karlmarx
join:2006-09-18
iraq
 ·Fairpoint Communic..
| The Europeans got it right
The fact that your phone isn't tied to a provider is a HUGE benefit to the consumer. And as a part of that, the providers don't lock you in. Of course, my experience in the UK taught me that most people do prepaid, so I'm not really sure what the monthly rates are. I do know my colleagues spend about 20 pounds a month for virtually unlimited minutes. You don't get deals like that in the US.
The problem in the US is that we didn't choose a good standard. GSM is a worldwide standard, and if the megacorps weren't so greedy here, we would have the benefits of the european system.
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
 ·Comcast
| said by karlmarx  :The fact that your phone isn't tied to a provider is a HUGE benefit to the consumer. Not always. You cannot take a Verizon phone to Cingular and vice versa. For most people I know, this isn't a big deal because by the time they need to upgrade a phone, their current phone is so beat up anyway that they have no desire to retain it.
said by karlmarx : And as a part of that, the providers don't lock you in. They don't lock you in here either. No carrier requires you to get a contract provided you are willing to pay full price for the phone like they do in Europe. For most people, contracts are not an issue at all, especially when they can get a phone for free.
said by karlmarx :The problem in the US is that we didn't choose a good standard. GSM is a worldwide standard, and if the megacorps weren't so greedy here, we would have the benefits of the european system. CDMA-based data standards are far superior to most GSM-based data solutions. Even current 3G GSM solutions are based in part on how CDMA does things currently. Furthermore, more countries now have cell phone providers which offer CDMA-based service in addition to GSM-based offerings.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. |
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jervin123
join:2005-04-14
Philadelphia, PA | Also atleast us GSM/ 3GSM users don't have to pay royalties to Qualcom  open source phones are best. |
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roamer1
sticking it out at you
join:2001-03-24
Atlanta, GA
clubs:
| reply to pnh102
said by pnh102 :No carrier requires you to get a contract provided you are willing to pay full price for the phone like they do in Europe. Unfortunately, this is not true...no major US carrier (with the possible exception of Cingular, who I know used to do this IF you didn't mind losing free mobile-to-mobile) will sell new postpaid service without a contract even if you bring your own phone.
-SC
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"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. There might be a law against it by that time." -/usr/games/fortune |
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roamer1
sticking it out at you
join:2001-03-24
Atlanta, GA
clubs:
| reply to jervin123
said by jervin123 :Also atleast us GSM/ 3GSM users don't have to pay royalties to Qualcom Qualcomm still gets royalties from UMTS, just not as much as they do from CDMA2000.
-SC
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"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. There might be a law against it by that time." -/usr/games/fortune |
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roamer1
sticking it out at you
join:2001-03-24
Atlanta, GA
clubs:
| reply to karlmarx
said by karlmarx :my experience in the UK taught me that most people do prepaid In the US, something like 80% of wireless users are on postpaid with only 20% on prepaid, while in most of the rest of the world, prepaid users make up half or more of total subs. A lot of this is the fault of US carriers, who for the most part treat prepaid customers like third-class scum, charging much higher per-minute rates and offering little or nothing in the way of data features besides ringtones. Heck, Sprint doesn't even sell prepaid under its own brand and, aside from a short stint in Wal*Mart, never has!
-SC
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"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. There might be a law against it by that time." -/usr/games/fortune |
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roamer1
sticking it out at you
join:2001-03-24
Atlanta, GA
clubs:
| reply to karlmarx
said by karlmarx :The problem in the US is that we didn't choose a good standard. GSM is a worldwide standard, and if the megacorps weren't so greedy here, we would have the benefits of the european system. Two of the four major US carriers are GSM... 
IMO, the major problems with the US wireless market aren't the fault of the hodgepodge of technologies the US has -- many Caribbean and Latin American countries, Israel, New Zealand, China, and quite a few other places have both GSM and CDMA, and in some cases even iDEN too. Weak regulation, the "control freak" mentality exhibited by some carriers (namely VZW), American technophobia, and the like are more likely to blame.
-SC
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"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. There might be a law against it by that time." -/usr/games/fortune |
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AOLBites
join:2002-11-10
Lakewood, OH | reply to roamer1
Wrong sprint offers a month to month plan where there inst a contract. but you do have to pay almost full price for your phone. You get 50 dollars off the unactivated price.
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| reply to roamer1
said by roamer1 :Unfortunately, this is not true...no major US carrier (with the possible exception of Cingular, who I know used to do this IF you didn't mind losing free mobile-to-mobile) will sell new postpaid service without a contract even if you bring your own phone. I bought a phone outright from Cingular in 2004 and retained free mobile-to-mobile.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. |
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LilYoda
Feline with squirel personality disorder
Premium
join:2004-09-02
Mountains
2 edits | reply to karlmarx
said by karlmarx :The fact that your phone isn't tied to a provider is a HUGE benefit to the consumer. And as a part of that, the providers don't lock you in. Not true, unless I'm misunderstanding your post. If you want a unlocked phone, then indeed you pay it full price. However, if you want a $400 phone for $50, then your GSM provider:
- simlock and providerlock the phone they send you
- add a 12 or 24 month additional commitment to your contract
For those getting new contracts, it also usually requires 24month commitments to have the best deals (for exemple, idf you get 24 month contract instead of 12, you get 30 SMS free per month, etc...)
Regardless of those limitations, I still prefer the GSM approach to lock your contract to a SIM rather than to a phone. If I somehow break my phone (actually, I passed my old siemens through the washing machine, results not cool  ), I just take the SIM out and pop it into and old backup phone, and I'm back in business.
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"the two most abundant things in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity." (Harlan Ellison) |
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