Verizon announces 700MHz LTE plans -- can you wait 3 years?
By Thomas Ricker 
posted April 4th 2008 8:05AM
posted April 4th 2008 8:05AM
posted April 4th 2008 8:05AM
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Also where is T-Mobile at in all this??? They dont even have a 3G network up yet?
That's just what I was going to ask. You see all this activity and it's always surrounding AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. But T-Mobile is no where to be found. They don't even have 3G up and running, let alone 3.5/3.75G (HSPA). Now all these other carriers are moving onto 3.9/4G technologies.
T-Mobile didn't play any part in the 700MHz auctions that I know of. I could be wrong there, but I never heard a thing about them being involved. If they don't get truly competitive this year, they're going to be out of the game. Who knows, maybe another carrier will buy them out.
As far as GSM is concerned, the only things T-Mobile has going for it, are pricing and customer service - which are big things. But AT&T has the better coverage, better phones and a wider selection of them, and is much more progressive with their services and network technology. Apparently, even Starbucks has dropped T-Mobile as a supplier for their WiFi and are teaming up with AT&T.
T-Mobile is quickly turning into a ghost. If AT&T offered better customer service, and lowered their prices without "nickel and diming" people to death, there would be absolutely no reason to stick around with T-Mobile. The primary reason why people do, is because of the pricing.
Well as for the pricing I hosnestly dont think ATT is over priced I mean there pda plan for internet is 30 a month and that for 3G unlimited there doing alot of changes with there pricing and what not you just need to check out there site I have 10 lines on my plan and for all of us its 500 the most is 600
Yes, AT&T has a PDA plan called PDA Personal for $30/mo., but that includes no messaging whatsoever, which most anyone with a plan like that would want and need. The next step up from that is their PDA Personal Bundle with unlimited messaging (which is the only way they bundle it), for $50/mo. That is WAY too much. Unlimited data with unlimited messaging should be no more than $30 or $35/mo. So they need to slice about $15 or $20 off that particular PDA plan.
Also, their voice plans are too much. Only 450 anytime minutes (AM's) for $40? Sure, you have rollover, but with only 450 minutes per month, you're not going to be rolling anything over. And sure, they offer unlimited nights and weekends, but most of that will be during hours that most adults aren't calling, so that's of little worth - carriers always add that to make people think there's really added value in that, but there really isn't. And yes, they offer unlimited M2M, too, but what if your friends and family aren't on AT&T? It would do you no good. None of mine are and they aren't ready to switch - so for me, U-M2M at AT&T is worth nothing.
So the only solution then is to bump up to the next voice plan which is their 900 AM's for $60. Whew. Way too much! You bundle that with the PDA Personal Bundle data plan, and you're at $110/mo., and that doesn't even include taxes! That's absurd.
On T-Mo, I have 1500 AM's, U-M2M (very valuable to me since the loved ones I talk to most are on T-Mo), and unlimited messaging - all for about $60/mo.! Adding unlimited data (internet, email, and T-Mobile WiFi HotSpots) only adds another $20/mo. to my bill, bringing me up to $80/mo.
So comparing to AT&T's plans, I have the same U-M2M/data/messaging, but based on a similarly priced plan, I have over 1000 more AM's, yet I'm still paying $30/mo. less.
If AT&T offered 900 AM's with everything else for $40/mo., and shaved $20 off that PDA PB plan, then I'd switch.
Psh, well, Im disappointed now. Whose to say Ill still be a VZW customer then?
I mean, Im on a two year contract, but even if I renewed it, they probably wont have have it finished by the time my RENEWED contract is up.
Im not happy, but Im not disappointed. With Sprints new low prices, VZW is less and less appealing, especially since they havent wow'd me with how they are going to use this new spectrum.
Price isn't everything. I'm more than willing to pay more for VZW than Sprint. I rarely have dropped calls with VZW and VZW's customer service is usually pretty decent. Those are things I couldn't say when I had Sprint.
I hear ya, but now it'll take the next 20 years to pay for the war he started. Trying to extract his dad's revenge on Sadam.
How many years?! In tech years thats too short too long, have it out tomorrow or you too will be bought by the evil doers, sorry I meant Microsoft.
I can wait forever since I dont ever see myself going to Verizon or Sprint
All for the low low price of $60 a month no doubt with "justified" price hikes annually of $3-$5.
You think I'm joking don't you....just wait.
It seems as though everyone has an opinion when it comes to wireless. It never fails. LOL.
I think that Verizon's push to LTE is going to be a very good thing. I know we all wish(me included) that it is now instead of years later, but think of the things that this will accomplish. These are just theories, whatever the carriers decide to do, is up to them.
From my research, LTE is a branch of the 3gPP in the form of GSM/HSDPA. Qualcomm I believe has set the standard for Rev. a, and have just finished with the standards and equipment for Rev. B. But how many Rev. A devices are there? 2 How many devices are enabled for Rev. A? 0 My point is that it will take time to deploy a network and get GOOD devices on them. So that puts us at 2009 for Rev. A Devices and probably 2010, 2011 for Rev. B devices. In that time period they could have LTE in a functional state, and offer it as a solution. The more people that you have in LTE frees up bandwith and spectrum on Rev A. In which case you can actually turn up the throughput on Rev. A as an option instead of installing Rev. B. And Sprint and Verizon could do this.
The cool things is that by going LTE, you get a very good mix of vendors, and GOOD PHONES. When was the last time you saw a really good Nokia phone on Verizon or Sprint? And I am not even talking about the rebranded pantech phones because the nokia phones didn't pass FCC testing. And when I say good phone, I mean one that is competitive in features around $300?
As far as rate plans go, I think LTE will make things cheaper in the end because you can control QoS with the throughput of the network. I think that you will see more and more unlimited plans or creative rate plans to fit the need. Right now it seems that everyone has the same rate plan. Some carriers might have some different options(7pm nights, etc.). But I think that it will be very exciting.
Contracts probably won't go away until the wireless market dust settles. What I mean is that when customer loyalty goes up contracts will probably go away. Think of how many customers left their discounts, loyalty, perks from their current carriers in lieu of the iPhone? When all the carriers said no initially, and at&t recinded after a 5yr eclusivity deal. For a phone right now that doesn't do as much as regular phone. My point is that consumer loyalty is very fickle, regardless of the level of service, price, etc. What you might start seeing in the new future though is the paying an additional price per month or on your plan for discounts multiple times in the term of your contract. I have no hard data either way, but i think this is lot more closer to fruition than a no contracts.
just my two cents..