 en102Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
1 edit | reply to fAcEtIOUs
Re: Usage billing NOT just because of more revenue said by fAcEtIOUs:Usage based billing is ALSO about modifying customer behavior to be cognizant of what resources they consume and to recognize there are costs involved in massive usage. And the costs aren't merely monetary. They are also about delivering a good service and a consistent service. So Karl, it isn't SIMPLY about more money. If AT&T had gone to usage billing BEFORE they rolled out the iPhone, we wouldn't be reading now about slow downloads & uploads, and disconnected calls, etc. Because the bandwidth hogs(yes I said it - bandwidth hogs) would have modified their behavior to save money. I agree. AT&T is largely to blame on this one (along with their agreement with Apple), that they were so eager to sell those iPhones, they even forced a 2 year data agreement (typically, other devices, you CAN switch to a plain phone and cancel data, or go to a cheaper data plan). With this push to sell phones, they were able to sell iPhones for $99, which is cheaper than probably half of the phones they're currently selling. Forcing the data plan, and then coming back later with a 'too much consumption is bad' approach is not a good approach. As you have mentioned... they should have used a model like in Canada... 5 or 6GB, especially once they offered a 3G version.
For this reason alone, I'd like to see someone like T-Mobile deploy the iPhone (most likely carrier on GSM/HSPA). Competition in this case might make AT&T reconsider. |
