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| User Info | Mobile Phone Wars! in forum [Ticker] | |||
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Genesis Posts: 71379 Incept: 2007-06-26 
KD^2 
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http://market-ticker.org/archives/1542-M....
---------- "The monetary base in ALL modern monetary systems is the sum of unencumbered assets against which one is both WILLING AND ABLE to borrow." - Me
2009-10-26 09:14:48
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Howie Posts: 3284 Incept: 2007-11-02 
Wilmington, DE Online
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I mentioned this on another thread, but there were significant profit warnings from the sector last week. ERIC and TQNT warned and the wireless chip sector sold off pretty hard.
---------- "Send lawyers, guns and money, the **** has hit the fan." - Warren Zevon
2009-10-26 09:20:39
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Pika-steph Posts: 39194 Incept: 2007-09-11
^Why I keep^ fighting; so he is not fighting for nothing. Online
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I think the only thing Verizon still has the best prices for is family share plans. That's their big strength. We shopped everywhere and even the Straight Talk from Wal-Mart isn't going to beat the $90/month we have for our shared plan through Verizon.
---------- Stop the Looting; Start Prosecuting - http://www.FedUpUSA.org  "America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards."
2009-10-26 09:28:30
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Peak_debt Posts: 86 Incept: 2008-02-24
Socal Online
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Yep, Gen, you nailed it again. I had a Verizon contract for 6 years. Dumped it two weeks ago for Straight Talk. Half the cost, more minutes. Never had to talk to a sales rep, my current numbers transfered in 5 minutes. It was so simple. Absolutely no problems. I told the Verizon rep. that I was leaving beforehand. The response was "well we always appreciate you being a Verizon customer." Nothing else they could say I guess. I am still shocked that it was so easy to switch.
---------- Goldman Suchs and Dennis Kneale, I wasn't born with enough middle fingers. [****_you] How many trillion do chinks have? -Mliu 6/30/09
2009-10-26 09:35:50
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Bicycle Posts: 684 Incept: 2008-09-05 
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I killed my ATT family plan + unlimited data last month. We went to a couple of prepaid Tracfones instead. I am now nearly paying for all of my yearly mobile use excluding data, for what I was paying in a year on the ATT plan IN TAXES ALONE. Starve the beast. ---------- The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akVL7QY0S.... the government comes for the regular people first http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFY0HBkUm....
2009-10-26 09:45:43
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Mikeit83 Posts: 265 Incept: 2009-06-19 East Coast
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Gen- Its still the network man. I hear from iphone/att customers all day every day (And I dont work in sales) that they get lousy reception from at&t. Like you pointed out with tmobile- your complaint is that the data speeds are not where you would like them to be. People are switching from using their phones primarily for voice- to using them primarily for data. This shift in market base will favor the companies that have invested more in their data capacity and speeds coupled with availability nation wide. I have my wife, mom, dad, brother and uncle all on the same 700 minute plan. With family share, free vzw to vzw, and now friends and family (can choose like 10 non vzw lines to make calls for free) there is no need for excessive voice minutes. Data (for smart phones, windows mobile, and blackberries) and text data is the achiles heal of most carriers. Most people, I am guessing 30 and under, use text data WAYYYYYY more than conventional voice. And i can bet there is a catch with the wally world plan... like its regional or something. I havent even heard of it before this ticker. But I am willing to bet I am right ;) Last modified:
2009-10-26 09:58:30 by mikeit83
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Tnben Posts: 326 Incept: 2008-10-14
Memphis Online
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Peak_Debt, Would you clarify "my current numbers transfered in 5 minutes?" Did you mean your old phone number transferred to the Straight Talk phone? Or your stored contacts? Last modified:
2009-10-26 10:00:17 by tnben
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Otiswild Posts: 1341 Incept: 2009-03-09
Teegeeack
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QFT on the slow edge/3g rollout of tmobile.. I wonder though if Apple will go the MVNO route after their exclusivity expires with ATT in the US? I know it had been rumored previous to the launch of iPhone.. ---------- It appears that the yard wolves has grown up. Are we finally finished with the colds dead winters?
2009-10-26 10:02:01
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Tdray Posts: 115 Incept: 2008-12-11
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This is the late 90s all over again. I'm glad I am out of this business. I was at MCI from 95 to 00'when long distance cratered. However, a cheap touchscreen android phone on a decent network is becoming more of a possibility.
2009-10-26 10:03:00
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Tnben Posts: 326 Incept: 2008-10-14
Memphis Online
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Mike, From what I've read, Wal-Mart's Straight Talk has nationwide coverage and will be sold in all 3,200 of their U.S. stores.
