Re:Google and Apple Would Make Cell Service Better By Bidding
by dubya on Friday October 09, 2015 @12:53PM
(#10361463)
The ability to roam onto a different network? Yes, T-mobile doesn't cover everywhere, but has roaming agreements to fill the gaps in coverage.
There's a caveat that data roaming is pretty restricted. My wife visited Bozeman, MT, and was limited to, I think, 10 megs of data, which went very quickly. On the other hand, in the UK T-mobile had unlimited but somewhat slow data at no extra cost.
Re:Google and Apple Would Make Cell Service Better By Bidding
by rahimnathwani on Friday October 09, 2015 @03:30PM
(#10362722)
Yes. But a more competitive wholesale market (which is what the article is suggesting) wouldn't necessarily fix that limitation (on your wife's retail contract).
- Companies that offer wireless service, even though they own no physical infrastructure? Yes, the US has >60 MVNOs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_mobile_v...
- The ability to roam onto a different network? Yes, T-mobile doesn't cover everywhere, but has roaming agreements to fill the gaps in coverage.
- Porting numbers between operators? Yes.
The issues aren't technical in nature. The issue is also not that the wholesale market is dysfunctional or nonexistent.
The issue is that an individual wants predictability in billing for usage, without negotiating prices each day. This objective is most easily achieved through serially monogamous relationships with operators or MVNOs.