T-Mobile as a company is not doing well and if they simply go out of business, how is that any better for the consumer?
If they go bust the wireless spectrum and all of T-Mobile's infrastructure would be sold to a new company who hopefully will do a better job and shake up the market.
If they keep their prices consistent, AND, get the iphone, i think you will see a mad dash from ATT/Verizon to tmobile.
I know the same was said when Verizon got the iphone, but the issue there was the plans were more or less the same. Not so with t-mobie.
And somehow the belief is tha tMobile won't adjust their plans the same way Verizon did? Scrap the unlimited shortly after launch? It's my belief that tMobile would charge more if it could keep its customers and grow their market in the process just like T and V did, do, will do. People want the product. It costs what it costs. tMobile isn't competitive without the bandwidth hog iPhone because they aren't charging what it costs to provide the service. The iPhone isn't the savior - if it was wouldn't it have made more sense for tMobile to have been courting Apple instead of Verizon? It would have been much cheaper for Apple to push out a version with just a different antenae.
The real answer is having the government provide and control the infrastructure, and have the cell providers provide the service in an open market with competition. This will never fly in places like the USA of course for ideological reasons (evil socialism etc.).
Well I think the phone system was built by the government, and so they still have some say over that to force competition. If great recession happened earlier maybe we would have had a bunch of people building out the cell tower network or maybe we could have had people laying fiber instead of Quantitative easing.
In either case I think the # of carriers is more of a bandwidth problem than dersire to compete.
I didn't want to be the one to say it but I'm glad someone did. The time for the Government to step in is not when the market consists of two identical giants with matching (ridiculously high) prices and one pipsqueak without a hope in hell of ever being one of the big guys.
We have a similar situation in Canada. There are five big players who all collude on high prices and plans. All the plans are essentially the same and the costs are essentially the same. Then there are five or so "little fish" who offer decent prices and alternatives, but they are all locked out by the big five because they have different frequencies and can't operate on the big five's towers even if they decided to let them. So you can go for cheap, but only if you want to give up any kind of cool new phone like the iPhone and anything approaching decent coverage. If you go for any of the big five, you are basically getting the same bad deal everywhere.
The US situation is not a healthy market and while what the government has done is admirable, it's really far too little and far too late. I bet they even lose their case or are somehow "convinced" down the road that AT&T is right.
Certainly this is nothing to jump for joy over.
The real answer is having the government provide and control the infrastructure, and have the cell providers provide the service in an open market with competition. This will never fly in places like the USA of course for ideological reasons (evil socialism etc.).
Five big carriers? My count is three. Rogers, Bell and Telus. Who are the other 2?
Totally agree on the collusive nature of their 'competition'.
If they keep their prices consistent, AND, get the iphone, i think you will see a mad dash from ATT/Verizon to tmobile.
I know the same was said when Verizon got the iphone, but the issue there was the plans were more or less the same. Not so with t-mobie.
You have a very good point there.... But IF they get the iPhone....that is not guaranteed at this point. It is only speculation and rumor. But when the iPhone comes out I think you will see more Verizon customers buying it. They waited because a new iPhone was coming out shorty after getting the iPhone4. Also if T-Mobile/Sprint does NOT get the iPhone 5 then you could see some customer migration to AT&T and Verizon from T-Mobile/Sprint. BUT if T-Mobile does get the iPhone and sell their plans at their current price it still does not make them more profitable. They are losing money selling subscription plans at their current prices.
If they keep their prices consistent, AND, get the iphone, i think you will see a mad dash from ATT/Verizon to tmobile.
I know the same was said when Verizon got the iphone, but the issue there was the plans were more or less the same. Not so with t-mobie.
But see that is the point...they are getting to a point where they CAN'T keep their prices consistent already, add a $400-$450 subsidy per iPhone to the mix (yes, the carriers actually pay very close to Apple's retail cost for the phones). Sprint will have the same problem when they get the iPhone - they are already losing hundreds of millions of dollars every year - add the liability of an extremely high phone subsidy on a popular device (not to mention a reboot and billions of wasted dollars on their 4G network).
The real answer is having the government provide and control the infrastructure, and have the cell providers provide the service in an open market with competition. This will never fly in places like the USA of course for ideological reasons (evil socialism etc.).
Actually the real answer is probably to commoditize wireless networking, rather than to nationalize it. This would allow boundary devices like the iPhone to dynamically select the cheapest (or most reliable, or fastest, or whatever) carrier per bit in realtime, regardless of what network/protocol it's using. The government's main job in that model is to ensure that "rural" access is available and reasonable.
Probably won't happen in my lifetime though... could require networking protocols to carry real-time pricing information... etc. We can always hope though.
