It’s not often that we see an MVNO that offers international roaming capabilities. Page Plus, however, is an exception. They recently announced an international roaming program that covers Mexico, Canada, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Calls to Mexico and Bermuda will cost $1.10 per minute, and calls to Puerto Rico, Canada, and the Virgin Islands will be 60 cents per minute. Text messages in any of those areas are 25 cents to receive, 50 cents to send.

It’s getting harder to believe, but there were days when prepaid phones were limited to very basic and usually outdated models. That still exists, of course, but over the years we’ve seen prepaid companies upgrade their offerings. Now, instead of offering only three- and four-year-old phones, some companies are offering two-year-old phones — and some are even offering new models. Earlier thi year we saw MetroPCS introduce the BlackBerry Curve 8330. Since then they and other carriers have added more advanced devices. T-Mobile jumped into the fray this week with their new deal, T-Mobile Complete.

Cell phone companies are always expanding their coverage. It seems like every few days there’s a press release about Verizon or AT&T expanding coverage in a part of a state. Yet I’m much more interested in the expansions of the regional carriers. They have a limited range of network, so when they add markets it’s actually a significant move. The latest comes from Cricket, which has expanded coverage in Louisiana. This includes the areas of Lake Charles, extending from the Texas border to the town of Crowley. This brings Cricket an additional 241,000 covered POPs.

Over the course of this year we’ve seen not only new prepaid companies, but older companies rolling out new plans to better fit the current wireless market. The latest to update is kajeet, the cell phone service for kids — mainly those in the “tween” ages, between 8 and 12. They’ve altered their Basic, Great Deal, and Special Plans, and have added to their Bundled Plans, which include unlimited text messaging. Details of the changes after the jump.

The competition among prepaid carriers has increased sharply in 2009. Before, there were only a few companies offering flat-rate, unlimited services. But since Boost Mobile introduced its $50 unlimited talk, text, and Web plan, a number of prepaid companies have switched to a similar offering. We’ve even seen a number of new carriers pop up with a similar offer. The latest, as we learned yesterday, is Simple Mobile. It’s an MVNO, and judging by the coverage map, it operates on the T-Mobile network. This is a rarity — I can’t recall any other MVNOs using T-Mobile.

When Straight Talk debuted earlier this year, it was met with a warm reception. The pricing was right, and the company included enough services (including data and 411) to keep most users happy. In that initial marketing phase, there had been talk of the Samsung R810, but that faded a bit after a while. Now a Howard Forums user has noticed that R810 is spec sheet is on the Straight Talk website.

When a device passes the FCC, oftentimes we don’t know which carrier will pick it up. We do get ideas sometimes. For instance, if it’s an AWS device, you know it’s going to MetroPCS or Cricket. If it’s an iDEN device, it’s going to Boost or Nextel. The latest device to pass through (relevant to us, at least) is the Motorola i680. It features GPS, Bluetooth, a camera (undetermined megapixels) with flash and video capture, and two displays. It also has microSD expansion and a headphone jack, signaling multimedia capabilities. This might just go straight to postpaid, but given Boost’s need to revamp its handset lineup, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this hit Boost in time for the holidays.

MetroPCS is getting happy with the handsets lately. Yesterday we learned about two handsets that should be headed their way soon, the Motorola Quantico and the Huawei M228. In the latter post, we also learned of two other Huawei devices that could also hit Metro in the future. The latest in their lineup: the Kyocera Laylo. Photos were outed on Howard Forums. It’s a pretty basic slider, featuring a 320 x 240 pixel, 2.2 inch screen, Bluetooth, and a 1.3 megapixel camera. It seems like we’re seeing a lot of this type of phone. Mid-level seems to be the place to be, if we’re assuming manufacturers are releasing devices based on consumer demand. There’s no word yet on pricing or availability.

It looks like MetroPCS is going to launch another handset from Huawei. The M750 touchscreen seems like a popular model, but the follow-up doesn’t look as impressive. The Huawei M228, found on Unwired View, looks like a basic candy bar model. The folks at Bluetooth.org, however, describe it as “a wireless terminal designed as a mobile office for the business persons.” So I’m interested to learn more, but we don’t have anything additional at the time.

In a bit of further good news, Unwired View outs two more Huawei models, a full-QWERTY and another touchscreen. They could easily hit Metro as well.

We cover every possible new prepaid handset, and after a while it becomes rote. IT seems like every phone features a 1.3 megapixel camera (or worse, VGA), Bluetooth, and maybe microSD expansion, but not much else. That pretty much describes the Motorola Quantico, which the company officially announced yesterday. Like the Morotola i335, the Quantico is built from chrome, glass, mesh, and rubber, and features military-spec 810F compliance, which means it can handle drops and spills. There’s no word on pricing or carriers, but because it’s an AWS phone we can expect a release through MetroPCS and possibly Cricket.