2009-10-26 10:05:30
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Bagbalm Posts: 979 Incept: 2009-03-19
Just North of Detroit
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My wife has a Comsumers Cellular phone. I have a Sprint Mogul phone a friend in Ohio provides me. She uses at most a couple hundred hours a month and a few text messages to me so her bill is only about $35. I do use the internet connection but only if I can't get to a real computer with a big screen. I can't use the phone as a modem on my netbook without a special service which is a cheat. I know at 62 I am a fossil - but I don't understand people who have a phone to their ear all day long. I find it hard to believe they are saying anything of significance. I watched a man in a restaurant eating lunch with his son the other day. He went from one call to the next and the boy was effectively alone. He didn't even try to talk if there was a pause in the calls. This is a parent? More like a jailer because the poor kid is locked in solitary.
2009-10-26 10:11:42
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Asianbull Posts: 2184 Incept: 2007-09-03
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Wait until Google Voice launches. All these carriers will be completely neutered.
---------- The root cause of all the world's problems is inflation. The only sound money in the world is commodities.
2009-10-26 10:14:40
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Throxxofvron Posts: 2672 Incept: 2009-02-17
The Land of Bilk & Money
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Shrewd Ticker.
---------- DIONYSUS: " Thou hast no knowledge of the life thou art leading; thy very existence is now a mystery to thee. " -from 'The Bacchantes' By Euripides “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” -George Orwell
2009-10-26 10:16:09
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Genesis Posts: 71379 Incept: 2007-06-26
KD^2
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Text messages don't run on data bandwidth - they run on the spare bandwidth in the voice channel (signaling bandwidth). It costs a mobile company basically nothing to switch and carry SMS. The mobile companies all think they can "mine gold" with their data charges, with ALL of them operating on the belief that people will pay $30, 40 or even more for data on a mobile device. The problem with this theory is that the universe of people who will do so is rather small in size. The mindset that the average consumer will spend $500+/year just for data and ANOTHER $500+/year for voice on a mobile is, IMHO, yet another example of trying to extrapolate the "early adopter/geek" spend pattern into the general population. It does not and will not work. AT&T put the iPhone out there without the backhaul to handle it. Big mistake, but they don't care. 2 year contracts and all, you know - provide **** service then charge people $200 to tell you to **** off. Yeah, that's a good business model - for a little while, until everyone DOES leave. The problem (beyond potentially getting sued to Mars by various consumer protection organizations) is that you create a cadre of PERMANENTLY ****ed off customers. AT&T also has their voice channels set to half-rate which gives them considerably more capacity but sounds like **** - most people don't realize that the CODEC parameters are under the control of the tower on a GSM system. T-Mobile runs full-rate codecs nationally and as a result voice quality is MUCH better. The "family share" and "mobile to mobile on-network" stuff is a transparent attempt to coerce friends and family onto the same carrier. But the rise of truly-unlimited and carrier-agnostic plans will kill that dead - it is just a matter of time. People DO NOT like to be roped into something, and when they CAN escape, they WILL escape. Once people figure out that if their mobile use is talk and text they can get UNLIMITED use of both for $45/month the existing model of trying to ramrod people into $100+ monthly bills will blow up in everyone's face. T-Mobile's realignment is recognition that the MVNOs (Boost, Straight Talk, etc) are literally decimating the talk + text customer base. The mobile operators' open hostility to tethering (with the exception of T-Mobile, which either explicitly permits or ignores it on their "smartphone" data plans) is another problem - the idea that someone will pay ANOTHER $60/month for data on a laptop or netbook on top of a data charge for a Blackberry or WinMo device carried by the same person is beyond obscene, since only one of them is in use at a given instant in time. There are incessant rumors of DT buying Sprint. I don't buy it simply because of the technology differences. Sprint/Nextel is a mismash of trouble in that regard with iDEN already; adding more to it would just make it MUCH worse. The "entrenched" (Verizon/AT&T) are under assault from all sides. From the MVNOs at the low end and from Sprint and T-Mobile in the middle. Pricing at HALF competitor's prices is going to trash these guys - it is just a matter of time. Verizon's 2-line Family plan with a 700 minute shared bucket and text is $100. With 10 "friends and family" to get rid of the issues of running into overages its $120 (which does cover most people.) T-Mobile's Talk+Text for 2 lines with 750 minutes is $70; 1500 shared bucket is $80, unlimited (no overage possible) is $100. Still cheaper - by a lot. T-Mo's family plans don't count minutes for T-Mobile on-network calls either (of course) and do (as with Verizon) have unlimited nights and weekends. There are a number of "grandfathered" plans on some providers (including T-Mobile) that are an even better deal, and then there is the SERO stuff from Sprint that is SERIOUSLY cheap - but you have to ferret out how to get into it. I'm not including the "off the front page" stuff that all the carriers offer to certain select groups in this comparison. ---------- "The monetary base in ALL modern monetary systems is the sum of unencumbered assets against which one is both WILLING AND ABLE to borrow." - Me
2009-10-26 10:19:18
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Randy123 Posts: 2001 Incept: 2008-09-24 New Jersey
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Gen I have the 2 line family at 120.00 I think its pretty fair actually
---------- Mliu is my hero. Captain melamine.
