Price war underway over cell service fees

This is great for us cellphone junkies. Gossip-like news lol. I want to see how Sprint follows.

 

I disagree that T-Mobile has been the only one with competitive pricing. Sprint has long been a better deal than either Verizon or AT&T for data and all you can eat plans.

 

It seems there's still this perception that Sprint and T-Mobile aren't up to par with Verizon and AT&T. I don't know why this is the case because Sprint and T-Mobile lag only in amount of customers. For what they offer, they are very much on par with the big two, IMO.

 

People want to be on the "winning" side and that brings out irrational behavior.

 

Agreed. Take the Los Angeles, CA market for example. There really isn't a whole lot of difference among any of the carrier's here. They all have the majority of the area covered well and you really can't make an argument that one carrier has significantly better coverage than another anymore. Sure there are always minor exceptions to the rule such as one carrier might work better at someone's house than another but these are individual issues which can vary from person to person.

 

Except when that "winning" side prices one out (even with these "so called" price wars).

 

In the major metropolitan areas, I agree that they are on par with each other. In areas such as mine (medium city surrounded by mostly rural counties), all is not the same with coverage. I usually see a lot of Sprint/Boost, Verizon/former Alltel, and T-Mobile phones in the city. Folks that I know from neighboring counties are usually Verizon or AT&T users.

At least Sprint CDMA can roam on Verizon (and soon to be Allied Wireless) when native service isn't available. T-Mobile doesn't roam at all in this part of the state... and only roams in some AT&T 1900mhz only sites in south Georgia... so in some areas, "perception" is reality when it comes to Sprint and T-Mobile. Value wise, they provide a lot of bang for the buck, though.

 

Great point, Quint. I forgot about rural areas (that's what I get for being in a big city...). It's unfortunate T-Mobile does not have roaming partners in most rural/fringe areas to broaden coverage. Must be a money issue?

 

Who knows? T-Mo seems to prefer roaming on smaller carriers, but I don't know why they won't roam on AT&T's 850. They used to roam on the Alltel GSM in central Georgia, but that was yanked as well (seems to be on one while and off and back on...). Maybe it's a technical issue (AT&T doesn't roam in these parts either... but they don't need to in FL with their licenses).

I am sure it's not cheap building out PCS sites in the sticks... AT&T received some money from the state of Georgia to create jobs (building PCS sites along US 84 ) Verizon built PCS sites after years of roaming on Alltel, before eventually buying them out. T-Mobile only build out had been along US19 between Albany and Thomasville after some time roaming on ATT (I guess enough money was paid in roaming fees in order for then to justify this). I am aware that the telcos aren't non-profits and they have to maximize their dollars. And I guess that TMo realizes that users based out of Atlanta would visit Albany or NYC, but not Cuthbert or Blountstown and they build accordingly.

 

good to see the prices comming down.

 

I was reading an article somewhere about this. I agreed with what they said. They were saying that you wouldn't really call this a price war but more like a gentleman's agreement. If there was really a price war, VZW would now have to lower their price. That would be a price war but, it isn't happening. So in my eyes, its not real competition just more of the lock-step or monkey see monkey do. Also, given the data plan changes/requirements that most people will be locked into....its not real savings after all that is considered.

Sprint's plans are very valuable if you really need an individual. Their family plans aren't as friendly. A lot of people wouldn't need 1500 minutes. It would be better if they had a lower minute tier on ED such as 1000 or even 750 with corresponding lower price points.

T-Mobile plans are no doubt the most valuable but, their devices do leave a bit to be desired. The coverage is good for some but, not all. T-Mobile would be perfect if they had a bit better phone selection and a mutual roaming agreement with AT&T in the U.S....kind of like how VZW/Sprint does.

 

If T-Mobile would improve their network tenfold they would be a major contender. I actually liked Alltel because even though they were fairly regional (and had great roaming agreements with Sprint and Verizon) they had good coverage and good prices. T-Mobile could fill that gap if they just had coverage. They already got great customer service from what I hear.

But as far as pricing goes, Sprint silently has been keeping the cheapest prices and if it weren't for one job I had that we go out there a lot I would probably have gone with them for the cheaper price.

 

Yeah a lot of people agree that Sprint needs more options to choose from. The ED plans are great for some but suck for others, depending on each person's individual needs.

 

WooHoo ...rates are coming dow...or not!
Do the math! They will have everything become a la carte at an increased price. The big carriers got good grades in math! They will get their money back!

 

These are great if you utilize unlimited plans.

 

Yeah. I could switch to Verizon and it would cost me an extra $4/mo to get everything I want. I wouldn't get unlimited data and messaging on all my lines any more, but as it stands now, I don't need data and messaging on all my lines.

I really wish there was a 1000 or 900 minute option on Sprint's ED family plans. It's kinda messed up that if I were to "downgrade" to the talk + messaging plan, then add BlackBerry data onto 2 lines and have no data on the other 3 lines on my account that it costs me the exact same amount ($190) as a 5 line everything data plan.