Comments on: Helio Hangs it Up

By: Sprint Gobbles Up Virgin Mobile For $483 million

Sprint Gobbles Up Virgin Mobile For $483 million — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:28:48 +0000

[...] South Korean carrier SK Telecom has a 15.3 percent stake that it got when Virgin Mobile last year bought Helio, another prepaid carrier that uses Sprint’s [...]

By: Stance

Stance — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:30:55 +0000

I have a Helio Ocean 1 and just upgraded the the Ocean 2. I’m in love with the phone, the cell phone coverage area and the customer service! Not sure what you guys are talking about because I absolutely adore my phone. I also have an ATT line for my Mom’s phone and could have easily gotten an iPhone. Let’s face it, that’s a cool phone too, but NO cell phone company out there can match Helio’s data and minutes plan. UNLIMITED data, UNLIMITED minutes, UNLIMITED texts, plus Myspace, FB, Twitter, Youtube and every email client under the sun! GREAT PHONE, GREAT DEVICE!

By: NYC Former Helio Lover

NYC Former Helio Lover — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:19:59 +0000

My service was turned off on the third day after the due, and it took an hour to restore my service… I can’t wait to use other wireless provider. I have to wait a year. Helio customer service is horrible.

By: Post Express » Blog Archive » Five Warning Signs a Tech Startup Is in Trouble

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:10:01 +0000

[...] had a slow adoption rate, however, with only about 170,000 subscribers before it died and was scooped up by Virgin Mobile earlier this year [...]

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:54:36 +0000

For the record, Boost Mobile is NOT an MVNO. It is a wholly owned division of Sprint. This is a common misperception about Boost that has actually not been the case in many years as it was a wholly owned division of Nextel prior to the merger. As is apparent from the results of MVNOs, it’s a difficult way to play in here in the U.S.

By: Esme Vos

Esme Vos — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 12:10:07 +0000

MVNO Blyk in the UK is doing quite well. They’re even expanding to the Netherlands. So not all MVNOs are dead in the water. But you can’t get Blyk’s service — free mobile phone minutes and SMSes in exchange for viewing SMS and MMS ads — unless you are between 16 and 24 years old.

There are a number of MVNOs in Europe that are also doing fine. I have Lebara in the Netherlands, whose calling rates to countries outside the EU are very attractive. You pop your Lebara SIM card into your phone and off you go.

By: JASON

JASON — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 12:06:56 +0000

Another buyout of a company

By: .pH

.pH — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:04:33 +0000

Any one have a clue who will be the service provider now?

I see alot of dissing sprint going on but it beat the hell out of Verizon and ATT in my area.

I have the Ocean and this gem recieved and made calls where and when no one elses would.

Plus, I am totally unfamiliar with VM’s service.

By: Fabian Schonholz

Fabian Schonholz — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:58:28 +0000

No surprise here.

By: Phillip Marquez

Phillip Marquez — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:39:46 +0000

… Before someone wants to enlighten me. Yes, I’m aware it was Sprint underneath. And yes, the issues I had was coverage and not a bad phone as evidenced by comparing against other Sprint customers (friends and family). I’ve since convinced a few to drop Sprint for Verizon or ATT simply based on the same comparisons with several phones (the Tilt and my old phones) on ATT.

I humored the local store while still in my 30 day guarantee and tried everything they suggested (as well as the phone rep from Helio), but I was NOT going to let it go past 30 days.

By: Phillip Marquez

Phillip Marquez — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:33:34 +0000

I gave an Ocean a month trial but canceled out of my contract while I still could simply because Sprint coverage sucks. Having left ATT for Helio I had some high hopes. I loved the phone, everyone that saw it loved it. But having NO coverage in the small mom ‘n pop I was working (at the time) and regularly getting half or a quarter of long text messages was really frustrating. How many short messages did I completely miss?

The deal breaker was seeing how poor coverage was while driving interstate. ATT customer service might suck, but everything else is spot on. And no, I am not an iPhone customer (ATT Tilt actually).

By: Tim Hare

Tim Hare — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 02:26:09 +0000

Will it improve VM for people? I use VM because I don’t make or receive a lot of cell phone calls (thereby bringing my cost to around $6-8 per month), but one thing that they do that drives me crazy is they lock the phones so I cannot download my contacts! They may lose me as a customer if some other prepaid plav allows that feature… unlikely I will go with a “smart phone” and data plan right now because I can’t cost justify those features for limited use.

By: TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » Helio、終了。

TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » Helio、終了。 — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:10:31 +0000

[...] ［原文へ] [...]

By: Dale Larson

Dale Larson — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:28:59 +0000

I’m not sure what a “targeted MVNO” is (would some MVNOs be “untargeted”?), but what about Creedo Mobile (Working Assets providing service through Sprint)?

In general, I don’t see how there can be many competing carriers in the long run, much less room for the additional layer of overhead created by the MVNO model. Anything that would differentiate most MVNOs should be a service provided by all carriers.

Phone companies provide a service which is essentially a commodity, and attempts to compete on features (rather than just providing quality, price and service) are mostly artificial.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:03:32 +0000

I’m with the CVOS geezer – I have no idea what the post said. My eyes kept straying back to that terrible pathing on the image. Amateurs.

By: damon

damon — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:01:19 +0000

Did anybody get a confirmation email when they submitted their TC50 application? Just checking…

By: J-Row

J-Row — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:53:36 +0000

Helio never clearly differentiated itself (successfully) in the cell phone industry. Yes, some of their phones had some cool multimedia offerings but I felt as though their products never carried a ton of brand equity (vs. Apple Phone for example)… Helio was horrible with their money. Have you seen the building up in Westwood? – its a gem. While that’s cool, I can’t even fathom how much their rent cost. They didn’t follow the strategies of success look… http://www.read...ex.php?RTA=web2

By: billso.com

billso.com — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:49:20 +0000

Virgin Mobile buys Helio…

Helio, the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that tried to sell MySpace-branded handsets and service, has been purchased by Virgin Mobile.
After EarthLink bailed out, SK Telecom pumped an additional US$270 million into Helio in a last-ditch…

By: CVOS SEO

CVOS SEO — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:41:51 +0000

Someone please show these guys how to make paths in photoshop.

By: eBranchOffice.com

eBranchOffice.com — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:21:00 +0000

What is the failure rate in business? Something like 90% of all business ventures fail?

Makes me wonder why some of us are serial entrepreneurs.

Oh yeah, because we love the challenge and the small percentage of success stories make the goal worth pursuing.

By: Space

Space — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:11:09 +0000

Apparently, from the email I got the cancellation fee is still in full effect ($175.00)…

Now, I wish they’d give us more phone device options…4 phones??? C’mon now!

By: A dude

A dude — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:07:19 +0000

Boost, the only targeted MVNO left…

What about kajeet, the cell phone for kids?

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:02:52 +0000

I did not like Helio, their phones looked like crap.

Its not a phone, its a piece of crap!!

- http://easysumm...y.blogspot.com/

By: Bluevoter

Bluevoter — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:02:33 +0000

I’ll take a look at VM when the Ocean 2 comes out. I feel much better giving my money to Richard Branson than to Sky Dayton and, through him, to the Church of Scientology.

By: The SEO Kid

The SEO Kid — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:59:41 +0000

Helio had great products, unfortunatly it never gained control of an actual niche in the market, maybe with them and virgin combined some progress may be seen.