Unlimited will be phased out with the 4G network. I imagine unlimited edge and 3G will still be around for the users who don't upgrade.
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Verizon Set to Switch to Tiered Data Pricing?
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Unlimited will be phased out with the 4G network. I imagine unlimited edge and 3G will still be around for the users who don't upgrade.
The problem with the US mobile providers is their collaborative oligopoly that they abuse. Realistically, there is massive price fixing between all these providers and I am surprised the FCC is not on top of these things.
Sprint & the iPhone
Sprint is CDMA just like Verizon. So a 3G iPhone on CDMA would work. But Sprint's 4G system IS NOW & IS NOT the same 4G system that Verizon & AT&T will be using.
Verizon had already promised that they would go to an AT&T like data plan pricing policy. That meant that unlimited data plans will only stay around for now with a carrier that is trying too really compete. At the present time that means Sprint. For that reason just a week ago I switched from Verizon to Sprint. I went with the HTC EVO 4G for my wife & for me. When using the data plan with the cell phone is unlimited for 3G & 4G. When tethering the cell phone with up to 8 other devices for an additional $30/month 3G is 5 GB/month & 4G is unlimited tethering time at present. For those living in Chicago, Kansas City, St Louis & 26 other cities now with more coming in the future Sprint wins on price at the current time. The 4.3" screen size on our HtC phones is better on our eyes than the much smaller screen on the iPhone/iPod Touch.
Because this discussion is on the price of data plans on smart phones & not whether Android or the iPhone OS &/or phone is better I will stop there. One does not have to have the best to use a given type of product or service. If that was true then there would be the top tier of Mac laptops & desktops. No iMac or iBook level of computer. All the product has to do is to operate the needed software & hardware at acceptable speeds & costs.
Sprint iPhone!!!!!!!????? Where are you?!!!!
Sprint is CDMA just like Verizon. So a 3G iPhone on CDMA would work. But Sprint's 4G system IS NOW & IS NOT the same 4G system that Verizon & AT&T will be using.
Verizon had already promised that they would go to an AT&T like data plan pricing policy. That meant that unlimited data plans will only stay around for now with a carrier that is trying too really compete. At the present time that means Sprint. For that reason just a week ago I switched from Verizon to Sprint. I went with the HTC EVO 4G for my wife & for me. When using the data plan with the cell phone is unlimited for 3G & 4G. When tethering the cell phone with up to 8 other devices for an additional $30/month 3G is 5 GB/month & 4G is unlimited tethering time at present. For those living in Chicago, Kansas City, St Louis & 26 other cities now with more coming in the future Sprint wins on price at the current time. The 4.3" screen size on our HtC phones is better on our eyes than the much smaller screen on the iPhone/iPod Touch.
Because this discussion is on the price of data plans on smart phones & not whether Android or the iPhone OS &/or phone is better I will stop there. One does not have to have the best to use a given type of product or service. If that was true then there would be the top tier of Mac laptops & desktops. No iMac or iBook level of computer. All the product has to do is to operate the needed software & hardware at acceptable speeds & costs.
I made the same switch 3 weeks ago. My daughter is now on Verizon with the Droid X, and my wife & I are on Sprint with the HTC EVO. Their plan is much better. And unlimited Mobile to ANY mobile at any time of day don't count against our minutes. We can't even come close to using our 1500 minutes now. The 3G is faster than AT&T, and the 4G is even faster. And I can Tether with the notebook without having to pay any more. And the best thing, Apple can't pull the App that does it like they did with Netshare, and now the Flashlight App. The tether alone would eat up all my Data if I was still on AT&T. And now, Verizon is going to follow suit. I'm reading some BAD news about how even the TV providers may try and throttle bandwidth along with home internet...... Not good in ANY way.
I'm sure that Apple is quaking in their Birkenstocks that you abandoned the iPhone for the Droid.
Yeah, I know, it's really horrible. Ever since AT&T went to tiered data, I've spent half as much on data service.
Oh wait...
CDMA has time and time again been proven superior to GSM when it comes to building penetration, handoffs, and call load on individual towers. What are you smoking?
I'm sure that Apple is quaking in their Birkenstocks that you abandoned the iPhone for the Droid.
You're right. Apple didn't care, at all. People are buying the iPhone by the droves so they can complain that they can't talk. But there is NO flaw.
Funny thing is, Sprint wanted those 3 iPhones so bad that they paid my a LOT of money to trade them in. Imagine that. I kept one since my daughter had actually bought it, and traded an OLD 1st edition iPhone for $76.70 alone. The 16 GB 3G, and 32 GB 3GS brought much more. That paid for my 3 early termination fees.
I'm sure that Apple is quaking in their Birkenstocks that you abandoned the iPhone for the Droid.
I dont think that was his point.
Please explain how charging people for GBs "kills innovation"?
Unlimited Internet plans at home exuded the Internet as we know it. Mobiles the future. Limiting the GBs is going backwards.
