Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Google Inks Deal With Sprint, T-Mobile to Become Wireless Carrier

Trapezoid

Trapezoid

macrumors 65816
Mar 19, 2014
1,429
0
I really don't see how this benefits Google at all. They'll undoubtedly lose money on this so what's the point? And sprint coverage sucks.
 
T

Tech198

Cancelled
Mar 21, 2011
15,915
2,151
"Positioning itself as a wireless carrier is also part of Google's larger effort to provide better Internet coverage across the United States. "

... and get more ads.. :)
 
AlecZ

AlecZ

macrumors 65816
Sep 11, 2014
1,173
123
Berkeley, CA
vantelimus said:
I suspect it is also a way for them to collect more information about your telephone calls to tie to your Google ID. Do you really want all information on your telecommunications, internet access, advertising response, and purchases held by one company? Who needs the NSA to collect all that information when you willingly give it to a single company that has to comply with secret-court-order demands for your records?
Click to expand...

I don't give a crap as long as it doesn't have anything to do with Google Plus.
 
M

mikefla

macrumors 6502
Feb 27, 2011
450
49
Trapezoid said:
I really don't see how this benefits Google at all. They'll undoubtedly lose money on this so what's the point? And sprint coverage sucks.
Click to expand...

The point is they want to expand their spying capabilities. They don't really care about cost or saving you money. It's all a cover up. Yeah they both suck, 1 suck + 1 suck = 2 stinky socks lol

-Mike

----------
Tech198 said:
"Positioning itself as a wireless carrier is also part of Google's larger effort to provide better Internet coverage across the United States. "

... and get more ads.. :)
Click to expand...

Sure is and spy on you some more, more data more money for them. It's all about the datas...

-Mike

----------
wolfaaron said:
I was just in LA and I averaged 15mb speeds with a high of 50mb. I have family members in NY that have Tmobile and they don't get speeds below 20mb.

As for Orlando, I'm not sure but I imagine that it's a lot better than the last time you tried Tmobile. They've really expanded in the past couple of years.
Click to expand...

Yeah they do have impressive speeds where available. I tested them several times. Unfortunately those fast speeds didn't benefit me, I don't live on a highway!

-Mike

----------
TWSS37 said:
Wonder if they'll insist on installing bloatware on iPhones?
Click to expand...

Yes bloatware made overseas at a discounted rate.

-Mike

----------
unplugme71 said:
You are missing the big picture.

This is a way for Google to build a subscriber base and learn about cellular communications. Google wants to provide you with Fiber cable at home and broadband speeds on your smart phone for a great price. They'll make money whether you buy Apple or Android phones.

And when their customer base hits 500,000 or better, they'll either buy one or both, or create their own network.

Google is shaking up ISPs like T-Mobile is with phone industry.

I love gigabit fiber. Been using it for 2 months. The ability to back up 4TB of data in a few hours offsite is amazing! No more waiting a week. It's done in hours.
Click to expand...

Is this the high speed fiber system you speak of?

http://www.google.com/tisp/install.html

Hahaha

They are not creating anything or saving you peanuts, they are going to spy on you and sell your data for profit. That's what they do as the man says.


-Mike

----------
OneMike said:
T-mobile is just as good or better than AT&T in many places
Click to expand...

Try inside most homes/buildings. Not happening.

-Mike

----------
vantelimus said:
I suspect it is also a way for them to collect more information about your telephone calls to tie to your Google ID. Do you really want all information on your telecommunications, internet access, advertising response, and purchases held by one company? Who needs the NSA to collect all that information when you willingly give it to a single company that has to comply with secret-court-order demands for your records?
Click to expand...

Now we are talking...

-Mike
 
69650

69650

Suspended
Mar 23, 2006
3,367
1,876
England
it's only a matter of time before the major smartphone manufacturers go down the MVNO route as a way of differentiating their products.
 
jlc1978

jlc1978

macrumors 603
Aug 14, 2009
5,481
4,266
iapplelove said:
I always wondered why apple didn't get into the carrier business. They have the money and can build those rediculous expensive cell towers anywhere they want.
Click to expand...

Except companies don't typically build towers, they lease space from Crown Castle or American tower. Building the towers is not the issue, creating the infrastructure to mange them is; you have to ensure they if a light goes out it is quickly fixed so the FAA doesn't fine you, manage the ground space lease, have enough crews that can repair and maintain towers scattered throughout the county often in remote locations, do the surveys to ensure your antennas don't integer with other signals, etc. The tower companies have economies of scale that enable them to do this, Apple would've to create this so it's cheaper to buy capacity then to build it plus if you decide to exit the business you're not stuck with a lot of infrastructure that is expensive and now useless.

If I were google I'd find a way to use the carrier that provides the best service seamlessly to the customer, bouncing from Sprint to T-Moble based on whoever gives the phone the best signal.

As for Apple, sticking to content delivery and parting with broadband providers is cheaper and less risky way to get into this business than creating your own infrastructure; just like Amazon did with the Kindle.
 
R

randian

macrumors 6502a
Jan 15, 2014
784
362
jlc1978 said:
As for Apple, sticking to content delivery and parting with broadband providers is cheaper and less risky way to get into this business than creating your own infrastructure; just like Amazon did with the Kindle.
Click to expand...
That's why an MVNO deal makes more sense for Apple. Apple pay earns them a fraction of a percent on transactions. Net profits on an MVNO play are easily 10x that per account, and no hard work on tower maintenance and construction.
 
