How many users actually benefit from $99 unlimited?

"George" <george@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:m4idnREMiOSZdyDanZ2dnUVZ_uSdnZ2d@comcast.com. ..

> Can I suggest that isn't much of a test? I think every carrier has the PA
> & Jersey pike lit up.

True, but in many ways, that's sort of the point. I'll be the first to
admit that my T-Mo phone doesn't work "everywhere." But it works where I am
99% of the time. Since I pay T-Mo $72/month for what would cost me $150 on
Verizon, the real question, for me, is what is that last 1% worth to me in
terms of cost? (And the answer to that, apparently, is "$2.50/month" since
I activated an eBay phone on PagePlus as a glovebox backup just in case! So
far I've used 0 minutes on it since activating it in November.)

George wrote:

> But frankly I find the business model of raping customers when they go
> over just plain wrong. Just imagine if other services operated in a
> similar fashion. Say you needed to cross a bridge every day and you
> could buy a monthly pass that cost say $50 that entitled to cross once
> each day. You are a loyal customer and have been using the bridge for
> years. Some event happens where you need to cross more often and they
> charge you $7 for each additional crossing. I doubt anyone would put up
> with it.
>
> Cell phones are no longer something magical. The days of having to
> accept whatever is offered are winding down..

Well I hope that the winding down doesn't mean moving to an unlimited
model at $99 from a metered use at various tiers. I don't like the model
of high overage charges either, but the alternative may be worse for
relatively low-usage users.

If I were a new low-usage user then I wouldn't be a postpaid customer.
T-Mobile and PagePlus offer reasonable per-minute rates (5.3-8.8¢). The
downside is no free nights and weekends, but in reality the only reason
people talk so much on their cell phones on N&W is because it's free.
They could get a 2¢/minute long distance service and still be better off
in most cases.

George wrote:

> That would be except in the large region of the eastern US that I am in.
> A tmobile phone is a paperweight here if you go a few miles away from
> the interstate.

Yeah, but apparently that model fits quite a few users.

I remember commenting once about how one carrier had coverage throughout
the Sierra Nevada mountains, by virtue of both their native network and
roaming, including coverage on several state roads over mountain passes
with ski resorts. A competing carrier lacked coverage in these areas.
One response was along the lines of planning your routes so you avoid
routes where your carrier has coverage issues! It's true, if you stay on
Interstate 80, you have pretty much uninterrupted coverage on any
carrier, at least with roaming.

It's amazing to me how many people live their lives without ever
venturing more than a few miles from their homes. Unfortunately we're
seeing repercussions of this now in California, where one of the budget
cutting moves is to close down 48 state parks. There's not much of a
constituency to keep them open since they are little used.

4phun wrote:

> I think that with a low enough price point that unlimited becomes
> useful for those who want to drop a landline and go all cellular all
> the time.

I find it amusing to see all the news reports of how the $99.99
unlimited plan is a "price war." Yeah, it's a price war to get
subscribers to increase their monthly expenditure for wireless.

Todd Allcock wrote:
>
>
> "Richard B. Gilbert" <rgilbert88@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:47BDC0D0.8090000@comcast.net...
>
>>
>> 35 cents a minute? Gawd! If my mother or my stepmother had lived to
>> see cell phones, they would have talked sixteen hours per day and the
>> family would have been bankrupt!
>
>
>
> Really? My mother, after having a cellphone for several years still
> wonders why there's no dial tone.
>
> I think she's used 10 minutes in the last 12 months. (Thank you,
> T-Mobile, for a $10/year minimum refill policy!) ;-)
>

My father married a couple of motor mouths! They could talk for hours
at a time. Sometimes it seemed as if they only got off the phone to eat
or go to the bathroom!

I see women in the parking lot of the local supermarket with BlueTooth
headsets chattering away. I can't help wondering if they wear them to bed!!

In article <47BE04D8.5020801@comcast.net>,
"Richard B. Gilbert" <rgilbert88@comcast.net> wrote:

> My father married a couple of motor mouths!

At once?

Man, I wouldn't care if they were motor mouths...

In article <47be02c7$0$36402$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>,
SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:

> I find it amusing to see all the news reports of how the $99.99
> unlimited plan is a "price war." Yeah, it's a price war to get
> subscribers to increase their monthly expenditure for wireless.

I work with a guy (salesman) who, last year, had a 2000 minute plan
(don't know with whom)--and every month he was 1000 minutes over.

Let's see, that was probably a $125/month plan, and $0.25 overage, so he
was probably $375/month.

No, I'd say plenty of people will eat this up.

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article <47be02c7$0$36402$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>,
> SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>> I find it amusing to see all the news reports of how the $99.99
>> unlimited plan is a "price war." Yeah, it's a price war to get
>> subscribers to increase their monthly expenditure for wireless.
>
> I work with a guy (salesman) who, last year, had a 2000 minute plan
> (don't know with whom)--and every month he was 1000 minutes over.
>
> Let's see, that was probably a $125/month plan, and $0.25 overage, so he
> was probably $375/month.
>
> No, I'd say plenty of people will eat this up.

Yeah, I'm sure there are plenty of sales people that would benefit, but
for the vast majority of subscribers, I don't believe that it's much of
a deal.

"John Navas" <spamfilter1@navasgroup.com> wrote in message
news:enjrr3pql8spgqo6s4gro4oak5s5udohc3@4ax.com...

>>I suppose, but if I were those people I'd definitely choose the PagePlus
>>unlimited at about $75 per month, plus it's not "plus taxes, fees, etc."
>
> Deity help us -- you're morphing into a shill for PagePlus!

Hey, if he has to shill for someone, why not PP? They offer, hands down,
the best prepaid plan in the industry right now, between the low cost, large
native network, and ability to roam. T-Mo's "2Go" prepaid runs a close
second- it has the largest coverage area of any non-MVNO due to it's
inclusion of free roaming.

>>Actually you can get it for about $2.30/day or about $69/month, if you
>>buy the refill cards at a discount. I.e. the $80 card can be purchased
>>for $73.72, a discount of 7.85%.
>>
>>The biggest benefit is that it's on Verizon, which has the best coverage
>>of any U.S. network.
>
> But still a Verizon shill I see.

Even assuming that AT&T and Verizon postpaid service has comparable
coverage, AT&T's prepaid GoPhone coverage is decidedly lackluster. PagePlus
has better coverage that GoPhone or any AT&T prepaid MVNO (at least now that
Beyond Wireless TDMA is history, since it had the ability to roam off-net
for additional cost.)

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article <47BE04D8.5020801@comcast.net>,
> "Richard B. Gilbert" <rgilbert88@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
>>My father married a couple of motor mouths!
>
>
> At once?
>
> Man, I wouldn't care if they were motor mouths...
>

Nope, one at a time!

If he'd married both at once he never would have gotten a word in
edgewise. Or anything else for that matter! ;-)