[1st-mile-nm] Susan Crawford on Why U.S. Internet Access is Slow, Costly, and Unfair on Vimeo

[Owen Densmore]

On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 7:44 AM, Steve Ross <editorsteve at gmail.com> wrote:

> <snip>
>
I am surprised that Verizon does not offer a no-contract plan, but my
> argument is the same: You pay the price in either the phone or the monthly
> fee. There's no free lunch and no real difference in what Europeans pay
> versus what Americans pay (overall) for mobile service.
>

During the era that the iPhone was not available from TMo, many people "did
the math" and found that buying a phone and using it with TMo's
non-contract plans was a considerable win.  They did this even tho TMo
could not provide the same "broadband" and many settled for Edge.  They
wanted the sexy iPhone and they loved TMo .. a European (Deutsche
Telecom) based outfit with an extraordinary broad set of tariffs.

The sticker shock of the new iPhone was generally payed for within 14
months with a better no-contract fee.

I do like the devil in the details approach here.  I switched to Vzn due to
iPhone lust (and far better coverage in rural NM) and was amazed at the
control Apple had over the distribution of the iPhone.  It seems to me to
be a small island of consumer protection that Apple is very clear up front
on the relationship between Apple handsets and iOS, and Vzn, the carrier.
 With android this is not the case.

I will return to TMo when possible but I do get a huge savings for a being
over 65 -- they offer a very nice menu of choices which nearly halved the
bill I would pay as a vanilla Vzn customer.

One last example of buying an unlocked phone being a win was a recent
hi-tech friend who bought a Nexus with a data-only service from TMo (good
tariffs again) and is using a VoIP/Google Voice stunt.  Saved a bundle.

   -- Owen
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