Come back in 8-9 weeks and Three will have more 4G enabled customers than any of the others.
But then that depends how many people on 3 network got a phone that is capable of using 4G.
I wonder if enough people go on 4G, it will take them of 3G and that will improve as there will be fewer people using it.
From what I been told by someone on EE 4G, it can almost come to a stop sometimes. so could be more than what EE can cope with.
But then that depends how many people on 3 network got a phone that is capable of using 4G.
I wonder if enough people go on 4G, it will take them of 3G and that will improve as there will be fewer people using it.
From what I been told by someone on EE 4G, it can almost come to a stop sometimes. so could be more than what EE can cope with.
Around a million people on Three have 4G phones might be fair bit more than that now. It should take congestion and load of the 3G network you are correct. It will be interesting to see how Three's 4G network performs it should be able I to deliver fairly decent coverage obviously like all 4G rollouts it will take time.
Think this time next year we will be in a far better situation to judge the 4G networks of the UK all should be well into there rollouts by then.
Prices of mobile and fixed line/fibre internet will have to increase. People go on and on about how 'backward' the UK is but these same people moan if line rental goes up a pound a month.
Companies need to make a profit if users want to see improved services so really its a case of stump up or shut up.
Personally I think getting 100k people to pay an extra £5 min a month is a lot more to shout about than 1m paying nothing more.
Coming at that from a shareholders perspective.
Depends if that gains you extra custom or not.. if Three gain 100K customers in the first week because of free 4G and customer churn goes down because of the free 'carrot' then it is far better than Voda mostly up-selling existing customers and churn staying roughly the same from a shareholders point of view.
Depends if that gains you extra custom or not.. if Three gain 100K customers in the first week because of free 4G and customer churn goes down because of the free 'carrot' then it is far better than Voda mostly up-selling existing customers and churn staying roughly the same from a shareholders point of view.
I see what you saying it greater value to have new customers 4G than existing customers just upgrading. Least I think that is what you saying it will be interesting to see if Free 4G gives Three more customers.
Personally I think getting 100k people to pay an extra £5 min a month is a lot more to shout about than 1m paying nothing more.
Coming at that from a shareholders perspective.
Just shows that people are gullible and will spend money because they think that they need it. No doubt some people with Tablets or even a laptop may find the extra speed a boost, but on a mobile phone?
Prices of mobile and fixed line/fibre internet will have to increase. People go on and on about how 'backward' the UK is but these same people moan if line rental goes up a pound a month.
Companies need to make a profit if users want to see improved services so really its a case of stump up or shut up.
These companies make one hell of a profit, they just put prices up because they know people will pay it or they have little choice.
it is like a cartel, one mobile network or broadband /phone supplier puts their price up and the rest follows. Just like the energy market.
so what have we been paying for all these years then?
These companies make one hell of a profit, they just put prices up because they know people will pay it or they have little choice.
it is like a cartel, one mobile network or broadband /phone supplier puts their price up and the rest follows. Just like the energy market.
so what have we been paying for all these years then?
Except the cost of running a mobile phone has dropped over time, as has the amount of calls, data and SMS you get for your money, to the point where now you get tonnes of stuff for very little.
When a company sells you a high end phone like an iPhone5S on a contract for £40 a month, if you add up £40 x 24 months, that's only £960 over 2 years, with the phone costing the network about £400.
They've made literally £200 a year from you, or £16 a month, and out of that they've invested £400M in the network, paid up to £100M in licensing costs, they have to pay for the bandwidth you use at a wholesale rate, and they have to pay the wholesale call termination rates, staffing customer support, sales and marketing costs, etc etc etc
Actually I think you'll find things are cheaper than they have EVER been in the mobile world, and the companies are making less revenue in most cases.
We have one of the most competitive and cutthroat mobile industries in the world and mobile service in the UK is much, much cheaper than in the US, Canada, Australia or many other places in Europe. You have a complete misunderstanding of the market and just how much of a good deal you're getting right now compared to pretty much everywhere else in the world. There is absolutely no such cartel.
