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07/23/09
07/23/09
There ought to be a law.
Have any of you ever tried to purchase a mattress? You can look at a Simmons at 6 different stores, and they'll have 6 different lines of mattresses. Thus, you can't compare prices, because the items available for purchase are different stores. Do we need Congressional intervention?
Have you ever purchased a car? Hate to tell you but you can't get a new Ford at your local Chevy dealer. We have a Dodge dealer here in town where you can't even get Chrylers or Jeeps! Better get the White House involved! Oh, crap, too late...
Have you ever watched basketball? Michael Jordan only played for the Bulls. He wasn't available for the Sonics. Maybe the Supreme Court should step in here.
Exclusivity in products is what allows the carriers to differentiate themselves. Honestly, how many of you would have switched to AT&T if it weren't for the iPhone? How many are jumping to Sprint for the Pre? I've been perfectly happy with my Verizon service, and I've always looked at my phone primarly as a device for making telephone calls when I'm not near a land line. Now that I'm thinking I'd like a bit more from my phone, I'll look at VZW's offerings, and if they're not satisfactory (and since I can take my number with me), I'll look at the other carriers. I make my decision based on my desire for the phone vs my desire to stay with VZW.
Take it or leave it, but keep the government out of it - they don't belong here!
/rant
07/23/09
Here come the libertarians to cry about how the big bad government stops companies from forcing children to work 15 hours a day in a factory that produces strawberry flavored lead paint. And how the big bad government insists on forcing the auto-industry to make cars with seat belts and cars that don't roll over and explode when you turn a corner. Please tell us how Walmart would run a better elementary school and how the big bad government insists on paying for firefighters and police officers with OUR tax dollars. Be sure to while ignore the fact that companies like Enron are a shining example of the free market and how terrible the United States must have been with Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft and FDR because they were anti-business tyrants for enforcing anti-trust legislation and disgusting legislation like the "Fair Labor Standards Act" which evilly forced companies to pay overtime and imposed a federal minimum wage. And ya know, like, it was totally unnecessary because big business was just about to do the EXACT same thing. No REALLLLY, but then the terrible terrible gubment had to force them to do it.
Go back to your moms basement and keep jerking off to Ron Paul fan fiction, the adults are trying to have a conversation about how the real world works.
07/23/09
My thoughts on exclusivity in general ("big bad government" aside) is that it does hurt consumers.
Exclusivity contracts in gaming are another peeve of mine. No big deal, you might say. What if you could only watch certain TV shows on certain brand TVs? What if you could only listen to NPR on a Tivoli radio, or what if you needed Bauch and Lomb glasses to be able to read a Kindle?
There are a 1000 examples of this sort of thing. I will *never* say that the gov't needs to get involved, but I sure don't like it.
07/23/09
"Never let it be said that Congress never did anything for you"
07/23/09
"Apparently, persuading cell carriers to treat their customers decently would take an act of Congress."
More like an act of God, if you ask me.
07/23/09
07/23/09
It's never caused me to go over my plan - not even close - but they do it.
07/23/09
Do tricks like this take a little more managing? Maybe, depending on your approach. That's the tradeoff for freedom of control.
07/23/09
07/23/09
You've got a choice: EMP the world's databases or use cutting-edge technology.
07/23/09
07/23/09
And, to everyone else, keep drinking the kool aid--Google is your friend. Tell that to the Chinese. And, Google does spam you--wtf do you think targeted ads are all about? They have just trained you to accept it.
As for privacy changing, to heck with that. My private life isn't on facebook or anywhere else. I think your generation is going to have a rude awakening when you start realizing the cost of giving up that much privacy.
07/23/09
07/23/09
07/23/09
07/23/09
07/23/09
The whole Microsoft issue with bundling IE with Windows is the most ridiculous thing I've ever encountered... They make the OS, they have a damn right to use their own browser. Apple made a product, they want it to run on AT&T, fuckin deal with it for now. They let the others bid on it before it became an issue, AT&T won the bid.
If Apple had first rolled out the iphone on a pirvate network on a university campus, would it have become an issue? Government has no right to meddle with the affairs of private business in such a way as to undermine the business model of said business.
You guys sign a contract before buying the product. The rules and terms are laid out on paper. No one forced you to buy it. No one has a right to force a company to sell a product in any other way that they do not see fit themselves. How retarded, exclusivity gives a company an edge over its competitors, it also creates competition so fierce that other companies need to roll out something even better than the other company. Why change the system now?
