Weekend musings on mobile telecom...
Yesterday my frustrations finally boiled over and I dumped AWE as my wireless provider. Horrible sound quality and constant dropped calls, the final straw being a dropped call while I was sitting still at my kitchen table getting instructions for my "Jeopardy" tryout. Thank goodness the gentleman was kind enough to call back.
My new wireless package cost me $99 for the phone and $60/month for 2600 minutes all over North America. Well, pre-NAFTA North America, because Mexico isn't included. The phone, as is normal, came network-locked. I asked what it would cost to get one that wasn't locked and was told an extra $150.
Well...
I've been given a phone with a $150 subsidy and I'm being charged $60/month. That $60 has to, in theory, cover the subsidy, cover the costs of providing me the current service, including interest payments on the provider's massive debt, and somehow make a dent in the costs of the next-gen buildout. The first month's charges probably won't even cover the cost of the customer service required to make me a customer. It's no wonder the likes of Sprint, Voicestream, AWE, etc have such ugly balance sheets.
And there are ripple effects. For instance, my mobile costs haven't gone up, yet with the giant bucket of call-anywhere minutes I will no longer be the Valued Customer I once was for Qwest. I suppose they may sell more wholesale minutes, but you'd think retail customers are where most of the gravy is.
Somebody, mostly bondholders I suspect, is subsidizing my telephone habit, and I'm wondering how long this can go on. And what happens when it stops. Are we going to see significant increases in per-minute charges? Are the (effectively) all-you-can-eat sub-$100 plans doomed to extinction?
Just musings on a gloomy Saturday morning...blame it on the networks for taking "The Tick" off the air. ;-) |
