RadioShack May Become Wireless Carrier Too

An anonymous tipster has supposedly leaked a few screenshots to Engadget featuring what seems to be an upcoming wireless service from RadioShack. Currently the company offers cell phones chained to big-name carriers including AT&T, Sprint and Verizon, and no-contact phones compatible with Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, GoPhone and others.

But according to the leaked images, RadioShack is entering the latter pay-as-you-go arena under the RadioShack Mobile branding. The no-contract MVNO service will be based on Cricket Wireless, a U.S.-based wireless telecommunications network -- the 7th largest in the States -- founded in 1999 and owned by Leap Wireless. Cricket Wireless offers nationwide 3G service to customers using Sprint's 3G network.

Back in May, Leap Wireless announced that the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S will be coming to its Cricket network, becoming the first pre-paid carrier in the United States to offer Apple's iPhone. Both phones landed on Cricket on June 22, costing $499.99 for the 16 GB iPhone 4S and $399.99 for the 8 GB iPhone 4. For $55 per month, users get unlimited voice, messaging and data although the fine print says the company has a "fair use policy" of 2.3 GB per month.

As for RadioShack Mobile, the first listed phone is the HTC One V, powered by Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich," HTC Sense 4 and Beats Audio. The actual details on pricing and PAYG plans are unknown at this point, but the anonymous source said they should mirror what Cricket is currently offering. There are also plans to include the Huawei Mercury, the Huawei Pillar and an unnamed 4.3-inch Android device from Alcatel.

"RadioShack No Contract Wireless lets you choose what's important to you," the company states in one screenshot. "Low monthly rates keep you connected and let you talk, text and browse anytime you want. You'll have a choice of plans that feature nationwide coverage with no contracts to make it easy for you to stay connected wherever you go, any way you decide."

Cricket plans range from $25 per month to $55 per month spanning four plans. Two are focused on "unlimited music," allowing the user to download songs, ringback tones and ringtones without eating into the monthly data usage. All four offer unlimited texting, but minutes and data allowances vary.

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  • aftcomet
    The more competition the better imo. I'm in Canada so I pay out the ass for mobile service.

    Freaking government maintained monopolies......
    Reply
  • fb39ca4
    They should have an unlimited video plan then. I
    Reply
  • fb39ca4
    WTF that got cut off. Anyways, I
    Reply
  • bystander
    You can't seem to get past "I"
    Reply
  • altriss
    ahahahah!
    in France we have "free mobile" carrier, same service plus international calls to 40 countries for 20 euros/month (~25$). When it appeared it was a revolution.
    I thought only in France carrier were asking for crazy prices, but it seems that every country face the same thing.
    http://mobile.free.fr/
    should be good if they start doing the same world wide I think.
    Reply
  • sykozis
    Good luck Radio Shack..... Sprint's network keeps getting worse. I had to switch back to Verizon after Sprint's network started dropping regularly.....
    Reply
  • nebun
    no 4G?...fail
    Reply
  • teh_chem
    I use Virgin Mobile, but I swear to god, we don't need one more small pay-as-you-go/prepaid carrier forcing us to use Sprint's CDMA network requiring phones that you can't carry over to another network if you wanted to... (and are usually subject to slow hardware release cycles as well).
    Reply
  • SirTrollsALot
    Radioshack please change your name, already!!!! Hell, whens the last time you bought a radio anyways?
    Reply
  • spookyman
    Why does Radio Shack exist anymore? When was the last time they was a relevant company?
    Reply