SPRINT STARTS WIRELESS INTERNET!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday September 20, 8:04 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Sprint PCS
Sprint Announces 'Grand Opening of the Wireless Internet' with Nationwide Availability of the Sprint PCS Wireless Web
Sprint PCS Offers Customers a Broad Variety of Internet-Ready Wireless Phones and Best of News and Information from Bloomberg.com, CNN Mobile, InfoSpace.com, MapQuest.com, Yahoo! and Others
KANSAS CITY, Mo., Sept. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Sprint today announced nationwide availability of the Sprint PCS Wireless Web, a suite of simple, user-friendly wireless data products and services. Through recent agreements with leading content providers such as Bloomberg.com, CNN Mobile, InfoSpace.com and MapQuest.com, Sprint PCS customers can now browse the best of the wireless Internet straight from their Internet-ready Sprint PCS Phones. Additionally, the Sprint PCS Wireless Web offers the ability to customize and receive important news, email and information updates from Yahoo! as well as dial into a corporate Intranet or the Internet using a Sprint PCS Phone in place of a modem connected to a laptop, personal digital assistant (PDA) or other handheld computing device. A national advertising campaign, launched today, marks the kickoff of the Sprint PCS Wireless Web.
Unlike the complicated and expensive wireless data offerings of the past, pricing for the Sprint PCS Wireless Web follows the same clear and simple value-oriented principles that Sprint PCS has brought to nationwide wireless voice calling. Sprint PCS customers can try Sprint PCS Wireless Web services for less than $10 a month simply by adding a Wireless Web Option to their current price plan $29.99 and above. Additionally, Sprint PCS offers a range of all-in-one Sprint PCS Wireless Web Plans that include both voice and wireless web minutes in a single bundle, enabling customers to mix and match their voice and wireless web minutes as needed.
Sprint PCS Wireless Web Plans:
-- Sprint PCS Wireless Web Option -- $9.99 per month offers 50 wireless
web minutes and 50 Wireless Web Updates from Yahoo! that may be added
to any Sprint PCS Service Plan $29.99 per month and above.
-- Sprint PCS Wireless Web Plan -- $59.99 per month for 300 anytime,
anywhere voice/wireless web minutes and 200 Wireless Web Updates from
Yahoo! (includes free long-distance calling to any number in the U.S.
from a Sprint PCS Phone on the nationwide Sprint PCS wireless network)
-- Sprint PCS Wireless Web Plan -- $89.99 per month for 500 anytime,
anywhere voice/wireless web minutes and 200 Wireless Web Updates from
Yahoo! (includes free long-distance calling to any number in the U.S.
from a Sprint PCS Phone on the nationwide Sprint PCS wireless network)
-- Sprint PCS Wireless Web Plan -- $129.99 per month for 800 anytime,
anywhere voice/wireless web minutes and 200 Wireless Web Updates from
Yahoo! (includes free long-distance calling to any number in the U.S.
from a Sprint PCS Phone on the nationwide Sprint PCS wireless network)
-- Sprint PCS Wireless Web Plan -- $179.99 per month for 1200 anytime,
anywhere voice/wireless web minutes and 200 Wireless Web Updates from
Yahoo! (includes free long-distance calling to any number in the U.S.
from a Sprint PCS Phone on the nationwide Sprint PCS wireless network)
* Wireless Web minutes are defined as minutes used for Wireless Web
Browser and Wireless Web Connection.
** Each additional voice/wireless web minute is $.30 with the $9.99 add-on
option and $59.99 plan; $.25 with plans $89.99 and above. Each
additional Wireless Web Update is $.10.
``The Sprint PCS Wireless Web represents a pivotal development in our company's effort to offer consumers and businesses a single clear and simple tool for all of their wireless voice and data communications needs,' said Andrew Sukawaty, president of Sprint PCS. ``Customer interest in our wireless web products and services has been extremely positive and we're very excited to be on the leading edge of this new evolution in wireless communications.'