07/23/09
These same people are the ones that signed into a contract for said device even though they didn’t agree with it in the first place. They are not familiar with how the process works nor do they have enough back bone to just not buy said product.
If I wanted an iPhone I can’t get one because I won’t switch to another carrier and I’m ok with that. If I was up to switch I would wait until my contract was up and get it. It’s fairly simple. This generation can’t wait 5 minutes let alone 6 months for a contract to expire which is what is causing the problem.
07/23/09
being forced to use a specific product or service
VS
being able to choose who deserves your money....
07/23/09
07/23/09
07/23/09
Want to buy the phone of your choice and use it on the carrier of your choice? You cannot. That's the "free market" for ya. You're free to move around the walled gardens created by Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, and T-mobile.
Speaking of unlocked phones, why do they cost 2-3 times as much as a subsidized phone at a major carrier? They cannot possibly be taking a loss on it so they must be passing the cost for that phone onto you, the consumer, in the form of higher prices. So if you buy an unlocked, carrier-specific phone and go to my carrier, AT&T, and use it, you're still paying the fee for the subsidized phone you didn't get. Now you might think you can buy the "go phone" plan and pay as you go, except it costs *more* than a plan with the subsidized phone and has greatly diminished coverage nationwide. (Yes, it doesn't get to use the same network resources the subsidized plans get. Go have a look for yourself.)
Aren't we lucky our national landline telephone service wasn't developed in the "free market". Of course, roughly 15% of households have ditched that so it looks like our national phone service may end up Balkanized after all. Free Market win for everyone (who owns stock in a major carrier.)
07/23/09
If consumers complain or change services then the phone companies will change.
It's basic supply and demand.
Not government control. We don't live in China!
07/23/09
And great suggestions, you clown! We can't complain, because what would we do, not have cell phones? And we can't change service, because they're all within about $5 of each other when all is said and done!
Except Sprint. But then you don't get service.
In any case, there are laws against what they are doing, but they aren't being enforced.
07/23/09
cell carriers are more a utility in my view...and most utilities have allot of rules put out for them from the government.... cable, satellite, landlines, internet, fuel...
look at it from a consumers point of view...it benefits you.... cell carriers would be allot better to deal with when there its an even playing field and they know you can go elsewhere if they let you down...it would also lower the price of handsets and service....
its not like cell companies are going to lose all there customers and go bankrupt...consumers will still need and use there services...
07/23/09
As for not getting service… I think you missed the hater/hipster/emo memo that went out. Sprint’s customer service is the problem, not their service in general. Lemme guess, you hate M$, $print, Windowz, and loose fitting jeans.
I’ve been with them since they took over Nextel and haven’t had a single issue to speak of.
07/23/09
Where I live, Verizon is by far the best, followed by T-mo and ATT. Sprint is just bad here. And you'll be disappointed to hear that no, I don't hate "M$," and I'm a windows user. I don't like Apple, actually- their hipster, douchey image is really getting to me lately. I used to like them too (I've owned 3 ipods over the years), but since the "I'm a Mac" ads started, I just can't bring myself to get another.
The point is, it's an oligopoly, and they do what they want. Collusion is illegal, and while they've been "investigated" before, it's just a sham hearing for politicians to use in their next re-election campaign. That's how I guess it's always been, but still, it sucks.
07/23/09
I’ve been all over the US for work and honestly I’ve never had a problem and I live just outside of Detroit. I have not been up to where you are however and I don’t find it hard to believe that not all providers are good everywhere. The closest I have been to you is Vancouver and northern Cali (Pelican Bay -> High Dessert yes the prisons and no I wasn’t locked up in them haha).
The cool thing about family plans is adding your friends to them. I’m only familiar with Sprint but putting friends on your plan or you getting on theirs is pretty sweet simply because it’s so much cheaper. I mean which one of your friends wouldn’t want unlimited data/txt for $20 a month? ;)
07/23/09
If its important, and will actually HELP people and not line their pockets, or directly benefit them, they will not do it.
If it wastes time, screws us over, and pays them (Stimulus, Heath care) then they will waste all the time in the world on it.
07/23/09
even better...make it mandatory to offer sim only plans that cost less since i am not paying extra every month for a "free" phone that i dont plan on using...i hate being forced to buy a product when i only want a service...
07/23/09
07/05/09
07/04/09
07/05/09
07/05/09