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That would be me. I can change country with $60, it doesn’t mean I’m willing to pay $10/MB. I usually can get internet service for $10 or $20/month locally. I

by lakpan 3y ago

That would be me. I can change country with $60, it doesn’t mean I’m willing to pay $10/MB. I usually can get internet service for $10 or $20/month locally. If I haven’t sorted out an eSIM before landing, it means I’ll be without internet until I go through customs. Airport WiFi isn’t at all a guarantee. What happens if I really need internet? e.g. some overzealous immigration officer really wants to see my hotel reservation or my return flight ticket. I’d love to have a service that guarantees I have at least messaging in 60 (ad) seconds.

chaboud 3y ago
That seems like a bit of a strawman, honestly. The era of $10/MB international roaming faded back in ~2015, effectively crunching the demand for global roaming WiFi hotspot rental. Current pricing is somewhere around $10/day for 5-10GB for that model. For US customers, T-Mobile US went to included global roaming at EDGE speeds (email, messaging), and Verizon is at the other end with $10/Day for 2GB at high speed (dropping to “3G” speeds after that). Any business jumping into this space has to contend with that pressure and assailability, possibly relying on less-lucrative advertising bases of users outside of North America, Western Europe, etc. That doesn’t make it impossible, but I’d certainly be interested in the upper and lower estimates for the business potential. It just strikes me as a business where the network operators are really well-positioned to extract potential value while optimizing for the defense of their position. And when it comes time to re-negotiate terms, if this business is successful, network operators in regions with insufficient competition will be able to put the squeeze on, possibly forcing unworkable costs or loss of customer trust. I hope this works out for them, for the reason that I also think that basic connectivity should be available to all, always, but those are the business concerns that immediately come to mind.

by lakpan 3y ago

chaboud 3y ago

That seems like a bit of a strawman, honestly. The era of $10/MB international roaming faded back in ~2015, effectively crunching the demand for global roaming WiFi hotspot rental. Current pricing is somewhere around $10/day for 5-10GB for that model. For US customers, T-Mobile US went to included global roaming at EDGE speeds (email, messaging), and Verizon is at the other end with $10/Day for 2GB at high speed (dropping to “3G” speeds after that). Any business jumping into this space has to contend with that pressure and assailability, possibly relying on less-lucrative advertising bases of users outside of North America, Western Europe, etc. That doesn’t make it impossible, but I’d certainly be interested in the upper and lower estimates for the business potential. It just strikes me as a business where the network operators are really well-positioned to extract potential value while optimizing for the defense of their position. And when it comes time to re-negotiate terms, if this business is successful, network operators in regions with insufficient competition will be able to put the squeeze on, possibly forcing unworkable costs or loss of customer trust. I hope this works out for them, for the reason that I also think that basic connectivity should be available to all, always, but those are the business concerns that immediately come to mind.