Maurice
"Meanwhile, a GSM handset bought in NZ and taken to Canada will cost NZ$5.45 per minute to phone home! Peak time calls in NZ for a very popular pricing plan will cost NZ$1.60 per minute. That means that Globalstar handsets will be able to undercut these prices and give complete coverage as well. "
Some of this requires further study.
Firstly I pay no more than NZ$0.20/min for my peak calls.
Secondly, how is this G* charging actually going to work?
Let's assume Vodaphone takes over from Hyundai in NZ. (More than likely I think by the time they get around to providing service in NZ)
So I contact a Vodaphone rep, he arranges for a GSM/G* Errcison model phone for me and I am up and running.
So I should be paying my NZ$0.20/min rates for most of my calls which will be made from within urban areas where GSM coverage is mostly excellent (note that there zero business for G* here). Then I drive down the country, get into a GSM deadspot but want to make a call. The Erricson phone will auto-roam to G* and I will make my call at whatever the local rate for G* service is (maybe NZ$1.50/min, given US$0.50 Wholesale). That's great so far.
By the way, if I am in that ditch down country and someone in the office in Auckland calls me on my normal GSM number then will the local Vodaphone system figure out that I am not available on GSM but that I am available on G*. If so, great! Who will get charged the NZ$1.50/min in this case? My account or the office account. Interesting because they may only be expecting to pay 20c/min. Actually I might be too, unless the phone makes it clear to me that I am on satellite.
Anyway that evening I fly over to Sydney, get into my hotel and make a call home. I am in a bulding => no G* coverage! => Phone will go to GSM, but I am not in my home network => ROAMING CHARGES!!! just the same expensive call as before.
Alternatively I can catch the lift downstairs and find a spot in the street where I can enough see enough sky to make a connection. Then while I am trying not to get run over by a bus (because the middle of the road was the only place with enough coverage) and I am getting wet because it happens to be raining I make my G* call home. But at least this way I only get charged the G* rate of NZ$1.50/min (or is it more when roaming through foreign gateways?) You know what, I would never do this, even if I was paying for the bill myself, because I could roam on GSM for about NZ$1.80/min.
I summary my point is, G* phones are no good compared to regular cellphones, unless they have some terrestial mode to use when they can't see the sky. But that means that when you go travelling and can't see the sky, you will have to pay the same huge roaming charges that you have to pay now!
And this means => the market for G* is in the areas that don't yet have terrestial wireless or even landline coverage. In another words they need to concentrate on the back of beyond, the third world!!
Please correct me if I am wrong. |
