3 ms·

I'm only one person, but I (and my family) have computers and smartphones but no data. It saves a whole lot of money to be on a prepaid plan when you have wifi

by ksml 11y ago

I'm only one person, but I (and my family) have computers and smartphones but no data. It saves a whole lot of money to be on a prepaid plan when you have wifi in most places you go.

jessriedel 11y ago
Right, but your smart phone is data capable, i.e., can accept a 4G signal. You don't have a dumbphone alongside a computer with wifi. mwsherman's original question was "Why would municipalities offer free wifi rather than free 4G?". jws thought it might be important for folks who didn't have data plans. But my point is that if someone has wifi, they also very likely have a smartphone that's capabale of receiving a 4G signal, even if they cannot afford a data plan from their cell network provider.
- DanBC 11y ago
  > But my point is that if someone has wifi, they also very likely have a smartphone that's capabale of receiving a 4G signal, even if they cannot afford a data plan from their cell network provider. That's a bit of an assumption. I'd like to see some numbers to support it. I know a bunch of people who have wifi capable devices but not devices capable of 4g. Or they have older smartphones that are not 4g capable.
- Joeri 11y ago
  How would you arrange it practically though? You would have to distribute sim cards, and people would have to swap those out with their normal sim card rendering them unreachable by phone. That's ofcourse assuming their phone isn't carrier-locked. Wifi seems a lot more practical unless phones are redesigned to cover this usage pattern.
- pdabbadabba 11y ago
  > mwsherman's original question was "Why would municipalities offer free wifi rather than free 4G?" This isn't quite how I read the comment, but here are some pretty good answers, I think: 1. They would have to either purchase suitable licensed spectrum (literally hundreds of millions of dollars in NYC) or find an existing carrier with which to form an MVNO relationship with generous enough terms that the city could afford to "resell" the service for free. 2. 4G would probably require NYC to deal with distributing phones or SIM cards, and then users would have to figure out how to unlock their devices.

by ksml 11y ago

I'm only one person, but I (and my family) have computers and smartphones but no data. It saves a whole lot of money to be on a prepaid plan when you have wifi in most places you go.

jessriedel 11y ago

Right, but your smart phone is data capable, i.e., can accept a 4G signal. You don't have a dumbphone alongside a computer with wifi. mwsherman's original question was "Why would municipalities offer free wifi rather than free 4G?". jws thought it might be important for folks who didn't have data plans. But my point is that if someone has wifi, they also very likely have a smartphone that's capabale of receiving a 4G signal, even if they cannot afford a data plan from their cell network provider.

DanBC 11y ago
> But my point is that if someone has wifi, they also very likely have a smartphone that's capabale of receiving a 4G signal, even if they cannot afford a data plan from their cell network provider. That's a bit of an assumption. I'd like to see some numbers to support it. I know a bunch of people who have wifi capable devices but not devices capable of 4g. Or they have older smartphones that are not 4g capable.
Joeri 11y ago
How would you arrange it practically though? You would have to distribute sim cards, and people would have to swap those out with their normal sim card rendering them unreachable by phone. That's ofcourse assuming their phone isn't carrier-locked. Wifi seems a lot more practical unless phones are redesigned to cover this usage pattern.
pdabbadabba 11y ago
> mwsherman's original question was "Why would municipalities offer free wifi rather than free 4G?" This isn't quite how I read the comment, but here are some pretty good answers, I think: 1. They would have to either purchase suitable licensed spectrum (literally hundreds of millions of dollars in NYC) or find an existing carrier with which to form an MVNO relationship with generous enough terms that the city could afford to "resell" the service for free. 2. 4G would probably require NYC to deal with distributing phones or SIM cards, and then users would have to figure out how to unlock their devices.