European Carriers Claim Apple Should Pay for Network Infrastructure

[andrewsd]

Europe/USA

I spend most of my time in the USA but a good amount in Europe as well. I have been over in Germany for the past month and may be back here for several after the new year. I can't speak for all countries but the plans in Deutschland are not that cheap especially for " unlimited." You also get less minutes and texts but at the same time incoming texts and calls are free. At times the data is better across the pond but I still run into the same problems as I do in the states at times so I say they are about the same.

Maybe less subsidization but you can't be serious about making them pay for your infrastructure. Maybe how a few said you do a Gig used a month times a price plan but thats about it and I love my Unlimited data in the states as I only have a few gigs a month over in Europe.

 

[mdatwood]

Well, Ma Bell spent billions running copper wire to every home in the US, for free. Didn't matter if you live 10 miles from nowhere on a mountain peak. The wire was there. You told them you wanted service, and for a monthly fee, plus long distance usage, you could call anyone in the US / world that had telephone service.

Free isn't exactly true. Historically, telcos have received a lot of tax dollars and land grants in order to lay out their infrastructure.

 

[Jaro65]

Geez.

PLEASE just charge us all per GB. How much did you use this month? Multiply it times $x and there's your bill.

I know people don't like the idea of their bill changing every month, but why should internet usage be any different than water, gas, or electricity?

Could you imagine if the electricity company charged us all the same (too small) amount and then tried to get air-conditioner manufacturers to pay them more? Insane. Just charge us what the service actually costs. If you need more money then you need to charge us more. This isn't hard.

AT&T got halfway there, but they still have different plans. No. No plans. Just $x per GB.

I enjoyed your air conditioner analogy. I was thinking also of how funny it would be if the federal or state governments would require the auto manufacturers to pay for the roads. After all, if not for their cars....

 

[Mikey7c8]

How completely ridiculous. Carriers charge for data. If they can't handle the demand, they need to upgrade their systems. If they're not charging an appropriate amount for bandwidth, that's their issue.

 

[nsayer]

AT&T got halfway there, but they still have different plans. No. No plans. Just $x per GB.

The irritating thing about AT&T's pricing is that the plans that they do have are absurd.

Helen Keller uses more than 200 MB/mo, and if I watch Netflix watch-now on the train 5x/wk I still don't use 5 GB/mo (yes, the phones' plans top out at 2GB, but this is with a MiFi). Where's the bowl of porridge that's just right?