ROK Mobile launched nearly three years ago as both a Sprint and T-Mobile MVNO. A few months after launch, the company went on a promotional blitz offering unlimited talk, text, and data with the first 5 GB at high speeds, as well as access to a streaming music service that provided over 20 million tracks for a promotional price of just $33.33/month. That plan got a lot of attention from BestMVNO readers as it was one of the best deals around at that time. Even if it was offered today, it would still be considered a good deal.
About a year after launching, the MVNO added a third network partner in Verizon, and just month later, they made what I at the time thought was a big mistake, and dropped Sprint and T-Mobile as MVNO partners making the company an exclusive MVNO of Verizon. I did not like the move a the time because I believed they would no longer be able offer consumers competitive pricing and thus great value. Some of this suspicion was confirmed when a drop off in interest of ROK Mobile was noticed on the BestMVNO website.
I also did not like the move because Verizon can be considered an unfriendly network when it comes to dealing with its MVNO partners as it limits their network speeds to just 5 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload thus putting them at a competitive disadvantage speed-wise compared to MVNO's on other networks.
Just last year the MVNO was forced to stop offering unlimited but throttled data, putting them at another disadvantage in the marketplace, particularly when you consider that they are charging $49.99/month for 5 GB of data when other Verizon MVNO's such as Boom Mobile and Total Wireless charge a lot less. To make matters worse, ROK Mobile even appears to have issues with its music streaming service, which has been one of its selling points since launch.
A few days ago, ROK Mobile announced on Facebook that it is once again a Sprint MVNO. As of this writing, it is also still a Verizon MVNO, although the company now offers plans exclusive to those who need service on Sprint's network. ROK Mobile's new Sprint plans are as follows:
ROK Mobile's New Sprint Plans
- $20/month - unlimited talk and text with 500 MB of hard capped data
- $30/month 1 GB unlimited- unlimited talk, text and data with the first 1 GB at high speeds
- $40/month 3 GB unlimited- unlimited talk, text and data with the first 3 GB at high speeds
- $50/month 5 GB unlimited- unlimited talk, text and data with the first 5 GB at high speeds. Also includes ROK Life Premium Life plan which includes things such as accidental death insurance, roadside assistance and telemedicine among other things.
Analysis
I like that ROK Mobile has added Sprint back as a partner. I would have liked the move a little more if they could have made some of the lower end plans just a smidgen cheaper. Hopefully with the new network partner we can start to see some of those great promotions that they previously offered come back again.