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Verizon Set to Switch to Tiered Data Pricing?

Scooterman1 said:
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.....
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I wasn't talking about Sprint, apart from the general declaration that wireless companies (which Sprint is) are terrible. The person I quoted was talking about EDGE and 3G/HSPA, which would indicate he was talking about AT&T, and the 'unlimited' 3G/EDGE plans which they aren't going to sell anymore. He was saying that when AT&T migrates to LTE, they'll probably not grandfather currently 'unlimited' 3G/EDGE plans to 'unlimited' on LTE, which I agreed with.

It's nice to hear you like Sprint, though.
 
good for me i just activated my friends blackberry last week because i refuse to get locked into a 2yr again and I have the unlimited dat for $30 so lets see if I get to keep that
 
PerfSeeker said:
Please explain how charging people for GBs "kills innovation"? :confused:
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First they are not really charging for GBs. They are charging to maximizing profit while delivering less service. If they really wanted to charge for GBs they would simply say $6/GB use all you want. I would be fine with this sort of pricing since it's clear and up front. The problem is that really charging for usage does nothing to maximize their profit so they want to avoid that. If you pick the cheaper iPhone plan for example you're paying ~$72/GB. Notice where AT&T put the cut off on the cheaper plan? 200MB, yep most users probably use between 200MB and 250MB/month so by setting the cut off at 200MB (instead of 250MB) they can push these lower users to the $25 plan even though they will rarely come close to the 2GB.

And yes, putting caps and making people wonder about their usage all the time kills innovation because it will make it hard for high data apps, no matter how good they are, to get traction.
 
Rootus said:
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...
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Most people actually use the iPhone for mobile data, which is kind of the point of having it, since it doesn't really seem to make very good phone calls.
 
firewater101 said:
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.
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They DO seem to have a plan. First, Verizon raised the Early Termination Fee to over $300, then AT&T followed suit.
Now, AT&T started limited DATA, now Verizon may be following suit.
They make more money by getting more subscribers. When you get more than you can handle, then you do other things.
Apple is very intelligent. When you make something that is inferior, you don't fix the phone by issuing a recall, you fix the problem by issuing cases so you don't have to lose money by a recall.
But, Steve could have done well to stop there. Now, he has angered a lot of other phone manufacturers.
 
Scooterman1 said:
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.........
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Sprint is dying a slow, financial death; that's why their CEO says a merger could be a possibility. They've already sold off their infrastructure assets to Ericsson... What's left to buy? Who would want them?
 
duaneu said:
I'm the same way. Today is the last day of the billing cycle and I've used a whopping 38 of my 450 minutes.
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You need to get a family plan set up. Then the 450 minutes will be split across many more people. I was in the same situation for 1.5 years until someone told me that they were in a family plan with 4 or 5 of their friends.
 
Scooterman1 said:
The 3G is faster than AT&T, and the 4G is even faster.
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Maybe not in your area, but there was some testing done not long ago that showed AT&T having the fastest overall 3G (when it work hehe) and other carriers 3G was often faster than Sprints new 4G. Obviously the 4G will only get better, but something to think about.

John.B said:
Sprint is dying a slow, financial death; that's why their CEO says a merger could be a possibility. They've already sold off their infrastructure assets to Ericsson... What's left to buy? Who would want them?
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40M-50M recurring revenue accounts are what's left to buy.
 
Ouch

haha, I guess we are all going back to that again. So much for the future of data.

I guess everyone is going to get "you know what and where" in the coming years. :eek:
 
heisetax said:
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
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What I said was:
John.B said:
There isn't going to be a Verizon iPhone... Not next week, not next month, not next year.
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I frankly don't care if your MobileMe account works with an Android phone or not, as I wouldn't have a "Google phone" on a bet.

I'm not even sure what point you are trying to make or why you responded to my post.
 
dwd3885 said:
people surely hate verizon because of this and other things. but if you want the best coverage, you have to pay for it
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Yes also called in Psychology Rationalizing. :D

Keep telling your self that.

