Helio sent out a press release today announcing their return to the mobile market. The company originally launched back in 2006 as a Sprint MVNO. Just a short while after in August of 2008, the company and its subscribers merged with Virgin Mobile USA. When Virgin Mobile merged with Sprint in 2010 Helio service was stopped.
Today however, the brand name made its formal return to the market with its new "Worry-Free Unlimited $29" plan. The $29 price tag includes sales tax, surcharges and fees. The plan comes with one month of free service allowing potential customers to first evaluate their service before deciding on if they want to go all in or not. This is an idea I strongly applaud, and wish every provider was able to offer.
The Worry-Free Unlimited plan includes unlimited talk, text/mms and data although data speeds are limited to 128 Kbps. What helps differentiate the MVNO from other prepaid wireless providers is that they offer domestic roaming on Verizon's network for voice, sms and data.
In August Helio plans to offer another plan for voice based customers who prefer wi-fi and don't need any data. The plan will include everything the Worry-Free unlimited $29 plan does minus the data of course. No pricing has been announced yet for the Wi-Fi lovers plan.