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"Even selling me on 5G so I'll buy a new phone is unnecessary, the phone manufacturers could sell me on the improved performance directly." If 5G makes it chea
by rahimnathwani 5y ago
"Even selling me on 5G so I'll buy a new phone is unnecessary, the phone manufacturers could sell me on the improved performance directly."
If 5G makes it cheaper for the carrier, they could make plans cheaper for folks whose handsets support 5G, i.e. penalize people who don't upgrade.
- ac29 5y agoAdjusted for inflation, mobile internet has been decreasing in cost - I pay the same price I did a decade ago and have much better coverage and much better speeds.
- dylan604 5y agoWait, did you just suggest a carrier would make something cheaper, voluntarily? I seriously doubt that. Even if it does lower their operating costs, why would they lower their potential profit padding?
- rahimnathwani 5y agoCompetition. Why do Visible and Mint offer cheaper plans than the Verizon and AT&T brands? To attract customers from other carriers.
- dylan604 5y agoDo either of Visible, Mint, etc install their own infrastructure or buy bandwidth from ATT and/or Verizon? Also, their services are spotty at best compared to other providers. There's a reason for their prices being lower similar to how Spirit Airlines is cheaper than other carriers.
- otterley 5y agoMint uses T-mobile as its underlying carrier.
- rahimnathwani 5y ago"their services are spotty at best compared to other providers" How so? AIUI the only time Mint customers would have worse service than T-Mobile customers is if there's network congestion. e.g. at a crowded sporting event.
- dylan604 5y agoI have friends with Cricket (not sure which carrier they attach). In the city that they spend the majority of their time, the service is fine. We went on a road trip where once we left the major city's coverage, their signal was no longer very good until reaching another major city. My phone with one of the main companies where they own their network never lost signal. That's the anecdotal consensus I've heard from all of these smaller vendors.
- rahimnathwani 5y agoVisible is part or Verizon, i.e. it's just another Verizon brand. I'm guessing they save a lot of money on customer service, as only relatively savvy customers will sign up for a mobile plan online, without talking with someone or walking into a store.
- otterley 5y agoThe top line metric that the financial markets care about for the major postpaid carriers is ARPU (average revenue per user). As soon as this number goes down, so does the company’s market cap. The C suite really cares about making sure this number continues to go up.
- rahimnathwani 5y agoThe easiest way to improve ARPU is to raise all existing customers' prices to current ARPU, and hope they either accept it or churn. Either way ARPU goes up, whilst revenue and profits go down.
- otterley 5y agoI'm pretty sure the carriers want both ARPU and profits to increase.
- rahimnathwani 5y agoIf a carrier CEO has two options, with the following estimate outcomes: A) Profit +10%. ARPU -1%. B) Profit +5%. ARPU +5%. Do you think they might choose A?
- SpodGaju 5y agoThere is little doubt that both of those companies are lowering prices because of the data they collect and sell.
- pessimizer 5y ago> Wait, did you just suggest a carrier would make something cheaper, voluntarily? Comparatively cheaper. You can do that by raising the price on the alternatives.