Leap Wireless to Add Bandwidth on Demand Service; Shows LTE Roadmap

  
Mike Dano reports to FierceWireless that Leap Wireless announced that it ".. plans to launch session-based data services over its existing tiered data pricing structure, a move that will allow customers to purchase faster data speeds for short periods of time. The company said it will launch the service in the first half of 2012".

Doug Hutcheson (pictured), CEO and President, said at the Citi Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference held this week in San Francisco - ".. The next big step for us that we believe is important is to add what's called session-based capability on top of that [tiered pricing] .. That will mean that you can buy, should you have a very low amount of data but want to buy more within a month .. You'll have the ability to buy sessions or time periods where you can accelerate that speed, and it will be done very simply and very straightforward over the device or on a simple transaction with us .. That is the model that we think will be the future".

The chart below was also part of the presentation. See also "DPI Deployments (17): Leap Wireless/Cricket New Service Plans" - here.

See "Leap to launch session-based data transactions on top of tiered pricing" - here.

LightSquared: "No intelligence in our network" - but its Retail Partners Use Intelligence!

     

Light Reading's Sarah Reedy quotes LightSquared's CEO Sanjiv Ahuja (pictured) keynote during Open Mobile Summit held in San Francisco this week:

• "LightSquared is building the ultimate dumb pipe .. We want to be the dumbest wireless broadband pipe. No intelligence in our network. None. Zero .. LightSquared was formed to make wireless broadband a pure utility, bringing it to 100 million people in the U.S. before the end of 2012. Inherent in that wholesale structure is an open network"

• "You aren't looking for your carrier to provide intelligence; you want the device manufacturer to have connectivity embedded"

See "LightSquared: 4G America's Dumbest Pipe" - here.

Last month LightSquared announced (here) it has 17 partners across the US (including Sprint and Leap Wireless), and waits now for the FCC approval. While I am not sure if the term "Network Intelligence" means the same to all, it seems that LightSquared customers are using it to a certain degree - see "How does Sprint Use Network Intelligence?" - here and "Leap Wireless/Cricket New Service Plans" - here. 

See also "Sandvine CEO: "there could be some business in the large U.S. carrier wireless side in 2011" - here.

DPI Deployments (17): Leap Wireless/Cricket New Service Plans

 
3 months ago I reported about Cricket (Leap Wireless' brand name) data plans (see "DPI Deployments - Part8: Cricket - Quota with Traffic Management" - here). Yesterday the operator updated its plans, with a lower cap on its Premium level (7.5GB instead of 10GB) and "all inclusive" service (voice and data).

See "Cricket Launches Industry-First All-Inclusive Mobile Broadband Service Plans" - here.

Cricket, focused on pre-paid customers, does not charge those exceeding the quota (like AT&T -here). Instead, they impose a [non-disclosed] slow-down penalty, described under "Fair Use Policy" (here and below).

Cricket states that in addition to quota limits it also deploys other traffic management policies, and that the promised download speed (1.4 Mbps) "represents a burst download speed. Actual Upload and download speed will vary, and will likely be lower than the burst speed indicated. Speed will also vary during peak hours, or if you exceed your rate plan usage limit"

Cricket implements all this with Sandvine and Openet - See "Sandvine Supports Cricket Broadband Internet" - here, although, as we can see now, the actual implementation has developed compared to the description in the press release ("Cricket is using a Sandvine solution to identify its customers whose service has expired and redirect them to a customer service site where they can conveniently extend their service term").

Al Moschner, Leap Wireless' COO said: "Data is a strong growth area for Cricket, and these new plans will result in a more efficient network that should benefit customers, and based on customer trials, we also expect them to drive ARPU growth and expand margins going forward."

Extracts from Cricket's Fair Use Policy:

"Cricket has recognized that that a small percent of customers account for a disproportionate share of data usage on the Cricket network ...  Cricket sets usage levels on the amount of data a customer can upload and download within stated periods of time. If you exceed your rate plan usage levels, Cricket will temporarily reduce the speed at which you can send and receive data over the Cricket network. You will still be able to use the service but your speed will be slower. Cricket may use other traffic management and prioritization tools to help ensure equitable access to the Cricket network for all customers. Your service speed is not guaranteed and is subject to this Fair Use Policy.

Cricket has set a rolling 30-day data usage level per customer .. Every day, we measure your upload and download data usage to determine if your total Actual Usage, as aggregated over the previous 30 days, exceeds the Usage Level for the rate plan that you selected. Once the rolling 30-day data usage is below your rate plan Usage Level upload and download speeds will be restored ...

You are likely to avoid any limitations imposed by the Fair Use Policy if your use is typical of the majority of Internet users and consists primarily of Web surfing and a reasonable amount of downloading .. Please note that your usage total is far more likely to exceed your rate plan Usage Level if you use peer-to-peer file sharing programs, you use a webcam or you download full length movies excessively, large quantities of music files, full software applications or similar high-bandwidth activities."

DPI Deployments - Part8: Cricket - Quota with Traffic Management

  

Fierce Wireless reports on new Cricket/Leap Wireless (US Mobile operator) service plans - "Leap experimenting with new unlimited broadband plans" (here). 3 new plans will be offered, all with a monthly byte cap - 2.5, 5 or 10G.

However, once the cap is reached (in a rolling 30 days period), the data service does not stop or overcharged with ridicules rates - instead the effective download/upload data rate may go down ("penalty" in policy management terms).

Nice example of using subscriber-based policy management with QoS equipment. The solution comes from Sandvine and Openet - see a Sandvine press release issued earlier this year - "Sandvine Supports Cricket Broadband Internet " (here).

Cricket's definition for the "penalty" (here):

"Usage. This is the amount of data that you can upload and download in a rolling 30-day period before Cricket's Fair Use Policy may reduce your speed. Once the rolling 30-day data usage is below your rate plan Usage Level upload and download speeds will be restored. These Usage Levels affect only a small percentage of our customers and help ensure optimum performance for all Cricket customers."