The Sprint PCS Wireless Web features three distinct offerings that will allow consumers and business users to access the information they need -- when they need it -- on the largest all-digital Sprint PCS nationwide wireless network for voice and wireless Internet:
-- SPRINT PCS WIRELESS WEB BROWSER: Sprint PCS customers whose phones are
equipped with a simplified Phone.com MiniBrowser designed especially
for wireless phones will be able to connect to select Internet-based
content "real time," whenever they want, using their Sprint PCS Phones
to interactively browse specially-designed text versions of popular web
sites. Sprint PCS has licensed the Phone.com UP.Link Server Suite,
which enables the MiniBrowser functionality on Sprint PCS Phones. Via
partnerships with industry-leading content providers, such as
Bloomberg.com, InfoSpace.com, MapQuest.com and CNN Mobile, Sprint PCS
customers will be able to stay in touch with important, personalized
information while "on the go."
-- SPRINT PCS WIRELESS WEB UPDATES FROM YAHOO! This service allows
customers to receive automatic updates straight from Yahoo! directly on
their Sprint PCS Phones. The customized updates from Yahoo! include
such topic areas as sports, weather reports, stock quotes, horoscopes
and news headlines. Users simply set up a personalized page on the
Yahoo! website (using any computer with Internet access), and select in
advance what updates they want and what time(s) they want to receive
the updates on their Sprint PCS Phones. This service operates as part
of the Sprint PCS Wireless Web Messaging Service (formerly Text
Messaging or SMS) which is currently available to all Sprint PCS
customers and will be available nationwide on October 3, 1999.
-- SPRINT PCS WIRELESS WEB CONNECTION: Sprint PCS customers will be able
to do virtually anything they do today while tethered to a wireline
wall jack -- "on the go," and wirelessly. The Sprint PCS Wireless Web
Connection will allow users with laptops, palmtops or other personal
digital assistants (PDAs) to connect to information through the
nation's largest all-digital, all-PCS nationwide wireless network for
voice and wireless Internet. Designed with the mobile workforce in
mind, Wireless Web Connection is the latest offering within The Sprint
PCS Clear Wireless Workplace -- a suite of simple, flexible wireless
business solutions. Wireless Web Connection allows Sprint PCS
customers to use their Sprint PCS Phones in place of a modem and wall
jack to connect to their important, personal information tools and
corporate networking content, such as email, schedules, task lists,
contacts/address books, order forms and key documents.
To make is simple for customers to begin using wireless web services, Sprint PCS offers a variety of Internet-ready phones starting as low as $99. All Sprint PCS Phones have text messaging capabilities -- such as the existing Sprint PCS Wireless Web Messaging (Text Messaging) and Numeric Paging -- and automatically will be capable of supporting Sprint PCS Wireless Web Updates from Yahoo! Most Sprint PCS Phones launched in 1999 and beyond will feature MiniBrowser and mobile connectivity capabilities out of the box as well. Additionally, many older Sprint PCS Phones can be connectivity-enabled with a simple software upgrade and the purchase of a Sprint PCS Wireless Web Connection Kit (one modest cable and Sprint PCS Dialer software which is available at a special introductory price of $99.99 for consumers and $29.99 for business customers through December 31, 1999).
Sprint PCS operates the largest all-digital, all-PCS nationwide wireless network in the United States, already serving the majority of the nation's metropolitan areas including more than 4,000 cities and communities across the country. Sprint PCS has licensed PCS coverage of nearly 270 million people in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For more information, visit the Sprint PCS web site at sprintpcs.com . Sprint PCS is a wholly-owned tracking group of Sprint Corporation trading on the NYSE under the symbol ``PCS.'
Sprint is a global communications company at the forefront in integrating long distance, local and wireless communications services and one of the world's largest carriers of Internet traffic. Sprint built and operates the United States' only nationwide all-digital, fiber optic network and is a leader in advanced data communications services. Sprint has $17 billion in annual revenues and serves more than 20 million business and residential customers.
Yahoo! is a registered trademark of Yahoo! Inc. All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Up.Link Server is a trademark of Phone.com, Inc.
May not be immediately available in all markets managed locally by Sprint PCS affiliate partners. See store for details.
SOURCE: Sprint PCS |