29 & increasing
4G with Sprint is in 29 cities now with more to come in the near future. I'm voting for sooner.
4G with Sprint is in 29 cities now with more to come in the near future. I'm voting for sooner.
Yet the world uses GSM/HSDPA, and CDMA providers in S. Korea and Japan are migrating to HSDPA. Heck, betamax was better than VHS, and the rest is history.
Because Apple is a company who makes and sells computer hardware and software. Wireless carriers are companies who maintain wide area networks and sell a service.
Apples and oranges
It's about time, too. No internet service in America is unlimited these days, every service provider has caps. The only difference being their overage policies and whether they tell you about it or not.
It isn't unreasonable for carriers to try to balance bandwidth demand with restructured plans. It isn't actually possible to build an advanced, reliable infrastructure while not getting paid for its use. The unreasonable part is the lack of rollover, reasonable overage pricing, and flexible plans. Of course, They won't do anything reasonable to consumers without regulatory pressure, as they've proven time and time again. But America prides itself on being a predatory nightmare, so good luck with that one.
The wireless providers in this country are uniformly useless and rightfully despised. It's such a massive soft target that I'm surprised Google hasn't dumped a few billion into the service provider biz yet. Maybe that's just one industry too many to try to buy their way into anticompetitively and mine for advertising data?
Oh well. At least Wifi is getting a little bit more ubiquitous.
tmobile & Sprint
The problem is that tmobile is using the same transmission system that AT&T does while Sprint uses the same CDMA that Verizon does. Then Sprint's current 4G method is different that the 4G that tmobile, Verizon, AT&T & others are going to.
I just got Sprint a week ago so that is where my $ vote has gone.
The problem is that tmobile is using the same transmission system that AT&T does while Sprint uses the same CDMA that Verizon does. Then Sprint's current 4G method is different that the 4G that tmobile, Verizon, AT&T & others are going to.
I just got Sprint a week ago so that is where my $ vote has gone.
It's about time, too. No internet service in America is unlimited these days, every service provider has caps. The only difference being their overage policies and whether they tell you about it or not.
It isn't unreasonable for carriers to try to balance bandwidth demand with restructured plans. It isn't actually possible to build an advanced, reliable infrastructure while not getting paid for its use. The unreasonable part is the lack of rollover, reasonable overage pricing, and flexible plans. Of course, They won't do anything reasonable to consumers without regulatory pressure, as they've proven time and time again. But America prides itself on being a predatory nightmare, so good luck with that one.
The wireless providers in this country are uniformly useless and rightfully despised. It's such a massive soft target that I'm surprised Google hasn't dumped a few billion into the service provider biz yet. Maybe that's just one industry too many to try to buy their way into anticompetitively and mine for advertising data?
Oh well. At least Wifi is getting a little bit more ubiquitous.
How about some links to Sprint's site to back up your claim? Otherwise, you're completely in the dark..... Sorry.... I'm not getting charged anything other that what I subscribed to ...... Unlimited, and 4G.....
Carriers don't innovate like Apple does. They sell a commodity... data. The only way they make more money is by charging more for that commodity. Their profit margin is low for the same reason that a milk producer's margin is low. Luckily for them, however, the radio spectrum is limited, you only have a few choices on who to buy from. So, when the competitor starts charging more, you can too, because who else can the consumer go to? They let AT&T take the heat for leading the way, and sneak in the back door after everyone accepts the change. Win/win for them, lose/lose for the consumer... again.
You know, there's an article quoting the CEO of Sprint stating that a merger could be a possibility. That their networks are different, and if they can work out a plan.........
Verzion isn't going to be able to buy a 4G "red map" the way they bought their 3G "red map".
So until the Verizon 4G coverage is ubiquitous (this will take years), Verizon's 4G smartphones will have to have backward support for EV-DO and CDMA for data and voice on the 3G network.
There are only three ways for the above to happen.
For the first option, Apple would have to build a one-off CDMA/EV-DO iPhone specifically for Verizon (and in four flavors: white/black & 16GB/32GB). Apple seems to be disinclined to go that route. Not when basically the rest of the world is on the other standard that the iPhone already supports.
As a second option, Apple would have to build support for both GSM and CDMA/EV-DO into every iPhone manufactured, which would significantly drive up their costs, on the chance that the user might be in the US and want to be on the Verizon network. Apple doesn't drive up their costs for edge cases; anyone who doesn't understand that hasn't been following Apple for the past decade.
The third option, having Verizon iPhone users roam on the AT&T 3G network, went out the window the day Verizon hatched their "red map"/"blue map" marketing strategy. AT&T would never agree to that.
The rest of this is just hyperbole and handwaving. There isn't going to be a Verizon iPhone, not for three or four or five years.
Android or iOS?
My HTC EVO 4G synced with my address book after I entered my .mac/mobileme account with the new phone. So the Android OS will work better than you seem to be claiming1
My HTC EVO 4G synced with my address book after I entered my .mac/mobileme account with the new phone. So the Android OS will work better than you seem to be claiming1