Last edited:
B

BruiserB

macrumors 68000
Aug 9, 2008
1,731
705
Saucesome2000 said:
It's not like they both have towers where the other does not. Cities and interstates. You would be laying the same maps on top of one another, not filling in gaps.



Also, T-Mobile is GSM based, while Sprint is CDMA based. I think that was a wise mvd for Google that no one is mentioning.
Click to expand...


GSM and CDMA are old technologies that the carriers must continue to support because of the old legacy equipment out there. All carriers are evolving to LTE which is the way forward.
 
V

vantelimus

macrumors regular
Feb 16, 2013
111
170
burgman said:
Tin foil hat alert
You must have missed where the data was collected from the backbone providers so it really doesn't matter how you go online. Look up a company called Turn and super cookies to see what private business does to track you. But whatever makes you feel comfortable

No tin-foil hat. You don't understand Google's business model. They make their money off of their advertising and marketing platform. Their unique value to the customers of that platform (the advertisers and retailers) is the massive amount of data they have about you. It allows them to do detailed analytics and to use it to target messaging. They collect data on you across multiple products (search, advertisements, maps, shopping, etc.) and across multiple devices (anywhere you've signed in with your gaia ID). This is just one more data source that will allow them to expand their view of your social and commercial network. If you don't believe they will find a way to coalesce all that data, then you don't know Google scale and the way Google thinks.

To be clear, Google's motives are all financial. They really do want to build a compelling experience for the end user. Their goal is to make sure you get relevant advertisements in the correct context. Google has no interest in spying on you for the NSA. That said, the NSA has an interest in Google spying on you because all it takes is a FISA order for Google to cough up their data on you.
Click to expand...
 
burgman

burgman

macrumors 68030
Sep 24, 2013
2,716
2,292
vantelimus said:
burgman said:
Tin foil hat alert
You must have missed where the data was collected from the backbone providers so it really doesn't matter how you go online. Look up a company called Turn and super cookies to see what private business does to track you. But whatever makes you feel comfortable

No tin-foil hat. You don't understand Google's business model. They make their money off of their advertising and marketing platform. Their unique value to the customers of that platform (the advertisers and retailers) is the massive amount of data they have about you. It allows them to do detailed analytics and to use it to target messaging. They collect data on you across multiple products (search, advertisements, maps, shopping, etc.) and across multiple devices (anywhere you've signed in with your gaia ID). This is just one more data source that will allow them to expand their view of your social and commercial network. If you don't believe they will find a way to coalesce all that data, then you don't know Google scale and the way Google thinks.

To be clear, Google's motives are all financial. They really do want to build a compelling experience for the end user. Their goal is to make sure you get relevant advertisements in the correct context. Google has no interest in spying on you for the NSA. That said, the NSA has an interest in Google spying on you because all it takes is a FISA order for Google to cough up their data on you.
Click to expand...

I suggest you take the time to read the Privacy statements from the carriers, Microsoft, and Apple. You are the product anywhere on the net. Every cellphone is tracked by carriers, every thing connected to the internet has a mac address that is logged. The rest of your TinFoil is just silly, to focus only on Google, since all companies in the USA get and comply with FISA orders. But be afraid of Google be very AFRAID! I guess I missed where the other internet companies filed for not for profit status :eek:
Click to expand...
 
dampfnudel

dampfnudel

macrumors 601
Aug 14, 2010
4,544
2,589
Brooklyn, NY
StuddedLeather said:
Lol. I was partially thinking the same. . . .




I don't think T-Mobile is that bad here though I find AT&T to be superior for all the boroughs. Sometimes T-Mo will work in Brooklyn and not in Manhattan or the Bronx. etc.
Click to expand...

I had Verizon for many years and had a lot of dropped calls here in New York. So far with T-Mobile (11 months now), only one dropped call. I never had AT&T, but a couple of people I know with AT&T seemed to be happy with their service.
 
stroked

stroked

Suspended
May 3, 2010
555
331
cameronjpu said:
This is just an outstanding example of why dummies who post on message boards are not instead of running fortune 500 companies (or even small companies). You are just illustrating how little you understand about the business side of the technology industry if you think that apples shareholders would be pleased with a entry into the wireless carrier market.

Go ahead and take a look at the income statements of the two companies, and if you need to read a book before you do so, feel free. Once you have read that book and compare the income statements (and then took a look at the stock prices of the relevant companies) come back and tell me if your view has changed.
Click to expand...

Arrogance can make someone look really small.
 
ron7624

ron7624

macrumors 68020
Oct 14, 2011
2,228
437
Houston, Texas area
lazyrighteye said:
Makes perfect sense. Control. Period.
You're already using their browser, their mail client, their productivity suite, their cloud. Why not their internet?

Frightening, I know. But I can see where that might interest them.
Click to expand...

Agreed. The whole time I've been looking at everyone's responses, I've been thinking 'control'. Period.
Spot on.
 
D

danielsutton

macrumors 6502
Jun 13, 2011
388
161
Stella said:
You'd only be able to use applicable Apple products... Android devices would definitely be unsupported.

Yup, accessible to those with an Apple product.
Click to expand...

You are likely correct about Apple only offering service to users of Apple devices.

Apple would also be able to avoid the issue of waiting for carrier contracts to expire before people can switch to iPhones, iPads, and other future iDevices, since they would be able to offer their own contracts.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom