I may be crazy here, but I thought increased competition amongst carriers was good for consumers?

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peterto January 19, 2011

I may be crazy here, but I thought increased competition amongst carriers was good for consumers?

Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T (rumored, not official yet) are making some pricing changes that look cost prohibitive to their customers or taking away some discount offers that they've offered for years to keep customers. Usually when these types of pricing changes go into affect for one carrier, the rest follow. It's like clockwork.

Here are the details of AT&T's purported pricing changes:

www.engadget.com/2011/01/19/atandt-tweaking-messag...

Verizon killing off their every two upgrade program where they offered discount pricing on upgrades:

www.engadget.com/2011/01/18/verizon-officially-kil...

Sprint increasing their everything data plans by $10 a month, effectively destroying what advantage over pricing they had over other carriers:

www.engadget.com/2011/01/18/sprint-increasing-new-...

I wouldn't be surprised if T-Mobile will have some similar pocket gouging plan changes as the rest have sometime in the very near future.

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dave 2011-01-19 18:02:14

Might be time to write a bunch of angry letters to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

Of course, I guess it's not like it will matter, since the FCC has been in the habit of capitulating to the whims and mercies of various carriers and providers lately.

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peterto 2011-01-19 18:06:53

It seems like the only thing the FCC cares about is appeasing the giant telcos and their ability to milk their customers for all their worth. No wonder why the US is always playing catch up in terms of our telecommunications infrastructure.

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groovechicken 2011-01-20 03:02:58

Let's be honest, as long as the wireless providers continue to allow the FBI, DHS, and CIA to wiretap at will, the FCC won't be too harsh on them. And they will put on just good enough a show to keep their jobs, but the carriers' pockets are much deeper than our inkwells even when they don't have the big 3 backing them up. I'm afraid we all just have to get used to the reality and carrier-hop just often enough to keep them within a few dollars of each other.

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dalhectar 2011-01-21 10:55:31

Oligopolies are not much better outright monopolies. As long as considerable barriers of entry exist to keep out new and emerging competitors to "upset the apple cart", it really doesn't matter if you have 2 or 4 or 6 major carriers. Each will be able to establish their customer base, create barriers so they can not hemorrhage customers (long contracts with high exit fees, exclusive phones, lock up FCC frequency licenses), and then raise prices.

The consumers remain screwed.

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stalky14 2011-01-21 18:10:43

As for T-Mobile, I remember back when the G1 came out you could get unlimited data with 400 text messages for $25/month. Now the data alone costs $30.

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gdgt

I may be crazy here, but I thought increased competition amongst carriers was good for consumers?

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I may be crazy here, but I thought increased competition amongst carriers was good for consumers?

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