Regional carriers are notorious for poor coverage but when the region is the Hawaiian Islands, it can be a very good match.

Mobi PCS is a local carrier that has been around for about five years. They operate on a model similar to Metro/Cricket. Unlimited , low prices, local service.

They have allowed byod for a couple of years and it has helped them gain a strong foothold on the Islands, especially on the island of Oahu, which is the most densely populated. It appears less popular on the more rural neighbor islands like Kauai, Maui and Hawaii (Big Island) as the coverage of Verizon and Att (and to some degree Nextel/Boost/iden) appears to be superior out there.

It is estimated nearly 200,000 people out of a state of just over 1 million use this service making it second only to Tmobile.

Most dealers use Houdinisoft to allow talk/text byod but there are a handful of dealers who specialize in flashing (or "unlocking" as it is referred to in Hawaii) full data/mms for advanced phones like Android devices, Winmo phones and even Blackberries (w/o Bis/Bes).

Mobi currently offers an Android service addon. Winmo, Palm OS (obsolete) and Blackberry devices don't get charged smartphone plans rates at this time if they are able to be used on Mobi.

Flashing a phone to Mobi is easy compared to Metro/Pocket as you DON'T have to be a dealer to upload a esn to their database. All you have to do is call in the esn to CS and you are in.

Finding information on how to flash to Mobi outside of Houdinisoft is hard to find and is a jealously guarded secret among the few top flashers who can do the advanced stuff here locally. However, if one is an expert at Cricket, it is supposed to be very similar to being able to do Mobi.

Mobi , like most regionals, once had a rep for spotty coverage but with new towers and roaming agreements (especially nationally), this is changing.

In this economy, they are rapidly the fastest growing (and most popular) prepaid/byod wireless carrier in the state.

Aloha!