Data-only MVNO TruConnect is launching a new mobile data service with data buckets that do not expire at the end of the month like most data plans. The company is partnering with Walmart and is using Sprint Nextel's (NYSE:S) CDMA EV-DO network to power the service.
The plans, dubbed "Internet on the Go," work with a Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 hotspot, which can connect up to five devices simultaneously. Customers select a plan--$10 for 100 MB, $25 for 500 MB or $45 for 1 GB--and can automatically refill their data buck online at a rate of $20 for 450 MB. A customer's data balance does not expire at the end of the month, and the company notes it has "no contracts, no activation fees, no monthly bills, no bundled data plans and no overage charges."
A TruConnect spokeswoman said that the Novatel MiFi will cost $119 but must be purchased through Walmart.
TruConnect's service, which will be sold exclusively through Walmart, is the latest example of data-only MVNO offering innovative rate plans. FreedomPop (a 2012 Fierce 15 winner) plans to launch a freemium mobile broadband service this summer using Clearwire's (NASDAQ:CLWR) mobile WiMAX network.
AT&T (NYSE:T) CEO Randall Stephenson has said that within the next two years he envisions some customers moving to data-only plans as voice and messaging become data applications.
For more:
- see this release
- see this The Verge article
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Article updated June 21, at 1:35 p.m. ET, with comment from TruConnect on the price of the Novatel MiFi device.