“Dishing” Out a New Cell Network

It’s been a long time since a brand-new cell phone company “lit-up” its own hardware system. A company that owns its cellular transmitters and towers is called an MNO (Mobile Network Operator). As of this writing, there are three nationwide MNOs in the United States – AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. You may also be aware of U.S. Cellular, the company that brought you U.S. Cellular Field. You know, the place where the White Sox play which now has the wonderful name, Guaranteed Rate Field? The reason for that change is that U.S. Cellular pulled-out of the Chicago area in 2013 and now is more of a regional carrier. They do business in some areas of Illinois and Wisconsin, but not in these parts of the woods.

By now, you may be saying to yourself, “But I just saw a TV commercial with Ted Danson, telling me how great Consumer Cellular is. Isn’t that a cell phone company?” Or maybe you saw Ryan Reynolds, hawking Mint Mobile. While those indeed are cell phone companies, they are what is referred to as an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator). The last time I checked, there were close to 100 of these companies that are doing business. The big difference is that MVNOs lease their hardware from an MNO at bulk prices. They are third-party providers. So, when you sign-up with Ryan Reynolds, you are actually using T-Mobile’s cellular towers. I won’t get too deep into the woods here because I wrote a separate blog on the differences between MNOs and MVNOs. I suggest you read “The Hell in Cell” if you want to learn more about their differences.

This brings us to the headline of this post and DISH (Digital Sky Highway) Network. Most of us think of television when we think of DISH Network. They launched (and I do mean launched since they are a satellite TV company) their service as EchoStar Communications Company in March of 1996. In 2007, EchoStar spun-off some of its assets and re-branded their satellite-TV service as DISH Network. While the company began to grow its subscription base because its pricing was generally lower, it faced a lot of competition both from cable-TV companies as well as DirecTV, who was first in the satellite space, having “launched” some two years earlier.

Given all that competition and all those satellites orbiting around planet Earth, DISH decided to expand into other services. One, that did not work very well, was their over 400-million-dollar acquisition of Blockbuster Video in a 2011 bankruptcy auction. While that one was not exactly a blockbuster deal, DISH kept on acquiring more stuff. They even took a run at buying streaming service Hulu, but that failed. It all culminated into them jumping into the cellular world.

In 2019 as satellites circled Earth, the cellular planets aligned. Back then, there were four nationwide MNOs with Sprint being the fourth. When a merger between T-Mobile and Sprint was announced, in order to get regulatory approval, T-Mobile (the surviving name) had to spin-off some of the assets of Sprint. And guess who was around to purchase those assets? That’s right. In July of 2020, DISH stepped-up to the plate and spent 1.4 billion dollars in order to purchase Boost Mobile, an MVNO that had been owned by Sprint. With this purchase, DISH officially entered the cellular business. But that was just part of DISH Network’s plans. They also stated their intentions to start their own 5G network, capable of reaching 70% of the U.S. population, by the middle of 2023. This would make them the first new MNO in several decades.

As their new network builds-out (it is called “Project Genesis” for now), DISH has expanded its MVNO game by, in addition to owning Boost Mobile, acquiring Ting and Republic Wireless. While all that was going on, Project Genesis has seen the light in over 120 cities across the USA. As I write this, there are no signs of DISH’s new network active in Northern Illinois. However, it’s likely coming in later 2023. For now, it is possible to get a taste of how things will be with a product from DISH called Boost Infinite. Not to be confused with Boost Mobile, which is a prepaid service and operates as an MVNO, Boost Infinite offers postpaid plans as well as other products and services which make it more like an MNO. In fact, from what I’ve seen, when the dust settles, Boost Infinite may become the new name for DISH Network’s new MNO service.

So, what does all this mean to us? Simply put, more competition means better value. Already, cellular price plans are dropping faster than the Bears’ record in the NFC North Division. These days, it’s hard to turn on your TV for more than ten minutes without seeing Ted Danson, Ryan Reynolds or Albert Einstein (aka Paul Giamatti) trying to sell you cellular service. And let’s not forget AT&T’s “Lily” or that T-Mobile lawyer-impersonating guy. Most of these commercials mention price. While there is a whole lot of fine print to decipher, there is no doubt that plan rates are dropping and the price war is likely to continue, especially with the first new MNO in decades about to enter the fray. In fact, DISH’s Boost Infinite is already making waves by offering a $25 a month “forever” unlimited talk, text and data plan with no activation fees and only one line needed.

However (and this is a BIG however), neither price, nor the sales-abilities of Paul, Ryan, Ted, Lily or that “I’m not a lawyer, but I play one on TV" guy should be the only metric on which you should judge all these companies. With some of them, you need to determine if you are tech-savvy enough to install and activate your phone. Otherwise, be prepared to spend some quality time with customer service on the phone or online. Also, no matter which carrier you chose, read the fine print! For example, the Boost Infinite plan that I mention above will slow your speed down after you use 30 GB of data in a month. That may or may not be enough data for your needs, but knowledge is power.

Finally, as a new MNO, DISH is bound to have some kinks to work out. For example, I recently walked into a Boost Mobile store. Remember, Boost Mobile is NOT the same as Boost Infinite. So, when I asked the person behind the counter if he could tell me about Boost Infinite, he looked at me with a strange expression and said that they did not sell Boost Infinite in that store. What's more, he could not give me any information on it. Until Boost Infinite (or whatever they end up calling it) has dedicated brick-and-mortar stores and can serve you an entire cellular meal, there is going to be consumer, and for that matter, employee confusion. As of this writing, I would look at them a hybrid, offering many MNO benefits but some of the challenges of an MVNO.

For now, if you are uncomfortable doing business online or on the phone, I would wait until you can walk into a DISH, Boost Infinite or whatever-they-name-it store and have a real person assist you. If and when stores open, I predict the arrival of activation fees. But I'll also predict that the price war among cell phone plan suppliers will continue to dish-out lower prices.