2009-10-26 10:21:17
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Bluebird Posts: 524 Incept: 2008-05-02
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This is kinda related - but how do cell phones operate? Do they bounce radio waves from tower to tower, so more towers is more coverage areas? Or, do the towers bounce waves from satellites, so less towers are needed? Is this the same whether the phone has GPS availability or not? Thanks.
2009-10-26 10:22:11
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Genesis Posts: 71379 Incept: 2007-06-26
KD^2
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It is tower-to-terminal (phone) and they hand off between towers as you move. NONE of the standard cell companies use Satellite. There are two satellite phone providers that have true global reach but they're ungodly expensive to use, simply because the birds are ungodly expensive to launch! GPS in the phone simply provides the ability for a "thing" (whether carrier hosted program or a handset's internal software) to know where it is. ---------- "The monetary base in ALL modern monetary systems is the sum of unencumbered assets against which one is both WILLING AND ABLE to borrow." - Me
2009-10-26 10:32:35
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Bluebird Posts: 524 Incept: 2008-05-02
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So even a GPS navigator gadget (no phone), doesn't use satellites either? It's all done via programs connecting with towers?
2009-10-26 10:35:56
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Knobcreek Posts: 940 Incept: 2009-02-06
Near TN & VA, but not SC
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Damn, the Walmart plans sounds great. Oh well, I'm a happy customers of Verizon, and have been for a very long time. Tried ATT up in NJ and in the past in NC. Reception simply sucked. It was not a little bad, but terrible. Verizon has always worked well for me in my local area and while traveling to other parts of the country. Assuming Walmart uses the Verizon network for its service, I know where I'm headed in about 12 months.
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2009-10-26 10:41:58 by knobcreek
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Genesis Posts: 71379 Incept: 2007-06-26
KD^2
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"Straight Talk" is a WalMart-exclusively sold Tracfone service. Tracfone runs on Verizon's network. Not a lot of people know this, but they will figure it out - and when they do, Verizon's pricing plans are TOAST. ---------- "The monetary base in ALL modern monetary systems is the sum of unencumbered assets against which one is both WILLING AND ABLE to borrow." - Me
2009-10-26 10:44:19
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Deejunk Posts: 578 Incept: 2008-10-11 Now DC - Solar Power.
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Those big phone companies and local phone companies have overcharged for a long time.... But other phone companies also have sneaky ways to up the bills so that the base charge is meaningless. Net 10 - perfect. $30 for 300 minutes, free basic phone or add $20 for a camera and other gadgets, 10 cents a minute, 5 cents texts, no contract, chuck the phone when done... just use up your 300 minutes in two months. Magic Jack - no complaints for my situation except I have to limit internet use a little bit while I'm yacking... $20/Year... unlimited service - Plugs into the USB port. I use at public libraries all over the country at all hours of the night and other Wi-Fi connections. Adequate for My Personal situation while traveling for extended yacks with friends and family and emergencies. ---------- http://www.myvideo.de/watch/2451556/The_.... - I'm seriously ready for inflation, deflation & TOTAL collapse of the US & Global economic & market systems.. I'm the sexy blonde not in this vid but my x is the lead chichen-> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdFIXsrjk....
2009-10-26 10:44:27
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Wearedoomed Posts: 903 Incept: 2009-01-14
Petra Online
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Yeah. Towers are typically connected to a switch in a particular area, somewhat similar to how landline phones are linked to a local switch. These linkages ("backhauls") could be over a landline network (the local phone company), or microwave transmitters, or two tin cans and a string (if that were possible and cheap enough). Satellite, however, is seldom (if at all) used for backhaul typical cell networks; it's a long way from the ground, to a satellite, back to the ground again, which introduces noticeable latency (delay). The switches are, in turn, interconnected in a long-distance network of some kind. The network has some distributed "intelligence" built into it such that the network figures out the next tower to hand you off to, then makes the hand-off seamlessly at the right time - even if it involves a different switch, or even a different carrier entirely. ---------- The shrewdest of the great generals in China's history once said that perfection in war lay in so sapping the opponent's will that he surrenders without fighting.
2009-10-26 10:45:17
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Tnben Posts: 326 Incept: 2008-10-14
Memphis Online
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I've had the same experience. When I lived in Chicago the ATT store was in the same parking lot as my regular grocery store, so I was there often. My ATT phone dropped calls IN FRONT OF THE ATT STORE. It was total ****! In contrast, Verizon is reliable. I'm checking out the Wal-Mart plan. I just need to know if my current phone number can transfer. I don't want to give clients a new number.
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2009-10-26 10:48:00 by tnben
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Genesis Posts: 71379 Incept: 2007-06-26
KD^2
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Straight Talk can transfer (port) your number.
---------- "The monetary base in ALL modern monetary systems is the sum of unencumbered assets against which one is both WILLING AND ABLE to borrow." - Me
2009-10-26 10:47:09
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Tnben Posts: 326 Incept: 2008-10-14
Memphis Online
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Thanks, Gen. That's terrific.
2009-10-26 10:48:37
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