhone protection. For $129, they extend your 1 year warranty to 2 years. If you have any issues with the device, short of blatant customer abuse, they will normally fix or replace the device for FREE. I've had cracked screens replaced as well as defective logic boards. If there is a downside to AppleCare, it's that they don't cover lost or stolen devices. Of course, you could add the device to your home owners or renters policy. That in my opinion is stupid because most renters and homeowners policies have an $500 deductible. If you had an iPhone 7/32GB device ($650 MSRP) get stolen, you'd still have to pay the first $500. On top of that, your premiums will increase for making the claim. I personally do not take insurance on my SmartPhones but do put them in carry cases for protection for when the devices gets dropped. For those of you, and you know who you are, that chronically misplace your keys, sunglasses, and SmartPhones, get the Assurian option as it includes loss protection. There are so many great Android devices out there though that if you did lose a high end Smartphone, it could be replaced for under $200, The Motorola Moto G, (Huawei Honor 6), or on the higher end, the latest One Plus 3T for under $500. With the new LG-G6 hitting the market, the LG-G4 and LG-V20 are going to drop in price in the next week or so. Avoid the LG-G5 which was that modular design that sounded great on paper but bombed. Samsung's S7, S7 EDGE and other models will be dropping another $100 each once the new Samsung S8 launches. As far as iPhone replacement devices, the $399.99 iPhone SE is like a 5s on steroids as it has the same A9 processor and camera as the 6s series. There are also many deals on both new and refurbished iPhone 6 and 6s models at the moment.  Introducing the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition. These newest iPhones feature a beautiful and vibrant red aluminum finish and will be available for purchase at select T-Mobile stores and via ship-to beginning March 24. The introduction of these special edition iPhones gives customers a way to contribute to the Global Fund and bring the world a step closer to an AIDS-free generation. In addition, the iPhone SE will be available in 32GB and 128GB sizes beginning March 24.
It's all but confirmed that Apple will launch their iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s+ in September. These models are going to be tweaked versions of the current 7 series. The new iPhone 8 is rumored to be called the iPhone "Edition" as it is the 10th anniversary model. This is the one that allegedly will boast the nearly bezel-less OLED screen technology and other cool features, possible even wireless charging. With LG's LG-G6 hitting the market any day, things are getting exciting. The LG-G6 will be the best Android on the market or at least a month. As soon as the delayed Samsung S8 comes out. This will be a great time to buy a new device as all of the high-end current models should drop at least $100 in pricing.      AT&T's Fastest Speed 3Mbps Maximum Speed 10GB Mobile Hotspot No Hotspot Included One Line for $90/Mo Two Lines for $145/Mo (with AutoPay) One Line for $60/Mo Two lines for $115/Mo (with AutoPay) Confused? You should be because above I am showing all four carriers are advertising that they offer Unlimited 4G plans. The truth is there is no such thing as an Unlimited 4G Plan. The reality is your "Unlimited" 4G plan is quite "Limited". Depending on the carrier you chose, that limit is between 22GB and 28GB per month. Once you reach that level of data usage, your speeds are likely to be throttled (slowed) to where watching video is no longer possible. If that wasn't confusing enough, all 4G LTE data plans were not created equally, or are speeds and coverage the same. Furthermore, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile all offer Standard Definition 480p resolution, whereas Verizon exclusively offers High Definition 1080p resolution plus 10GB of Mobile Hotspot per line. Fran Shammo, Verizon's former CEO, had previously stated that Unlimited 4G data is unsustainable and would never return. After T-Mobile added 2.2 million new subscribers last quarter smoking AT&T and Verizon, Unlimited Data came, and Fran Shammo went. 480p vs 1080p and what does it all mean? It means very little if you have a 4" screen on your device. It means a little more if you have a larger high resolution device screen. It can be a real deal breaker for those of you that hook your SmartPhones up to big Flat screens with an HDMI cable to watch Netflix or other video content. SD will get very grainy when blowing up the images. Up until this point, both Sprint and T-Mobile offered buy-ups that would increase their plans Standard Definition (480p) resolution to High Definition (1080p). These $15-$20 per line, per month buy-ups also included Unlimited Hotspot. AT&T offers 480p resolution by default using their "StreamSaver" feature. What they don't tell anybody though is that they can go to their web portal and simply turn off this ridiculous feature and get FREE HD instead of SD definition. As soon as Verizon announced their new Unlimited 4G Data plan, Sprint and T-Mobile met the competition. They both immediately offered HD instead of SD and offered 10GB of FREE Mobile Hotspot. Unfortunately, this was for new subscribers only. Current subscribers could have the same deal, but not automatically. That meant, that you had to ask for it and you could not do that, unless you knew about it. "Grandfathering" is the way wireless plans are offered in the wireless business. T-Mobile is notorious for offering crazy deals, if for just a week, or even weekend. If you are lucky enough to get one of these deals, you can usually keep it forever, or until a better deal emerges. Here is an example of that... To go back on the offensive, after Verizon's rather shocking Unlimited Plan announcement, T-Mobile even offered to pay all of the fees and taxes each month for their Unlimited Plan . They even threw more kerosene on the fire by offering a special Two Line Unlimited 4G LTE HD Plan with 10GB each of mobile HotSpot for $100, Out-the-Door, no taxes or other annoying fees. For the first week of March, they offered a third line of totally Unlimited service for FREE. That meant UNLIMITED service for three for only $100, period! This week, the third line offer is gone. In it's place are FREE Samsung S7 SmartPhones when going on the zero interest finance plan. That means, do your time (24 months) and these $700 devices are totally FREE. Since all of the competition is in retail plans, most Business and Enterprise deals pale in comparison to these retail plans. Doing What is Best For Our Clients Has Never Been More Difficult As you can