But I do like the pretty advertising.
 
mdatwood said:
Maybe not in your area, but there was some testing done not long ago that showed AT&T having the fastest overall 3G (when it work hehe) and other carriers 3G was often faster than Sprints new 4G. Obviously the 4G will only get better, but something to think about.



40M-50M recurring revenue accounts are what's left to buy.
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Sprint 4G on a tethered Netbook connected through an HTC EVO.

speedtemp.png
 
mdatwood said:
40M-50M recurring revenue accounts are what's left to buy.
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Sprint has a history of not being able to turn those revenues into profits.

When bandwidth becomes nothing but a commodity, is there is an advantage to being the lowest cost provider? With a proprietary network? From here it looks like Sprint is leading the race to the bottom...

Looked at another way, if you are Verizon or AT&T or T-Mobile, why would you pay money to buy out Sprint when you'll automatically get a certain percentage of their customer base after they are done imploding?
 
Trust me, 2GB max isnt enough in the near future. Just wait until tethering becomes the norm. For example in 4 hours of tethering to my netbook, Ive managed to use up 348mb from just watching 5-6 youtube videos and an episode on hulu.com and just normal surfing the net.

Even if you dont do tethering, soon 3G/4G streaming will eat up the bandwidth very easily.
 
John.B said:
Sprint has a history of not being able to turn those revenues into profits.

When bandwidth becomes nothing but a commodity, is there is an advantage to being the lowest cost provider? From here it looks like Sprint is leading the race to the bottom...

Looked at another way, if your are Verizon or AT&T or T-Mobile, why would you pay money to buy out Sprint when you'll automatically get a certain percentage of their customer base after they are done imploding?
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few years ago when everyone started to have cell phones i noticed that Sprint stores had the pay in cash machines and there was always a long line with what looked to be illegals waiting to pay.
 
This is excellent news! I only use 47MB/mo with my BlackBerry so I'll be thrilled to save $15/mo ($30/mo if I include my moms VZN BlackBerry)

:D:D:D
 
AT&T should have obtained a patent for tiered data pricing... then waited 15 years and sued everyone else ;)
 
dmnd said:
You need to get a family plan set up. Then the 450 minutes will be split across many more people. I was in the same situation for 1.5 years until someone told me that they were in a family plan with 4 or 5 of their friends.
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Agreed. Get on a "family plan". I share my brother's plan. Along with my sister-in-law, we have thousands of unused minutes. They just keep rolling over. They don't get used since calling each other on the same plan doesn't use them, and just about everyone I know has an iPhone and calling other AT&T subscribers doesn't use minutes either. Minutes have become very irrelevant.
 
Plutonius said:
In the future, nothing will be free / unlimited.

When will google start charging for their services (gmail, etc.) :) ?
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When they can't get any more demographic information to sell to advertisers. So, never.

It's not free now, you're just exchanging not paying for giving a detailed consumer profile.
 
skellener said:
As soon as the iPhone becomes available to other carriers (it will eventually when they all go LTE), watch how fast AT&T dies. People with iPhone will bail in droves as soon as they can.
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I would have to disagree. I'm pretty sure they will lose customers but many iPhone users are happy with AT+T.
 
skellener said:
As soon as the iPhone becomes available to other carriers (it will eventually when they all go LTE), watch how fast AT&T dies. People with iPhone will bail in droves as soon as they can.
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I don't think so. Just like the iPhone 4 Antenna issue, there are a few vocal bloggers out there who make an issue bigger than it is. If you look at the stats for the iPhone 4 antenna issue, the numbers are not as bad as one would think. However, if you read the blogs, you'd think that the iPhone 4 was a complete failure.

Most iPhone customers do not read these blogs...most are very happy.

AT&T has, what, about 85 million cell phone customers. Ok, not everyone is happy....maybe several thousand, a million may switch? And switch where?....to a slower Verizon network?
 
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