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uniqs
79

wizardry
@ohio-state.edu

1 recommendation

wizardry

Anon

Your carrier knows best

Cellular operators are such a drag on hardware, software, and third party service innovation.

Mr Guy
@charter.com

1 recommendation

Mr Guy

Anon

Actually they do. If Verizon enabled this no doubt people would use this then complain about overages by saying "I only use wi-fi. Why am I over my cap?" because yes customers are that stupid.
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

Member

I've been on the other end of that phone line in a previous life, and yes, they are. They'd use Download Booster and then pitch a huge fit when they realized it's using cellular data. It doesn't matter if you warned them; some people wouldn't understand the warning, but, when their bill comes, they'd go through the roof.

Reminds me of an incident that happened right after I started working in tech support. The ISP I worked for was retiring a very old mail server and transitioning the relatively small number of people still on it to one of our current servers. Customers had been getting messages for weeks on end telling them to change their server settings to point to the new server and, if they were using IMAP, to download the mail they had on the old one, and we even told them that, if they didn't know how, they could call in, and we'd walk them through it. Well, this guy calls in, mad as a hornet, because he can't get to his mail. When I mentioned that we'd been sending out notices for weeks, both by e-mail and in bill inserts, asking people to transition to the new server, he flatly denied we'd sent him anything. I can't remember if we were able to retrieve his old mail (I think it got sent to the server admins and they did), but that's the type of customer who'd use Download Booster and then blame the carrier for how it works.
theboz1419
join:2003-02-12
Puyallup, WA

theboz1419 to Mr Guy

Member

to Mr Guy
That would not be a problem on sprint, Unlimited data. I can understand that for ATT and Verizon

buddahbless
join:2005-03-21
Premium

buddahbless to ISurfTooMuch

Member

to ISurfTooMuch
I agree that people are as you say "stupid" however people can be taught. As the article states that the big three are disabling the feature there is no mention that you can turn the feature on and off at will. So the discussion is moot if the later is not the case. Why disable it fully, I do believe having the unit default to disable is a good idea but dont fully disable the option.

Give the user the option if there too as you say "stupid" to figure out how to turn the feature on then off well let them get bill shock and they will lean real quick how to use said feature, It happened in the past when people had long distance bill shock, people learned about LD plans, it happened when people started receiving roaming bill shock people learned how to call there carrier and disable roaming or plain out prevent it by changing there setting in the phones. this should be treated no differently. However it should be off on default and the user must opt in to use said feature, maybe then people will see how much there being screwed by shared bucket o data plans.

IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC

IPPlanMan to Mr Guy

Member

to Mr Guy
Heaven forbid "bill shock" should get in the way of actual good service and coverage.

Cost inflation in wireless is ridiculous. Carriers don't want customers to fully appreciate how they are being gouged.

PlusOne
@google.com

PlusOne to Mr Guy

Anon

to Mr Guy
said by Mr Guy :

Actually they do. If Verizon enabled this no doubt people would use this then complain about overages by saying "I only use wi-fi. Why am I over my cap?" because yes customers are that stupid.

+1

Yes, people ARE that stupid.

IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC

1 edit

IPPlanMan

Member

No. It's because the data service is that expensive. $15/GB for overages alone... Who are we kidding here?
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch to buddahbless

Member

to buddahbless
Oh, I agree that it should be an option, and I think most folks would "get it". I'm just pointing out how dense some customers are, and, by and large, these are the ones who really pitch a fit. And, let me tell you, there are people out there who get angry to the point of flying into a rage, even though it's their fault.

IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC

2 recommendations

IPPlanMan

Member

So it's not that data costs way too much. Instead, we have to protect customers from themselves.
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Yes, data costs way too much. You'll get no argument from me. I'm not defending what they did; I'm just saying that there are going to be people who won't be able to understand how this works, will use it when they shouldn't, and will then pitch a fit when they get the bill.

One thought, though. If the carriers wanted to extract money from customers by having them go over their caps, wouldn't it make more sense to leave this feature intact? I mean, I spend most of my time on wi-fi, so I don't even come close to hitting my cap, so wouldn't the carrier want to get me to use more cellular data by giving me the chance to use a feature like this? Either I'd go over, or I'd up my plan. From a financial standpoint, turning it off gains them nothing.

wheresmydata
@cox.net

1 recommendation

wheresmydata to ISurfTooMuch

Anon

to ISurfTooMuch
Well or if the carriers didn't blatantly extort money out of you with crazy low caps this wouldn't be an issue. How come with LTE we now have networks with many times the capacity and around the same data caps.
existenz
join:2014-02-12

2 edits

existenz to theboz1419

Member

to theboz1419
I just picked up with Sprint SG5 today. Spark network surprised me. It really can do near 60Mbps in some places (though typically 10-35) and with 800Mhz, no dropped calls deep in underground garages.

Edit: So it doesn't matter if Sprint turned off SG5 downloader if in a Spark market.

»dl.dropboxusercontent.co ··· 0SG5.png

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK

KrK to ISurfTooMuch

Premium Member

to ISurfTooMuch
Ah, the solution: Proper capacity and not hugely punishing caps. NM. Block that feature!
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080 to IPPlanMan

Member

to IPPlanMan
Or get the idea they're being screwed on the cost versus VIRTUALLY FREE WIFI...
Plenty of the reserve frequencies are now coming online in the 4g/lte networks but for every mhz, they want to make several million dollars more revenue per quarter.. much harder to get to that goal at $40 a pop. Now, $140.. that's more like what they want.

Slagish
@myvzw.com

Slagish to Mr Guy

Anon

to Mr Guy
+1
existenz
join:2014-02-12

existenz to wizardry

Member

to wizardry
Here is my GS5 on Google Fiber (top 3 results) and Sprint Spark at home (lower 3).

»dl.dropboxusercontent.co ··· 0SG5.png

Given that smartphone apps don't need more than a few Mbps anyway, I sure don't need the combined bandwidth.
stridr69
join:2003-05-19
San Luis Obispo, CA

stridr69 to IPPlanMan

Member

to IPPlanMan
Actually VZW charges $10/GB for overages.

IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC

1 edit

IPPlanMan

Member

Nope... Look at the fine print...
For the Verizon More Everything Plan....
»www.verizonwireless.com/ ··· ing.html

For plans 1GB and above, data overage is $15 per 1GB of data if you go over your plan allowance.
For the 250 MB plan, data overage is $15 per 200 MB.
For the 500 MB plan, data overage is $15 per 500 MB.

Guy12345
@cox.net

Guy12345 to IPPlanMan

Anon

to IPPlanMan
Honestly this isn't so bad. I'm sure they're doing it because most people who see the WiFi signal will assume they aren't using their quota. I wish it were some kind of advanced option we could enable or disable but considering I have 50mbps internet at home, I don't see why I'd ever enable it.

IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC

IPPlanMan to existenz

Member

to existenz
That's a big "IF"... Saw on a Sprint community post that barely over 50% of towers in DC have been upgraded for LTE. Given how long this has been in the works, this is pathetic.

»community.sprint.com/baw ··· 8#769138