Playing with Fire: A new MVNO, Simple Mobile, has entered the arena

Screen shot 2009-11-16 at [ November 16 ] 12.31.50 PM

What do you mean, US MVNOs are generally doomed from the start? Sure, Helio went under. Yeah yeah, so did Disney Mobile. And Mobile ESPN. And Amp’d, Voce, and Sonopia. Thats only what, a billion dollars or so thrown down the drain? Don’t be such a naysayer.

The MVNO game is one hell of a risky business, but it seems like no one told the folks at Simple Mobile that. Earlier this morning, this fledgling MVNO opened its doors to all major US markets, plus Puerto Rico.

Their pitch: you bring your own GSM phone, and they’ll provide the service. Their no-contract, no-credit check plans range from $40-$55 bucks a month. $40 gets you unlimited nationwide talk, $45 gets you talk/text, and $50 gets you all of the above with a somewhat paltry 20MB data allotment for web and picture messaging.

With their biggest data plan capping out at 40 MB, it’s certainly not a carrier for the data-hungry – but if you don’t use much data, have a GSM phone laying around, and are within their coverage zones, it might be worth checking out. Just don’t get too attached.

[Via Phonescoop]