AT&T CEO Believes 5G Phone Plans Could Be Tiered and Priced on Data Speed

[w5jck]

Simple solution, don't use AT&T. They are one of the greediest and sleaziest companies around. They have always been greedy and screwed customers over with landline prices, internet fees, cellular fees, U-Verse cable fees, DirecTV Now fees (which is bleeding out money and customers), DirecTV satellite fees, et cetera. They need to go the way of AOL...

 

[JetTester]

I would ONLY pay extra for 5G if they guaranteed the speed I would get "everywhere". I don't think they can do that, and I won't pay extra for it.

 

[NickName99]

Can't wait for 6G when they start tiering by location, type of smartphone, etc, etc...

https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1098581869233344512

 

[BaracksPhallusPalace]

Wouldn't this be a blatant violation of Net Neutrality?

 

[StrongArmmed]

You had to know this was going to happen -- ALSO you had to know it would likely be AT&T who make such a statement prior to even a modest roll-out of the tech.

Stephenson and AT&T were in the news on Marketplace yesterday, I believe, because they've amassed something like $179B in corporate debt and there's real concern their income streams as currently constructed may not be able to service the debt, and that an economic shock could be ruinous for them. I'd expect more of this kind of talk from Randall about new technologies, and HBO and whatever other brands AT&T buy because they simply have to find ways to pay bondholders.

 

[Ramchi]

Any market (Telecom, Utility,media)... especially when it involves limited resources like spectrum orolicensing there must be a forceful exit of one or two players and forceful entry of new players every 3-5 years with Premier League like points system. This can potentially limit the options for price fixing, cartels in each sector.

 

[Fusion79]

5G is a solution in search of a problem...

5G is a big deal for home wireless broadband, particularly in rural areas that still don't have anything but slow DSL level internet service. It's not just about mobile phones.

 

[lostngone]

In most cases I would give up speed if they can deliver on a minimum guaranteed speed for truly unlimited data.

Problem is in my area that has AT&T 4G LTE service even if 5g was 10 times faster I wouldn't even get 10 Megabits a seconds on average/most places where I use my cell phone.

 

[s15119]

If the government didn’t steal my money to pay for them, I would stay off them. Schools should be private. Libraries are relics of the past. Welcome to the internet.

Wow. Who do you think invented and built the internet? You're living in bizzaro world. Good luck. Please think about an education. History, civics, logic would all be a good start.

 

[i-John]

He believes it will be or hopes they can force users to pay for speeds to simply make more money. I believe people will most likely leave AT&T if this is the case.

End of the day, it will depend on pricing.

If they have an unlimited, 'full speed' tier at the same price as competitors, then lower prices for slower speeds, it would gain customers because not all people need or care if they have the fastest speeds.

Like previously, the market corrects itself. When Verizon and AT&T killed off unlimited, everyone was up in arms... then t-mobile came by and offered unlimited and bundled other services in... then guess what, Verizon and AT&T had to compete.

 

[quietstormSD]

Jokes on them, I'm already on 5Ge and I'm not paying more.

 

[Sciomar]

I can see this absolutely being a thing, it'll be the difference between staying in the SHF band or bumping up to EHF and that'll probably be broken into tiers even. Tech used to operate in the EHF band is extremely expensive, it's awesome they're opening access to the civilian market. My only worry is the weather's affect on propagation, hopefully the network has enough overlap to reduce potential degradation. I'm not happy about the cost potential, but the nerd in me does like the expansion into the spectrum.

 

[rileyes]

Yes

 

[Cosmosent]

RE: "AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson"

Just my $0.02, but I think this guy is one of TWO smartest CEOs here in the States.

Disney's Bob Iger is the other.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

And a well paid CEO will always think they are underpaid, because a rich person never complained about making more money. Although some are complaining they aren't paying enough taxes, but that's a small percentage. If AT&T can charge x, and people pay it, they will try x+1, or x+5, and see if people drop their service. If enough people don't, they will raise the prices even more.

All for something we've already likely paid for.

And here's what made it worse?

