Gretzsky was a happy camper, eh!!
What is so bad about $5 a month for unlimited browsing with Bell Canada? The cost per MB is not being reflected in a way that is meaningful. If wireless companies don't give their customers a decent price to download, I'll just use the unlimited bucket of browsing minutes.
I haven't downloaded anything yet because of speed. I'll be damned if I download a CD with 20 MB for $800. With 1xEV, the cost for the download would be $1.20 (6 cents per minute). If I could download a 20 MB CD for $20, I would probably do it. The question is not only how much you are paying, but what you are downloading. I sure as hell won't pay more than $5 a months to access all my emails.
Nontheless, the economics of ISP service sucked for dial up over voice networks. VZ, BLS, SBC are not going to watch their capacity slip away into wasted minutes of capacity resold by enron type wholesalers of capacity. Wireless is the greates excuse in the world to limit the excess capacity and offer true digital access. The incremental speed offerings at 150k, 300K, 600K, 1.25MBP, 2.4 MBS, and 4.8 MBS will keep pace with the new software products required for high speed connectivity.
The reason that I will ditch wireline service is to discontinue redundant billing. I have no need for a wireless phone & a cordless phone in the same house, especially now that wireless phones will have charging stations to put in your house. (Wish they would come with USB connection to PC or laptops for hot-synch functions.) Did you read the comments about the guy that realized he was talking through his Compaq PDA? What happens when people realize they will be talking through any computer via all IP 1XEV laptop and pc computers?
My wife hates it when I use the line for the cordless phone to get on the internet, even though she has a cell phone. That is gonna end pretty soon once I can use my cell phone for voice and data.
She will have to have her friends and family call on her cell phone if they want to chat. She too will become 100% wireless. 2 wireless phones with voice and internet connectivity is more than enough - maybe I will get an all you can eat plan like Leap or Metro PCS to keep an extra line available in the house.
Spectrum wil not be a problem once new channels are introduced. Look at England, carriers like VOD have the ability to install 16 1XEV DO channels with their current allocation of spectrum beyond GSM (1.25) and UMTS (5 MHZ paired). After all, they have 20 MHZ of unused spectrum once they get done with UMTS. There is also alot of 3G spectrum available in the US under MMDS spectrum. More will be found as consolidation enables wireless carriers to offer several different channels of CDMA1x, CDMA1xEV DO, GSM/GPRS/WCDMA (if they get the spectrum), NextWave, etc...Capacity is anything but a problem, but no one wants to show it off either. |
