Charge is a mobile network for data-only service

Enrique, 14 March, 2016

Until now, there hasn't been any way to purchase a data-only service besides tacking it onto an existing mobile phone plan. This is the first time in the US that a carrier, or MVNO alike, offers data only plans without requiring a phone line first.

The company does plan to incorporate GSM compatible SIMs in the future but as of now, the MVNO will piggyback on Sprint's nationwide network and will be compatible with any Sprint-enabled device, phones and tablets, alike. All Nexus smartphones since the Nexus 5 all the way up to the current-gen 5X and 6P. Obviously, the Phone and Messaging apps will be rendered useless.

Plans start at $15 per GB or $13 per GB when you buy three or more GB. Data never expires and automatically charges your card when you run out (if you wish).

This could be the first step of many toward eventually getting rid of phone numbers altogether. Phone calls, text messages, and everything that once needed a switching center, has effectively been replaced with services that are either fully online (messaging services) or half-online (phone calls over LTE or Wi-Fi). Though totally getting rid of your phone number might not happen until another decade or so.

Penny pinchers will love being able to get a data-only SIM for their smartphone and get away with only having a Google Voice number or live off of WhatsApp calls and messages, or even by using Facebook's services.

Charge could even be a great plan for kids since kids don't really need a phone number right away, all kids need is a method of communication with their parents/guardians and/or a tracking method via GPS (If it's your thing).

Source | Via

Charge Misc

Reader comments

AnonD-528867
21 Apr 2016
4Sh

I love Charge Mobil. Finally a data service that lets you keep your data until it's gone. You can also log multiple phones to the same data plan.

AnonD-463876
20 Mar 2016
Q}4

Can't the phone company detect that you're using a tablet sim on a phone or do they not care? And I didn't know Hangouts offered phone numbers.

Anonymous
15 Mar 2016
C5j

The needed size of infrastructure to support 300 million people probably is a huge one. Slap two towers down and bam you've got like four European countries covered with much less people actually using them.