see, securing a great deal is only half the battle, it's also knowing when a better deal comes along that doesn't have any surprises or limitations in the fine print. I recently had an enterprise client of mine with Sprint asking me what I would recommend for his two lines. I told him of the above T-Mobile offer and he said, "Do it"! About an hour later, my T-Mobile National Business Channel Manager informed me that she had some "bad news" for me. The $100 Unlimited Two Line deal was not available to T-Mobile Business users. Furthermore, she also mentioned that business users had to pay all the fees and taxes as this promotion was also not available for business accounts. The "Good News" however was T-Mobile had just introduced a new "Business" version of this plan that was $130 per month for two lines and included 1GB of Hotspot per line. I explained to my TM Business manager that the reason that I have such a loyal following is that I have always tried to do what was in the best interests of my clients. After doing the math, putting this client on this new T-Mobile business plan was clearly not in his best interests. It would have cost him an extra $720 over two years plus all the taxes and fees which would have added up to another $350 +. It's bad enough that the retail version of this plan offers 10GB to only 1GB of mobile Hotspot on the business version. It's a total crime that the business version of this retail plan costs nearly $1100 more over the same two year period. When I incredulously asked how T-Mobile could expect me to recommend this plan after doing the math, I was told, "It is what it is", and we do not offer retail channel rates. I quickly realized that this presented an interesting opportunity. Because of the huge savings available and the fact that plans are changing for the better, almost monthly, why not turn a lemon situation into lemonade? I told the above client the truth and explained how he could get the best deal, working directly with the retail division. He wanted this deal but was not willing to lose my representation and support. He told me he would gladly pay me $200 to represent him in negotiations with T-Mobile's retail division. To make a long story short, I not only got him the $100 Unlimited deal for two without tax and fees, I got him an extra $300 in discretionary credits. By switching his account from enterprise to retail and playing hardball, I saved him $1100, after my $200 FEE. He also knows that should a better deal come out in the next 24 months, he will be notified. Since then, I have done this for a handful of clients. One even told me that I reminded him of Robin Hood, Stealing from the Rich (Carriers) and Giving to the Poor (subscribers). I kind of liked that analogy and proudly present... ...The Dr's Robin Hood Program   ...because someone has to let subscribers know when their carrier introduces a better deal!
Wireless services have become a commodity and Unlimited voice, text, and data are now offered by all wireless carriers. Due to SmartPhone over-saturation, the carriers are now forced to market their services, not to new subscribers, but the current subscribers of their competitors. In order to do this, they must make the offerings extremely compelling. The good news for existing subscribers is they are also eligible for these new deals. The bad news is they will never hear about them from their carriers. In most cases, the new deals are better but there are exceptions. Until Verizon one-upped them, both Sprint and T-Mobile offered Unlimited 4G LTE. If you read their fine print though, you'd have noticed that both carriers dropped the resolution from high (1080p), to Standard (480p). Neither included HotSpot service. As soon as Verizon introduced an Unlimited 4G High Definition Unlimited Plan offering 10GB of additional Hotspot use, both Sprint and T-Mobile immediately copied them. T-Mobile's CEO, John Legere, fired back by doing the Unthinkable. You know all of those carrier recovery fees, PUC fees, and taxes on your monthly bill... - Gone! T-Mobile is the only carrier that is eating all of the fees and taxes for their customers which amounts to 10-15% less on your phone bill. If that was not enough, T-Mobile then offered a 2-Line/$100 Unlimited Everything plan with HD 4G LTE, and 10GB of hotspot. For the first week of March, they threw in a FREE 3rd line. Yup, that was 3 UNLIMITED Lines for $100. As this is our business, we monitor this stuff anyway. If you snooze, you lose, as the third line was only offered for one week. If all of the above wasn't crazy enough, often times the retail promotions get better than the Enterprise 100+ user rates. That's because there is never any carrier competition in the business channel, it's all about retail. Dr Wireless knows when it's time to bust a move and can save you a lot of money and aggravation. As your wireless account manager, we not only act on your behalf as an authorized dealer, we also will contact your carrier as you, and negotiate a better deal than any end user could ever get. That's because we know how to get to the retention departments, we are aware of off-sheet rate plans, and we are also aware of discretionary funds available for retention. We do this for two years from the time you retain us. When your carrier comes out with a better deal, we read the fine print, then contact you with our recommendation. Implementation is your choice. As Dr Wireless normally charges $100 per hour labor rate. $200 for this service with two years of account monitoring is a remarkable deal. We are so sure of this program that we offer a one hundred percent refund for anyone that feels they did not get over $200 worth of savings and value. For more information, click here.  Apple must have started to feel guilty because they finally came around and doubled the internal storage on each of its iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models. Last year's 16GB, 64GB and 128GB became this year's 32GB, 128GB or 256GB of storage space. No matter how much storage you have, it’s usually never enough. Apple will never add support for memory cards to its iPhone lineup, but there are solutions out there that let you expand your iPhone’s memory. Now you can add 256GB of memory to your iPhone. While not cheap at $199.99 on Amazon, it is still a great solution for folks that store tons of stuff on their iPhones. SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive 256GB. Some highlights from the product page:
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March 2021
CategoriesAuthorJoel Saltzman has over twenty years of wireless industry experience. He is currently CEO and Chief Wireless Analyst for Dr Wireless. |
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