Helio Review: Only for the technology savvy users
Written by admin on October 23rd, 2007 in Helio Reviews.
Founded by Earthlink and launched in May 2006, Helio is possibly the smallest of all cellular service providers. When they started offering services to customers in the USA, they leased lines from Sprint to provide the service. Helio, having a major corporate backing from SK Telecom in Korea, intends to target a certain group of users with its technologically advanced phones. Strategically, this cuts down Helio’s market size by 50% even before the phones hit the market.
Benefits of Helio
Sophisticated phones with cutting edge technology: Helio offers phones that are different and more sophisticated than the traditional fare. Helio offers handsets to users who have a taste for technology and technical gizmos.
Good roaming features: Helio leases the lines of Sprint to provide its services. In the areas where Sprint does not work well, Helio Phones go onto automatic toggling mode to the network of ALLTEL, US Cellular. This allows customers of Helio to stay connected with their Helio Phone wherever they go in the United States.
Unlimited Data Plans: Helio phone users benefit tremendously from free unlimited data plans. This allows unlimited text to be exchanged through the mobile phones. This could be a welcome relief for all the users who had limitations with their earlier phone service providers.
Disadvantages of Helio
High sophistication does not allow all the customers to use Helio Phones: Helio phones are highly sophisticated and technical to use. Though the tech-savvy customers would like this characteristic, the common man who wants a simple mobile phone for his use could find it too difficult to handle. This is one of the reasons why Helio’s market share till 2007 has been hovering around 70,000 users.
Unlimited Data plans with a limit: Helio offers unlimited data plans to its users, but there is a limit to which the users can access these data plans. A usage of more than 160 Megabytes of EVDO would mean a violation of the user’s agreement. This violation could also result in the user’s account being terminated by Helio.
No dedicated lines and network: All other major cellular service providers in the United States have their own lines and network, but Helio does not. Helio still leases lines from Sprint and gets into a roaming mode with ALLTEL and US Cellular. When customers complain of poor call quality using a Helio phone, it could potentially take a long time for Helio to fix this issue due to the arrangement of leasing lines from other carriers.
Overall Rating (5/10): If a technologically advanced phone with unlimited data plans fit your cell phone needs, then Helio is potentially the right choice for you. However, if you are looking for consistent coverage and a more user-friendly phone, then you might want to compare your other cell phone carrier options.
