Wireless carriers openly considering charging per service

Chris Kerrigan

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Sadly, I can see this happening in the future, and I can see it happening sooner than later. Wireless companies get away with murder in the U.S., much more so than other Wireless carriers around the world (Particularly in Europe). Is it a complete consumer scam as far as I'm concerned? Oh hell yeah it is, but carriers really don't care. Cell phones have become such an integrated part of our lives that it doesn't matter how much they continue to charge us for, they know they're going to continue to add subscribers and bring in more cash.
 

bboykin87

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When I first got my EVO (my first smartphone) back in September, I thought I would never be able to live without it... until now, if this happens there's no way I would stay with Sprint (I know verizon and att are the ones mentioned in the story). But if they did do this Sprint and T-Mob would be smart to keep their pricing the same to get all the customers fleeing from verizon and att... This would be a dumb move IMO it would only alienate their customers and drive them all away to other carriers.

I pay $170 (after "taxes") for my EVO and my gf's Intercept for unlimited everything... There's no way I'm giving them another red cent per month for anything!!
 

jpattersonlee

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I've been a huge advocate of Verizon for around 8 years. If they were to implement this, I'd be jumping to Sprint as soon as my contract for unlimited service ends.
 

Raptor007

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I pay for the data use, and NOT going to pay on a per application basis to use said Data. Verizon and AT&T would be wise to not screw their consumers over or they will see advanced phones sales drop and feature phones pick up again. Talk about bill shock if you paid $100 a month for voice, data and txt and suddenly you were paying $200 a month for the "premium app services".

The FCC and Janakowski need to grow a pair of balz and tell the wireless carriers to sit down and shut up.
 

Raptor

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The FCC and the federal government in general are engaged in a 'mutual reach around' with big business so I don't expect any protection form predatory business practices from the carriers. There are a surprising number of folks that say they are OK with the telecomms wish to institute toll roads but when they actually do that the same folks that now say they are OK with it will throw a hissy fit.

You can't fix stupid!


Brian
 

Cyber Warrior

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I can see it happening. Not sure about other carriers but I know at&t stopped offering unlimited data to new users. I think Verizon also. When I was checking out the iPhone 4g when it was first released the Rep told me there was no more unlimited data for new subscribers, only existing users. There trying to cut down on data consumption. As a long time Verizon subscriber, I'm staying right where I am because I have unlimited data.......for now.
 

PookiePrancer

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I've been a huge advocate of Verizon for around 8 years. If they were to implement this, I'd be jumping to Sprint as soon as my contract for unlimited service ends.

You wouldn't even have to wait for your contract to end. If they don't grandfather your unlimited account, then it's a material change in the contract terms, and you're free to go with no early termination fees.
 

dubge

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You wouldn't even have to wait for your contract to end. If they don't grandfather your unlimited account, then it's a material change in the contract terms, and you're free to go with no early termination fees.

I would be gone in a second!

On another note, what if I was to use an app like phone my pc and browse through that? Would they be able to know what sites I am going to or just that I am using an app...
 

Raptor

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I would be gone in a second!

On another note, what if I was to use an app like phone my pc and browse through that? Would they be able to know what sites I am going to or just that I am using an app...

OK, if Verizon begins to do this and you decide to leave who will you go to? Odds are, if one does it they all will -- then who do you go with?

There are consequences to things like net neutrality even if, for political reasons, you side with the telecomms.


Brian
 

Chris Kerrigan

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OK, if Verizon begins to do this and you decide to leave who will you go to? Odds are, if one does it they all will -- then who do you go with?

There are consequences to things like net neutrality even if, for political reasons, you side with the telecomms.


Brian

And the biggest problem with it all I think is the fact that with more regulation (and I?m a liberal person, so trust me when I say I?m usually in favor of regulation) will naturally sprout more desperation from companies like Verizon and AT&T to find loopholes in the system. Sometimes that?s even worse than what the regulators are trying to stomp out.
 

dubge

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OK, if Verizon begins to do this and you decide to leave who will you go to? Odds are, if one does it they all will -- then who do you go with?

There are consequences to things like net neutrality even if, for political reasons, you side with the telecomms.


Brian

I would just go back to a regular phone, as much as I like having a smartphone and all the bells and whistles I dont NEED it to get by, yes it makes life a little easier for me but I can survive without it, I would drop data from the other phones that have it as well (5 phones total 3 with data)
 

Raptor

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I would just go back to a regular phone, as much as I like having a smartphone and all the bells and whistles I dont NEED it to get by, yes it makes life a little easier for me but I can survive without it, I would drop data from the other phones that have it as well (5 phones total 3 with data)


And that would be great if any significant percentage of users did the same, but the carriers are counting on us to suck it up, pay more, and continue using there information appliances. The smart phone is still in the early days and within 5 years what we know of as smart phones will be a thing of the past -- some of that good and some, like toll roads, very bad.

We need more competition, but with so few players now and very high step in costs it's hard to see a time when there will be any true competition. The cell phone market is a gold mine in concept and I don't mean technically. Companies in almost every industry would love to have a predictable monthly income stream in the hundreds of dollars like the cell phone industry and having monthly fees for this-that-and the other gives them hardons.


Brian
 

menschmaschine5

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I can see it happening. Not sure about other carriers but I know at&t stopped offering unlimited data to new users. I think Verizon also. When I was checking out the iPhone 4g when it was first released the Rep told me there was no more unlimited data for new subscribers, only existing users. There trying to cut down on data consumption. As a long time Verizon subscriber, I'm staying right where I am because I have unlimited data.......for now.

Just a point for the record: Verizon still offers unlimited data plans. There was a big stink made about their new tiered plans by people who misunderstood what they are. They merely add more options for data plans (previously, the only options were $10/month for 25 mb./month of data and $29.99 for unlimited data). I think I read somewhere that they're hoping the LTE network will reduce the strain on their data networks, and therefore hoping to keep unlimited data plans.

So it's just AT&T that no longer offers unlimited plans.

Edit: however, I can see Verizon jumping at this opportunity. They seem to be very eager to make an extra buck. I mean, it's $10 a month to use the VZ Navigator software, which now comes as bloatware on many Android phones despite the fact that we have Google navigation for free.
 
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KCphotog

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Just a point for the record: Verizon still offers unlimited data plans. There was a big stink made about their new tiered plans by people who misunderstood what they are. They merely add more options for data plans (previously, the only options were $10/month for 25 mb./month of data and $29.99 for unlimited data). I think I read somewhere that they're hoping the LTE network will reduce the strain on their data networks, and therefore hoping to keep unlimited data plans.

So it's just AT&T that no longer offers unlimited plans.

Edit: however, I can see Verizon jumping at this opportunity. They seem to be very eager to make an extra buck. I mean, it's $10 a month to use the VZ Navigator software, which now comes as bloatware on many Android phones despite the fact that we have Google navigation for free.

None of them are unlimited. You will see that if you read the contracts. They are all capped. Them enforcing its another topic but they all seem to be buckling down.
What I don't get is the whole use of unlimited when its not. Any other business that did that would be sued left and right and run out of business.
 

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