MLM Wireless Distributor’s Delusion Exposed: Walmart To Release Its Own Cell-Phone Plan: $45/Mo. For Unlimited Talk/Text And 100 MB Of Data — With No Contract Or Credit Check

UPDATED 9:32 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) If you’ve been bashing your brains out in an unsuccessful bid to sell cell-phone packages MLM-style — and if you believed Data Network Affiliates (DNA) when it said in April that it was offering an unlimited talk and text package for $10 a month with a free phone — you have one week left to snap out of your delusion that DNA is your ticket to MLM wireless riches.

You also have a week left to snap out of your delusion that various wireless MLM companies are going to sue each other into magical prosperity and raid customers/prospects and distributors from other wireless MLM firms — and use the customers/prospects and distributors to amass giants pots of wealth that are going to create a new wave of MLM millionaires.

On Sept. 20, Walmart is introducing Walmart Family Mobile, its first self-branded wireless plan. The service will operate on the T-Mobile network and is billed as providing a “family of three savings of up to $1,200 per year.”

The monthly cost is $45 for unlimited talk and text. A line for a second family member is only $25, and 100MB of data per family is included at no extra charge.

“Activated accounts come with a free preloaded 100MB WebPak — which provides access to the internet — for every line of service,” Walmart said. “The WebPak is shared among all lines on an account and unused data never expires.”

Walmart said that additional WebPak refill cards can be purchased at its retail stores or website.

The plan, which is targeted at families that like to talk and text in carefree volume at a set fee and are not heavy users of cell phones to access the Internet, comes with the best of both prepaid and postpaid wireless service.

“Walmart Family Mobile has phones for the whole family from Samsung, Motorola and Nokia, including phones with the Android Operating System, QWERTY keyboard, touch screens and other features,” Walmart said. “Since there is no annual contract, customers can upgrade anytime by purchasing a new handset with no extra fees or contract commitment.”

There is no credit check with the plan. Customers do have to purchase a phone, meaning that no free phone will be provided in return for a contract commitment.

The Associated Press is reporting that a low-end phone is available for $35 and a high-end phone is available for $249.

Walmart also offers plans known as Common Cents and StraightTalk that appeal to specific groups of customers interested in paying between $20 and $45 a month, depending on their usage patterns and personal tastes.

Walmart said earlier this year that more than 1 million people had become prepaid StraightTalk customers in the months after the plan was made available in 2009. StraightTalk has two monthly price points — $30 and $45 — depending on a customer’s usage pattern and personal tastes. Common Cents, meanwhile, provides a cell-phone plan that meets many customers usage patterns and personal tastes for $20 a month prepaid.

Some wireless companies that operate as MLMs have been scrambling to maintain relevance as Walmart and major cell-phone carriers have concentrated on creating plans that reduce costs and fit the needs of customers across the purchasing and usage spectrum. There has been considerable unease and infighting in the MLM wireless sphere as distributors battle for the business of a limited universe of people interested in purchasing plans from commission-based MLM salespeople when a simple trip to Walmart or a cell-phone store can give them what they need at an attractive price.

Did you really believe that DNA could provide unlimited talk and text for $10 a month with a free phone?

And when DNA later unannounced its $10 unlimited plan with a free phone — while at once acknowledging it had no experience in the cell-phone business and hadn’t studied pricing plans before announcing “GAME OVER” and declaring itself the world’s low-price leader — did you really believe that anything it said could be taken seriously moving forward?

Some affiliate pitches still are claiming DNA offers unlimited talk and text for $10 a month with a free phone. It is unclear if DNA, which also purports to collect data that can help the government and the AMBER ALERT program rescue abducted children, has any cell-phone plan or any relationship with any carrier or provider.

DNA, which has an “F” rating from the Better Business Bureau, also has told churches that it was their “MORAL OBLIGATION” to pitch a purported, commission-based mortgage-reduction program targeted at people who are facing foreclosure.

The company described the purported mortgage-reduction program as a “Church Fundraisers (sic) DREAM Come True.”