OT: LOL at the sad state of Android tablets. I'm still waiting for them to mature but wow at the HTC Jetstream. Aside from a stupid name and the still meh Android 3.x its 699 WITH a 2 year contract on AT&T.
it's almost like they're not even trying to sell these things.
this is why if I decide to get a tablet the iPad is still the only choice. Maybe Google should go vertical with tablets at least.
... be seen as reasonable. Here? of course not. So yeah, here we go....
I support T-mobile. I'm anxiously waiting for the Ip5. The Galaxy S 2 line is killer.
You support them how? You've stated that you aren't a customer of theirs which is probably the support they need to get out of the hole. I used to be a customer of their nationwide wifi package until they sold that off and now i get it and use of the rest of AT&T's hotspots as well and save $30.00 a month. I tried them as a wireless carrier for a while after doing a stint in Europe but the service in my region is almost as bad as verizon's.
I support them doing what they think best for their stockholders. Profit = jobs
Oh, and my "here we go" was in anticipation of the "mine is bigger" back and forth that I expected to follow. Not meant as a comment about your product preeferences. I know little about the Galaxy line.
Even a small country like The Netherlands, with a faction of the US population, offers a 10 Euro per week unlimited internet package, and that's for prepaid customers!! I mean COME ON?!
At current exchange rates, that's $750US a year. Maybe it's a deal if you watch movies nonstop and prop your eyelids open with toothpicks. Otherwise ....
Comments
T-Mobile as a company is not doing well and if they simply go out of business, how is that any better for the consumer?
If they go bust the wireless spectrum and all of T-Mobile's infrastructure would be sold to a new company who hopefully will do a better job and shake up the market.
If the Iphone(5) underwhelms..
The Galaxy S 2 is gonna be hard to beat.
If they keep their prices consistent, AND, get the iphone, i think you will see a mad dash from ATT/Verizon to tmobile.
I know the same was said when Verizon got the iphone, but the issue there was the plans were more or less the same. Not so with t-mobie.
And somehow the belief is tha tMobile won't adjust their plans the same way Verizon did? Scrap the unlimited shortly after launch? It's my belief that tMobile would charge more if it could keep its customers and grow their market in the process just like T and V did, do, will do. People want the product. It costs what it costs. tMobile isn't competitive without the bandwidth hog iPhone because they aren't charging what it costs to provide the service. The iPhone isn't the savior - if it was wouldn't it have made more sense for tMobile to have been courting Apple instead of Verizon? It would have been much cheaper for Apple to push out a version with just a different antenae.
The Galaxy S 2 is gonna be hard to beat.
Except with the patent stick.
The Galaxy S 2 is gonna be hard to beat.
Except by all the people who will buy the iPhone? because a TWO YEAR OLD iPhone still sells better than any Android phone.
Seriously thinking about paying the ETF at AT&T and heading to T-Mobile.
If the Iphone(5) underwhelms..
The Galaxy S 2 is gonna be hard to beat.
Aaaaaand here we go!
The real answer is having the government provide and control the infrastructure, and have the cell providers provide the service in an open market with competition. This will never fly in places like the USA of course for ideological reasons (evil socialism etc.).
Well I think the phone system was built by the government, and so they still have some say over that to force competition. If great recession happened earlier maybe we would have had a bunch of people building out the cell tower network or maybe we could have had people laying fiber instead of Quantitative easing.
In either case I think the # of carriers is more of a bandwidth problem than dersire to compete.
Exactly.
I didn't want to be the one to say it but I'm glad someone did. The time for the Government to step in is not when the market consists of two identical giants with matching (ridiculously high) prices and one pipsqueak without a hope in hell of ever being one of the big guys.
We have a similar situation in Canada. There are five big players who all collude on high prices and plans. All the plans are essentially the same and the costs are essentially the same. Then there are five or so "little fish" who offer decent prices and alternatives, but they are all locked out by the big five because they have different frequencies and can't operate on the big five's towers even if they decided to let them. So you can go for cheap, but only if you want to give up any kind of cool new phone like the iPhone and anything approaching decent coverage. If you go for any of the big five, you are basically getting the same bad deal everywhere.
The US situation is not a healthy market and while what the government has done is admirable, it's really far too little and far too late. I bet they even lose their case or are somehow "convinced" down the road that AT&T is right.
Certainly this is nothing to jump for joy over.
The real answer is having the government provide and control the infrastructure, and have the cell providers provide the service in an open market with competition. This will never fly in places like the USA of course for ideological reasons (evil socialism etc.).
Five big carriers? My count is three. Rogers, Bell and Telus. Who are the other 2?
