Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 13th Dec 2012 00:23 UTC
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Member since:
2011-04-11
http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/12/in-risky-move-t-mobile-to-e.....
Unfortunately, it doesn't make the REAL problem go away. Carriers charge absurdly high prices for data and calls if you are without a contract, so if you want to have some reasonable amount data or calls in your phone, you have to get into a contract. This practice is a relic from the days carriers had very limited-capacity networks, so if you wanted to use data and calls for more than a little, you had to essentially promise the carrier you will in fact use them, and for a certain time (12 months) so they could plan their network build-out. Now that they 've mostly built their networks, charging that way doesn't make sense. However, NO nerd ever whines about this (maybe because they don't get out a lot). Compared to this , the subsidizing thing is a minor thing. Phone subsidizing is basically a gift to butter you over from forcing you to sign up for the contract and pay a lot for something (calls and data) that should be offer for much cheaper and without having to get into a contract. Basically subsidizing only annoys nerds that can't get a certain phone from a certain carrier. They way carriers charge for data and calls annoys everyone, because, well, it really is annoying.
PS: And don't get me started about how VoIP doesn't really work in mobile, as they have some kind of priority system where "voice" always gets priority over "data"
Edited 2012-12-14 16:22 UTC