Charge Blog

The end of Charge’s mobile service

At Charge our mission is to help usher in a future where mobile connectivity is simpler and priced more transparently. We want to make it easy for customers to pay only for the services they need. We made a lot of progress towards that goal with our LTE mobile data-only

Back to our data-only roots

When we started Charge, we wanted to help usher in a future where mobile connectivity was simpler and priced more transparently. We wanted to make it easy for customers to pay only for the mobile services they need. So we launched our LTE data-only plan for all Sprint-compatible devices in

International adventures in iPhone CDMA compatibility

For a long time now we've had some customers with iPhones receive a SIM and activate it from their Charge account, only to report some very strange behavior when they pop the SIM into their device. The status bar will show "Sprint LTE" for somewhere between two and

Adding voice and SMS monthly plans

We’re very proud to have reached so many people in the short couple of months since launching our data-only mobile internet plan. We’ve sold more than 750 gigabytes so far, and created many happy customers in the process. If you’re already a customer, thanks very much for

Using a Netgear 341U as a backup connection for your WiFi router

There are a lot of things inside our homes besides our computers and mobile devices connected to the internet today. Thermostats, coffee machines, refrigerators and vacuum cleaners can now all depend on an internet connection for critical functions. And that makes the WiFi router in your home a very important

Introducing Charge Mobile Data

For too long, mobile carriers have offered service plans on their terms. Contracts, activation fees, usage caps, absurdly high overage rates and breakage were all standard. We were all beat down into complacency by lack of competition. Things were the way they were, and at some point most of us

Charge

Questions to Carriers: Why do You Charge to Share Data Between Devices?

The number of connected devices in the world overtook the number of people on earth in 2014. The same year, nearly half a billion new connected devices were activated. Among those device activations were smartphones, tablets, mobile hotspots and wearables to name a few. And all those newly-connected devices helped

Charge

Questions to Carriers: Why does mobile data expire?

By now most of us are accustomed to the way mobile carriers price their data plans. We typically drop $20 to $50 each month on a few gigabytes. If we use more than our monthly data allotment we’re hit with inflated overage fees, but if we don’t use

Charge

Stages of Thanksgiving 2015 in GIFs

Yay, Turkey Day has finally arrived! It is only the first of a series of eating events (aka family gatherings) that mark the official holiday season in the US. Unbuckle your belts, exercise your bellies and prepare for extended family exposure, Thanksgiving is officially upon us. We would like to

questions to carriers

Questions to Carriers: Why Do Mobile Carriers Bundle Their Services?

Have you ever wondered why mobile carriers bundle all their services together? In a recent Charge blog post, we discovered that the vast majority of activities we do on our mobile devices use data only. But mobile carriers don’t offer data-only plans for phones. In fact, it’s actually

CDMA

VoLTE, what does it mean for devices, coverage and your mobile service?

Last week, T-Mobile announced that ⅓ of its calls are now made over VoLTE. Verizon deployed nationwide VoLTE in September of 2014 and in the same FierceWireless article stated it has sold over 35 million VoLTE-capable devices since the launch. The acronym, meaning “voice over LTE” seems to be the latest

Charge

Why can't I have a data-only plan for my smartphone?

Today 68% of American adults own a smartphone. That is approximately 216,852,000 of us. But have you really ever thought about how much time you spend using that device? According to recent studies, we spend anywhere from 3.3 hours (pdf) to 4.7 hours per day on

charge messenger

10 Cat GIFs for National Cat Day

Grumpy Cat is likely the most famous cat on earth with over 8,151,214 Facebook likes to date. For some perspective that is more likes than the San Francisco 49ers, Kendrick Lamar and every single Republican candidate in last night’s GOP debate. So yeah, she is pretty famous.

questions to carriers

Questions to Carriers: Will LTE Bands Lock Us to a Specific Network?

The US mobile market is undergoing a ton of change. Just over the past few months we saw Verizon follow T-Mobile’s lead and do away with contracts. All four major carriers now unbundle device payments from service payments. Device manufacturers, like Apple and Samsung, started to roll out their

iOS

Charge Messenger Gets A Design Upgrade on iOS

Back in August we officially rolled out Charge Messenger for web alongside important upgrades to our iOS and Android apps. Since then our team has been hard at work making updates and integrating feedback from you to make Charge Messenger the best it can be on all platforms. Today we

questions to carriers

Questions to Carriers: What is 3G, 4G and LTE?

Last week, Questions to Carriers started to explain the constantly changing scope of mobile networks within the US. We broke down the difference between CDMA and GSM network infrastructures, which has been a hurdle for consumers in terms of devices and carrier switching. But now manufacturers are creating phones that

Chargecomm

Questions to Carriers: What is CDMA and GSM?

When shopping for a new phone you are faced with a lot of acronyms, from GSM and CDMA to 3G, 4G, LTE and now even 5G too. For US mobile consumers, the mobile service (and device) market is constantly changing, making it difficult to keep up-to-date with the latest in

GIF

7 GIF Reactions to Group Messaging

Everyone has been part of a group message that drives them insane right? Sometimes its a complete fail from incompatible phone operating systems. Other times, your phone won't stop buzzing when you're at work. But more often than not, it's just a conversation you really don't even care about. Charge

Charge

Questions to Carriers: What are prepaid, postpaid and no contract plans?

Over the last year, US consumers have seen some major shifts in the mobile carrier market. From rolling data options to doing away with contracts, carriers seem to continually attempt to one-up one another to convince consumers to switch providers. The most recent transition in the four-carrier power struggle is

GIF

Top 5 GIF Reactions to the iPhone 6s Release

Today marks the release of the iPhone 6S/6S Plus and boy are people excited! We used the +gif button in Charge Messenger to find some hilarious reactions to being one of the first to own the coveted new model. 1. "Yeah I got it, no big deal"

Charge

Is AppleCare+ really worth it? Apple's Coverage vs. Carrier Phone Insurance Compared

Last week, we discovered most phone upgrade programs are contracts in disguise. If consumers opt for one of the financing/upgrade plans from Sprint, Verizon or AT&T, they are forced to use service provided by that carrier as well. Meaning, these programs are a lot more like the

AT&T

Phone Upgrade Programs are Contracts in "Disguise"

The Internet erupted with joy last Wednesday when Apple introduced its own iPhone Upgrade Program to compete with the new phone upgrade plans emerging from mobile carriers. Apple’s program allows consumers to pay for a new unlocked iPhone in installments over 24 months and activate service from any of

Charge

Charge Messenger 101: How to Invite Contacts

Charge Messenger is a cross-platform messaging app that keeps your conversations synchronized across all devices. Now you'll never miss a message when you can stay connected on Android, iOS and the web. We know you want to GIF-roulette already, but first things first, you gotta learn how to invite your

Phone Numbers Are Stuck In The Dark Ages. Why?

Remember the days of desktop email clients? Me neither. It was what feels like a nano-second in time, before the emergence of Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, the now all-powerful GMail and the multitude of other webmail solutions available today. ![Outlook 2016](/blog/content/images/2015/08/giphy--55-.gif) The original idea

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Introducing Charge Messenger for the Web

Today we are excited to announce the rollout of Charge Messenger for web, as well as a significant version upgrade to our mobile apps on iOS and Android! With this update, contacts and messages seamlessly sync across all your signed-in devices, including web. So you can continue to "+gif&