Totally agree on the collusive nature of their 'competition'.
If they keep their prices consistent, AND, get the iphone, i think you will see a mad dash from ATT/Verizon to tmobile.
I know the same was said when Verizon got the iphone, but the issue there was the plans were more or less the same. Not so with t-mobie.
You have a very good point there.... But IF they get the iPhone....that is not guaranteed at this point. It is only speculation and rumor. But when the iPhone comes out I think you will see more Verizon customers buying it. They waited because a new iPhone was coming out shorty after getting the iPhone4. Also if T-Mobile/Sprint does NOT get the iPhone 5 then you could see some customer migration to AT&T and Verizon from T-Mobile/Sprint. BUT if T-Mobile does get the iPhone and sell their plans at their current price it still does not make them more profitable. They are losing money selling subscription plans at their current prices.
Except by all the people who will buy the iPhone… because a TWO YEAR OLD iPhone still sells better than any Android phone.
Do you have numbers to support that the iPhone 3Gs out sells any Android model?
the iPhone 4 is not 2 years old...yet.
iPhone 4 from wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_4
Well I think the phone system was built by the government,
If we're talking U.S., Big Brother didn't even have a hand in financing it.
Do you have numbers to support that the iPhone 3Gs out sells any Android model?
the iPhone 4 is not 2 years old...yet.
9 days old; hope that's current enough.
http://www.cultofmac.com/the-iphone-...-report/109849
If they keep their prices consistent, AND, get the iphone, i think you will see a mad dash from ATT/Verizon to tmobile.
I know the same was said when Verizon got the iphone, but the issue there was the plans were more or less the same. Not so with t-mobie.
But see that is the point...they are getting to a point where they CAN'T keep their prices consistent already, add a $400-$450 subsidy per iPhone to the mix (yes, the carriers actually pay very close to Apple's retail cost for the phones). Sprint will have the same problem when they get the iPhone - they are already losing hundreds of millions of dollars every year - add the liability of an extremely high phone subsidy on a popular device (not to mention a reboot and billions of wasted dollars on their 4G network).
The real answer is having the government provide and control the infrastructure, and have the cell providers provide the service in an open market with competition. This will never fly in places like the USA of course for ideological reasons (evil socialism etc.).
Actually the real answer is probably to commoditize wireless networking, rather than to nationalize it. This would allow boundary devices like the iPhone to dynamically select the cheapest (or most reliable, or fastest, or whatever) carrier per bit in realtime, regardless of what network/protocol it's using. The government's main job in that model is to ensure that "rural" access is available and reasonable.
Probably won't happen in my lifetime though... could require networking protocols to carry real-time pricing information... etc. We can always hope though.
it's almost like they're not even trying to sell these things.
this is why if I decide to get a tablet the iPad is still the only choice. Maybe Google should go vertical with tablets at least.
Except by all the people who will buy the iPhone? because a TWO YEAR OLD iPhone still sells better than any Android phone.
I don't own stock in either company.
Except with the patent stick.
In the past, Apple has blocked functionality on Samsung devices coming to ATT. It's annoying.
Aaaaaand here we go!
On any other forum, my comments would be seen as reasonable. Here? of course not. So yeah, here we go....
I support T-mobile. I'm anxiously waiting for the Ip5. The Galaxy S 2 line is killer.
9 days old; hope that's current enough.
http://www.cultofmac.com/the-iphone-...-report/109849
Thanks according to that report you are correct..... I wasn't disputing...just curious what you were basing that statement from.
Thanks according to that report you are correct..... I wasn't disputing...just curious what you were basing that statement from.
It IS difficult to believe, isn't it?
... be seen as reasonable. Here? of course not. So yeah, here we go....
I support T-mobile. I'm anxiously waiting for the Ip5. The Galaxy S 2 line is killer.
You support them how? You've stated that you aren't a customer of theirs which is probably the support they need to get out of the hole. I used to be a customer of their nationwide wifi package until they sold that off and now i get it and use of the rest of AT&T's hotspots as well and save $30.00 a month. I tried them as a wireless carrier for a while after doing a stint in Europe but the service in my region is almost as bad as verizon's.
I support them doing what they think best for their stockholders. Profit = jobs
Oh, and my "here we go" was in anticipation of the "mine is bigger" back and forth that I expected to follow. Not meant as a comment about your product preeferences. I know little about the Galaxy line.
Even a small country like The Netherlands, with a faction of the US population, offers a 10 Euro per week unlimited internet package, and that's for prepaid customers!! I mean COME ON?!
At current exchange rates, that's $750US a year. Maybe it's a deal if you watch movies nonstop and prop your eyelids open with toothpicks. Otherwise ....