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> You do have to consider that the US is a very large country consisting mostly of empty space. With only three major carriers due to them all merging together

> You do have to consider that the US is a very large country consisting mostly of empty space. With only three major carriers due to them all merging together. > The prices are set so that you can use data in the middle of nowhere (or more realistically, along a freeway that runs through the middle of nowhere), or inside a large city. Is that even the majority of use cases? > but it doesn't seem like people would buy that plan. If the pricing were similar to current plans, I doubt they would either.. but I also doubt the smaller carriers wouldn't be offering steep price competition in their particular markets. I think the reason doesn't happen is because internet service is similarly monopolized in America, often by the same wireless companies, so even if you could stand a smaller carrier up, you would get crushed on the back-end by your competition.

mumblemumble 6y ago
> Is that even the majority of use cases? It's not, but consumers tend to insist on paying the same price no matter where. There used to be US carriers who offered rate plans with a low price in major metro areas, with a surcharge added for use in rural areas. The product made sense to me, but they ultimately didn't last long. I think it's similar to the psychology of choosing to pay $50/mo for a 15GB/mo rate plan in order to ensure you never pay an overage charge, when you could do $30/mo for a 5GB/mo plan but get dinged $15 for an extra GB every other month. Big picture, we're talking $600 per year vs $450 per year, but that's not how human psychology works. Instead, we react to those six extra gigabytes costing $15 apiece, and choose to instead buy a bunch of gigabytes we won't use because the lower unit price gives us warm fuzzy feelings. The numbers are (slightly) made up, but the situation isn't: My partner and I compulsively re-do this calculation in our heads 5 or 6 times a year, every time we get zinged with an overage charge and have another conversation about changing our rate plan. We know it's a waste of time, but we do it anyway, because dark patterns are powerful tools of manipulation.

mumblemumble 6y ago

> Is that even the majority of use cases? It's not, but consumers tend to insist on paying the same price no matter where. There used to be US carriers who offered rate plans with a low price in major metro areas, with a surcharge added for use in rural areas. The product made sense to me, but they ultimately didn't last long. I think it's similar to the psychology of choosing to pay $50/mo for a 15GB/mo rate plan in order to ensure you never pay an overage charge, when you could do $30/mo for a 5GB/mo plan but get dinged $15 for an extra GB every other month. Big picture, we're talking $600 per year vs $450 per year, but that's not how human psychology works. Instead, we react to those six extra gigabytes costing $15 apiece, and choose to instead buy a bunch of gigabytes we won't use because the lower unit price gives us warm fuzzy feelings. The numbers are (slightly) made up, but the situation isn't: My partner and I compulsively re-do this calculation in our heads 5 or 6 times a year, every time we get zinged with an overage charge and have another conversation about changing our rate plan. We know it's a waste of time, but we do it anyway, because dark patterns are powerful tools of manipulation.