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Seems the carriers win some, lose some here because on the one hand with unlocked phones and no contract lockin, customers can move around, but on the other han
by natch 11y ago
Seems the carriers win some, lose some here because on the one hand with unlocked phones and no contract lockin, customers can move around, but on the other hand, customers are still paying the same monthly fees while no longer enjoying the contract discount, right? The extra benefit the customers do get to offset the loss of discount-with-contract is the annual phone upgrade, but it's Apple eating this cost, not the carriers. (A cost which gets passed on to the consumer in Apple's subscription scheme).
So for the customer, financially it's probably close to a wash, but for the carriers, there's some financial win at the cost of lockin because they aren't giving discounts any more but customers are still paying them the same amount of money. Sure, now customers are free to move around, but how many will? Probably a minority of them.
- dangero 11y agoAT&T as an example is offering $25 discount on your plan for phones that aren't under contract so I wouldn't say users are still paying the same price as before for their phone plan. http://m.att.com/shopmobile/wireless/modals/next-savings-requirements.html http://m.att.com/shopmobile/wireless/modals/next-savings-req...
- bonyt 11y agoAlso, AT&T owns Cricket as a subsidiary. Same network (MVNO), much lower cost per month if you buy phones unsubsidized and unlocked. There are a lot of MVNOs like this. Usually, no phone subsidy is offered and you pay at the beginning rather than the end of the month so it's technically prepaid. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_mobile_virtual_network_operators https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_mobile...
- natch 11y agoOh, did not know that, thanks.