Introduced in the United States in 2001, Boost Mobile, an MVNO that relies on Sprint Nextel as its bandwith carrier, was initially established to align its prepaid mobile phone services to a younger subscriber base. Prior to its nationwide expansion from its initial coverage in California and Nevada, Boost Mobile joined the Sprint Nextel group as a subsidiary, with Sprint Nextel taking full ownership of the prepaid MVNO in 2003.

Today, Boost Mobile still maintains its selling point of delivering simple prepaid pay-as-you-go and prepaid unlimited monthly services, requiring no lengthy commitments, activation fees, pre-termination fees, and monthly bills.

Since many of the Boost Mobile prepaid handsets work with Nextel’s iDEN network, these handsets allow users to take advantage of the walkie-talkie service but only in areas where iDEN signal is available. Such feature has become popular among workers, engineers, and those whose daily operations require constant communication without incurring hefty mobile usage charges.

iDEN’s weakness, however, became more imminent with the growing global demand for smartphones. The infrastructure, in essence, cannot fully support many features that these advanced mini-computers provide, consequently leading to talks about converting Nextel’s iDEN infrastructures to CDMA altogether.

Boost Mobile Unlimited Plans:Boost Mobile prepaid subscribers may choose the Daily Unlimited prepaid plan for only $2 per day. Unlimited usage already includes airtime, text messaging, MMS, web data, email, and walkie-talkie. However, with a $50 Boost Mobile prepaid unlimited monthly refill, one can enjoy unlimited texting, calling, picture and text messaging, MMS, web data, email, and walkie-talkie service for 30 days.
Boost Mobile prepaid plans may be purchased from the network’s nationwide retail locations. But for added convenience, Boost Mobile subscribers may purchase prepaid refills on Payless2call, with modes of payment that include credit cards, debit cards, and even Paypal.

Text Messaging:$0.10/msg sent and received.

Data Services:Mutli-Media Messaging (Pictures, Audio, Video -- available on select phones) is $0.25/msg sent or received. Web access: is $0.35/day for unlimited use.

Long Distance: Domestic LD and Roaming: $1.50 toll access and regular anytime minute rate. Roaming is included. International Calling: Call Boost Customer Care to enable international dialing. Calls to Mexico and Canada are $0.10 / min, and calls to the Dominican Republic are $0.20 / min. For more rate details please visit the boost mobile website.

Features: Boost Mobile-to-Mobile: Talk to any Sprint PCS, Boost, and most Nextel subscribers for $0.10/min. All incoming and outgoing calls are charged $0.10/min. Boost Voicemail & Caller ID included. Boost Walkie Talkie : $1.00/day for unlimited use. Boost 411.

Network:Nextel (IDEN)

Coverage:Nationwide Coverage. See provider for more details

Carrier Contact:www.boostmobile.com or 1-888-BOOST-4U

Usage Instruction: Boost Mobile is required to be provided in the shopping cart, and minutes will be directly loaded to the provided Boost mobile number.