 

[IG88]

He believes it will be or hopes they can force users to pay for speeds to simply make more money. I believe people will most likely leave AT&T if this is the case.

What makes you think that Verizon wouldn't match them lock step?

 

[juiz206]

AT&T = cancer
[doublepost=1556225935][/doublepost]

Wouldn't this be a blatant violation of Net Neutrality?

AT&T is bad for humanity. Most of these US companies are copied worldwide. So if they act as *******s, internet services tend to get worse worldwide.

 

[k1121j]

This CEO seems really free to make comments. Strange for a publicly traded company to speculate like this.

 

[Tech198]

"During today's AT&T earnings call, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said (via The Verge) that he believes the pricing for 5G connectivity could resemble home broadband pricing with different prices for different speed tiers rather than one set price for the fastest connectivity available."

This could be good and go in line with fixed broadband, so people have choice, but i guess its favored for fixed lines more.. as no one on mobile would want "slower" speeds.

The only thing i can see that would work, are the same pricing as fixed line...

You get what you pay for, 5G would be twice as expensive, 4G LTE,, not so much. If this happens, then perhaps you would get people who would favor 4G LTE due to price.

 

[miniyou64]

Government fight with efficacy and private companies with greed and inability to provide services for all. As usual, cities get the service first and the rest of the country (hopefully) later. 3G still is often the only option where I live. Big failure from the private sector in my opinion. EU got free roaming only after EU threatened to fine the companies not complying. Market forces was not sufficient to get free roaming between countries.

The private market only work if there is sufficient real competition and often it is not, particularly in the IT sector but also in water, electricity, heat due to private ownership of infrastructure leading to vendor lockin based on geography.

You’re arguing against yourself. Where is governments competition?
[doublepost=1556229388][/doublepost]

Wow. Who do you think invented and built the internet? You're living in bizzaro world. Good luck. Please think about an education. History, civics, logic would all be a good start.

You’re saying the internet wouldn’t be created without the government? The only thing that could not be created with the absence of government would be a lot of wars and destruction. If you’re so keen on history, please remind me which organizations committed the worst human caused disasters and atrocities throughout history.

 

[lazard]

So it'll be like home broadband.

a lot of people already use their mobile service as their home broadband.

 

[ersan191]

5G is a big deal for home wireless broadband, particularly in rural areas that still don't have anything but slow DSL level internet service. It's not just about mobile phones.

Cool well all 10 of those customers can foot the bill then I guess.

 

[s15119]

You’re arguing against yourself. Where is governments competition?
[doublepost=1556229388][/doublepost]

You’re saying the internet wouldn’t be created without the government? The only thing that could not be created with the absence of government would be a lot of wars and destruction. If you’re so keen on history, please remind me which organizations committed the worst human caused disasters and atrocities throughout history.

I am talking about reality. Something you clearly have no understanding of. You'd be dead without government. Plonk.

 

[miniyou64]

I am talking about reality. Something you clearly have no understanding of. You'd be dead without government. Plonk.

Haha sure. No better protector than the thugs with boots and badges.

 

[fairuz]

Yeah, proof will be in the pudding. Look at the kind of select cities for 5G deployment. Carriers are not stupid, they are after dense areas so they can get more revenue per tower. And in those areas, more likely there’s fiber, so the excuse to use 5G for home is a bit of a stretch, unless if you just love paying more money for it.

The more people blindly jump into the 5G bandwagon, the more ridiculous schemes the carriers will do to squeeze out money from people. But I guess people love it. :shrug:

I don't even know if dense cities are more likely to have fiber. I've always lived in cities, some of them very dense, and none of them have had fiber. That and if you're moving between apartment complexes, you're at the mercy of whatever the landlord feels like installing.

I keep hearing this "5G is all hype" thing, but I've yet to hear anyone actually hype up 5G. It's not magic. It'll improve things for some people. Just because they try it first only in a few places doesn't mean they won't spread it if it works. All I claim is it's not a step backwards.
[doublepost=1556243145][/doublepost]

Yeah but how much quicker has your electricity got over the last 20 years?

It's gotten a lot cleaner.