3 ms·

Can someone explain why the carriers even care? Bandwidth is bandwidth; isn't it?

• ctoneal 16y ago
  I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the networks don't have the capacity to handle as much as they say they do. Add on to that that someone on a laptop is probably going to eat up more data. Multitasking is easier (I generally only look at one page at a time on my phone, but I might have five tabs loading on my laptop at any given time), and there are more applications available that can chew through a connection (MMOs, torrenting, etc).
• ZeroGravitas 16y ago
  Price discrimination. Some people are willing to pay more while others aren't. If you can find a way to charge extra to those that will pay more, or less to those that can't afford it at the higher price, without letting people jump between tariffs to make a mockery of your scheme then you can increase your total profit and better serve your customer base. You can use the same system to more efficiently gouge a captive audience as well though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination
• tzs 16y ago
  People use bandwidth differently depending on how they access it. Carriers design their networks and plans around the use patterns associated with particular access methods. Tethering is a difference access method, with different usage patterns, and so may not fit in well with a particular carrier's system.