Mobile internet customers using the popular
Millenicom service got a nasty shock late last week, as the company
announced suddenly that Verizon was taking control of their entire customer base and they would take no further part in customer accounts or internet service. A couple days later, most of Millenicom’s employees were laid off and the company is no longer responding to chat, email or phone calls.
To add to the confusion about the sudden announcement, Verizon is also staying mum about exactly what sorts of offers they will have for former Millenicom customers or exactly what happened.
Consumers report that Verizon customer service reps don’t have any information yet and were unable to help alleviate the confusion.
For the last six years or so, Millenicom has been operating as a Verizon MVNO (of sorts) selling internet and some international mobile services. According to the articles I read, it seems like
Millenicom’s contract with Verizon ended and they were simply unable to come to an arrangement that didn’t involve them going out of business. What is so surprising is the speed in which this happened–3Gstore reported that last weekend they were contacted by Millenicom and asked to stop signing up new customers until they could complete ‘negociations’ with Verizon. No one seems really sure exactly what happened, but clearly things didn’t go in Millenicom’s favor.
But, what everyone is likely wondering is what will happen to all of Millenicom’s customer accounts? Well, all of the articles I read had slightly different thoughts on the matter, but it all boiled down to the same phrase: We just don’t know very much. Verizon hasn’t said whether or not they will grandfather Millenicom plans (which are far superior to what Verizon currently offers) or what deals they will offer for new customers. We aren’t even sure
when such an announcement is going to be made.
What is for certain is that Millenicom is pretty well done for, and that all customers are going to have the option to switch to Verizon. It’s likely that you’ll be able to use the same device, as Millenicom used Verizon’s service to begin with. Much more than that is pretty well
speculation at this point.
Whenever I hear more news, I’ll be sure to post an update. Until then, hang in there!]]>
