Why don't mobile companies concentrate solely on mobile data?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Why don't mobile companies concentrate solely on mobile data?

qwerty7

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#102547 16-May-2012 19:36

Why don't mobile companies forget text and call charges and concentrate solely on mobile data at a lower cost. That way I can facetime chat nz > london, or anywhere else in the world on the go for basically free. Instead they insist on charging me $1.50 per minute to call someone on the other side on town?

Is it because that is how they make money ?
Is it because of call quality ? If so how would it be improved?

Surely this is where the future is heading and call / text plans are a thing of the past?

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#626421 16-May-2012 19:40

So, you mean all national calls from your cell are free? And all texting is free? Plus, reduce mobile data charges?

scuwp

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#626426 16-May-2012 19:46

So you want the cellphone companies to stop making money, meaning they can't invest millions of dollars each year in the network, stop offering call and text capabilities, and allow you to talk to your friends/family in London for free?

Either I have misunderstood your post or this is an April fools.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

loganjames

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#626436 16-May-2012 19:57

Instead they insist on charging me $1.50 per minute to call someone on the other side on town?

Sort of answered your own question...

qwerty7

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#626439 16-May-2012 19:59

I don't mean free that is just a term meaning the cost is greatly reduced

Instead of calling at $1.50 a minute and texting at 20 c per text and using mobile data at $70 per gb..

Why not just concentrate on providing mobile data at a lower cost and ditch text + call plans.

So you just skype / instant message from your phone to anywhere in the world using the mobile data.

Why do we need call and text plans when we have a 24/7 internet connection, the only reason at the moment is because mobile data is so expensive. But the cost of it is reducing.. so surely in the future their will be no such thing as text or call plans?

johnr

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#626440 16-May-2012 19:59

scuwp: So you want the cellphone companies to stop making money, meaning they can't invest millions of dollars each year in the network, stop offering call and text capabilities, and allow you to talk to your friends/family in London for free?

Either I have misunderstood your post or this is an April fools.

There is no cost to upgrading mobile networks, The vendors just do it for free and the staff work for free and the power to run the network is free as well,

Share holders don't want a return either

qwerty7

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#626443 16-May-2012 20:04

your missing the point, why do you need text and call plans if you have 24/7 internet? why not just concentrate on providing sole mobile data and everything messaging + calling + browsing operates on that.

johnr

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#626444 16-May-2012 20:06

qwerty7: your missing the point, why do you need text and call plans if you have 24/7 internet? why not just concentrate on providing sole mobile data and everything messaging + calling + browsing operates on that.

explain that to my mother she understand minutes and $$ and not bits and bytes

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tdgeek

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#626445 16-May-2012 20:07

johnr:
scuwp: So you want the cellphone companies to stop making money, meaning they can't invest millions of dollars each year in the network, stop offering call and text capabilities, and allow you to talk to your friends/family in London for free?

Either I have misunderstood your post or this is an April fools.

There is no cost to upgrading mobile networks, The vendors just do it for free and the staff work for free and the power to run the network is free as well,

Share holders don't want a return either

If mobile data was also free, there will be substantial savings in the billing system operating costs, as that won't be needed.

qwerty7

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#626447 16-May-2012 20:09

seriously though, surely it is not that far away, it is half here already..

If you have a decent monthly data package the only reason you need a text or call plan is because not everyone has a decent monthly mobile data package. Or am i missing something to do with call quality and/or reliability? even so it can't be too far away?

qwerty7

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#626448 16-May-2012 20:14

God i hate it in a forum when someone picks up on one word and then everyone jumps on the bandwagon..

I said BASICALLY FREE internet is cheap, the cost of a 10 minute skype call to England using your home broadband (when worked out in terms of data used vs monthly plan cost and data cap) is substantially less the calling England for 10 minutes on your cellphone, is it not?

sbiddle

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#626450 16-May-2012 20:16

qwerty7: seriously though, surely it is not that far away, it is half here already..

If you have a decent monthly data package the only reason you need a text or call plan is because not everyone has a decent monthly mobile data package. Or am i missing something to do with call quality and/or reliability? even so it can't be too far away?

You're overlooking plenty of things, primararily from a technical perspective.

Spend a few months understanding how mobile networks function, how current mobile technologies are essential circuit switched voice based with a data addon, how HSDPA works, how capacity is allocated in a network, and the sort of physical and licencing limits exist with current networks and you won't need to ask us - you'll be able to answer the question for yourself.

Of course once LTE comes around which is a data network (that doesn't even have a ratified voice solution) then data can be the focus. I'm sure once the likes of Telecom and Vodafone spend a few hundred million each upgrading their networks that they're not going to be too happy to give away unlimited connections for $29 per month.

sbiddle

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#626452 16-May-2012 20:18

qwerty7: God i hate it in a forum when someone picks up on one word and then everyone jumps on the bandwagon..

I said BASICALLY FREE internet is cheap, the cost of a 10 minute skype call to England using your home broadband (when worked out in terms of data used vs monthly plan cost and data cap) is substantially less the calling England for 10 minutes on your cellphone, is it not?

Calling a physical phone in England incurs termination charges that have to be paid for by somebody. Calling somebody on Skype has no such charges, so comparing the two isn't fair.

blakamin

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#626454 16-May-2012 20:19

qwerty7:

If you have a decent monthly data package the only reason you need a text or call plan is because not everyone has a decent monthly mobile data package. Or am i missing something to do with call quality and/or reliability? even so it can't be too far away?

Reliability

Ever tried skype or viber when other people are using data??

I use both daily and most times, in a crowded area, it's easier to make a phone call... Sometimes it doesn't have to be a crowded area for data to be crap.

All this on Telstra Mobile in Aus... I couldn't get a decent enough connection for a continuous use of either in NZ (voda or XT, Skinny)

johnr

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#626460 16-May-2012 20:22

As pointed out above circuit switch calls take priorty over packet switched calls on 2G and 3G networks

tdgeek

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#626466 16-May-2012 20:23

qwerty7: God i hate it in a forum when someone picks up on one word and then everyone jumps on the bandwagon..

I said BASICALLY FREE internet is cheap, the cost of a 10 minute skype call to England using your home broadband (when worked out in terms of data used vs monthly plan cost and data cap) is substantially less the calling England for 10 minutes on your cellphone, is it not?

Well, you need to word your post correctly.

"Why don't mobile companies forget text and call charges and concentrate solely on mobile data at a lower cost." means you want free calling and free texting.

What percentage of mobile users wish to use data only?
How many of all users have a Skype entry for every contact?

Many users only text, or only call, r do both, they don't want data, or much data.

Its fine if you only wish to use data, data is not $70/GB, just arm your smartphone with a mobile broadband plan and away you go

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