As I consider switching phone carriers from Verizon to AT&T for the upcoming IPhone 2.0, I can't help but look at all the fees. AT&T is offering a new Data-Package that charges $20 a month for 2 GB of data, and another $10 for each GB over that initial allotment. But I can't help but wonder, "why?" The phone lines have been paid off long-ago. If the bandwidth charge is simply a future fee to keep servers "up-to-date" with the modern age, then why not a flat-rate? Why charge users more based on how much data they upload or download? Part of the article I read about AT&T changing their rates to a per GB system is their claim that some users "abuse" their systems by constantly downloading and uploading, but if AT&T owns the servers, what's the problem? It puts more stress on the servers? Is that why high GB users will be charged more?
Why do I even care, because I certainly don't use more than 1 GB per month on my phone? Because Google says its possible to give customers internet speeds of 1.5 terabytes per second (they were set to outfit a town with this high speed broadband the last time I checked). With that kind of internet speed, we will be able to watch movies on our phones freely in HD, but at what cost?
If this super high speed internet does become the next thing all consumers use, will we still be charged $10 per 2 GB of bandwidth used? And if not, why not - or better put, why that amount now? Where do they get this number from anyways? Do Verizon and Sprint/AT&T have to pay someone else to use the internet? I'm very confused on how or why they charge for bandwidth now and don't see any future in high speed internet if these rates remain the same. $10 per GB now, $100 per TB later?
Thoughts/answers?
Why do I even care, because I certainly don't use more than 1 GB per month on my phone? Because Google says its possible to give customers internet speeds of 1.5 terabytes per second (they were set to outfit a town with this high speed broadband the last time I checked). With that kind of internet speed, we will be able to watch movies on our phones freely in HD, but at what cost?
If this super high speed internet does become the next thing all consumers use, will we still be charged $10 per 2 GB of bandwidth used? And if not, why not - or better put, why that amount now? Where do they get this number from anyways? Do Verizon and Sprint/AT&T have to pay someone else to use the internet? I'm very confused on how or why they charge for bandwidth now and don't see any future in high speed internet if these rates remain the same. $10 per GB now, $100 per TB later?
Thoughts/answers?
"The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self." -Albert Einsetin