Up until now, there were basically two ways to get Sprint service. You could go with a contract, or you could use one of Sprint’s prepaid carriers (Boost or Virgin Mobile).

Now it seems that Sprint wants to deliver prepaid services directly under its own brand with its “Sprint as you go” service, which will launch with four handsets on the 25th of January.

So what are the phones like? For smartphones we have the $249 Samsung Victory and $149 LG Optimus Elite. For feature phones, you have a choice between the $50 Samsung M400 and $79 Array.

As for the plan, you get unlimited talk, text and data for $70 a month if you are using a smartphone, or just $50 unlimited for feature phones.

This isn’t all that different from some of the options that previously exist with Boost and Virgin Mobile, but if you really, really care about having the “Sprint” branding— this might be the perfect service for you.

What contract or prepaid carrier do you use right now? Would you consider a Sprint prepaid device instead?

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Fido to offer new plans beginning March 28

Fido is known as the less expensive canine companion of Rogers Wireless. While I’m not sure if these new price points will save you that much money in the long run, it is good to see some new options. There will be two new monthly prepaid plans made available through Fido by the end of this month.

More specifically, there is a new $19 plan and a new $29 plan to be offered starting March 28th. They say that this is so that they can stay competitive in the expanding Canadian wireless market.

At the $19 price point, you get 50 daytime minutes, 300 evening and weekend minutes, 50 outgoing text messages (Canada), and unlimited incoming text messages. For $29, you get 100 daytime minutes, 1000 evening and weekend minutes, 100 outgoing texts (Canada), and unlimited incoming texts.

For both plans, billing is by the minute and they include call display, voicemail, call waiting, and call forwarding. They’re also offering a $10 activation credit and a $15 bonus credit with online activation (or if an email address is registered with the account). This requires the purchase of a new Fido handset too.

Going over your monthly allotment will cost you $0.40 per minute and $0.15 per text message. Vouchers are available in $10, $20, $30, and $50 denominations.

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The latest rumor on Verizon is that a prepaid BlackBerry data service plan is set to be offered within the next three months. We don’t have specifics just yet, but the plan is expected to be $35 on top of your regular voice plan and we don’t expect many BlackBerry variants to be made available at this deal.

This may be the first time Verizon will offer a smartphone in their prepaid package offerings. Most American carriers are reluctant to make prepaid offers appealing and instead prefer long-term contracts that lock you in, empty your pockets and eat your soul.

At Boost Mobile, their $60/month plan includes unlimited nationwide talk, text, web & email with a BlackBerry smartphone.

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