Good points made Wonk, I don't know how long Noise has had a mobile phone but perhaps not long or has forgotten when the cost of a call was near 50p a minute and you paid for each text you sent. I'm a low user, PAYG (buy my phones) and for a tenner a month get 250 minutes, 1GB of data and unlimited texts... as you said, mobiles are cheaper to run now than ever and the UK has a fantastic network(s) in place compared to most other countries. If he was in Spain on PAYG he'd throw a conniption fit!
Except the cost of running a mobile phone has dropped over time, as has the amount of calls, data and SMS you get for your money, to the point where now you get tonnes of stuff for very little.
When a company sells you a high end phone like an iPhone5S on a contract for £40 a month, if you add up £40 x 24 months, that's only £960 over 2 years, with the phone costing the network about £400.
They've made literally £200 a year from you, or £16 a month, and out of that they've invested £400M in the network, paid up to £100M in licensing costs, they have to pay for the bandwidth you use at a wholesale rate, and they have to pay the wholesale call termination rates, staffing customer support, sales and marketing costs, etc etc etc
Actually I think you'll find things are cheaper than they have EVER been in the mobile world, and the companies are making less revenue in most cases.
We have one of the most competitive and cutthroat mobile industries in the world and mobile service in the UK is much, much cheaper than in the US, Canada, Australia or many other places in Europe. You have a complete misunderstanding of the market and just how much of a good deal you're getting right now compared to pretty much everywhere else in the world. There is absolutely no such cartel.
Good points made Wonk, I don't know how long Noise has had a mobile phone but perhaps not long or has forgotten when the cost of a call was near 50p a minute and you paid for each text you sent. I'm a low user, PAYG (buy my phones) and for a tenner a month get 250 minutes, 1GB of data and unlimited texts... as you said, mobiles are cheaper to run now than ever and the UK has a fantastic network(s) in place compared to most other countries. If he was in Spain on PAYG he'd throw a conniption fit!
I been using a mobile phone for a few years now, got to be about 15 years or more. I remember when vodafone top up was split in two. Half for payment to use the service and half for calls and text. But those was different days, not much competition and it was a new thing to most people.
These days, most people have a mobile phone and the networks make millions and we got more competition.
i know the costs of using a mobile phone have gone down, but it had to really, a mobile phone is not really essential, so if it cost too much a lot of people would not bother. I think I have got a pretty good deal on my sim only contract, sure I expect there are better ones around, but aat least voice and text wise Vodafone is pretty reliable, 3G is a bit iffy mind you, not signal wise, but speed wise. I still think they have not got enough bandwidth to cope.
I still disagree with there not being a cartel.
As for living elsewhere, I don't live elsewhere, I live here in the UK, so why should I care what the U.S or Europe have got? Unless it is better than what we have got and then we should catch up.
The problem with the phone market is that it is a chuck away market, have a phone for two years, and we will then give you another one in another two years time, the old one can be dumped. i am pretty sure if more people kept their older phones, then networks would not have to subsidise so many people getting new phones they don't really need.
Well, at least Vodafone are giving people a little more bandwidth allowance so that they can run out in 10 minutes instead of 5... just kidding but I still don't see the point of going 4G unless the minimum data allowance starts at around 10GB (but I don't agree with unlimited tariffs)/
Comments
That what i was thinking
But then that depends how many people on 3 network got a phone that is capable of using 4G.
I wonder if enough people go on 4G, it will take them of 3G and that will improve as there will be fewer people using it.
From what I been told by someone on EE 4G, it can almost come to a stop sometimes. so could be more than what EE can cope with.
Around a million people on Three have 4G phones might be fair bit more than that now. It should take congestion and load of the 3G network you are correct. It will be interesting to see how Three's 4G network performs it should be able I to deliver fairly decent coverage obviously like all 4G rollouts it will take time.
Think this time next year we will be in a far better situation to judge the 4G networks of the UK all should be well into there rollouts by then.
Coming at that from a shareholders perspective.
Companies need to make a profit if users want to see improved services so really its a case of stump up or shut up.
Depends if that gains you extra custom or not.. if Three gain 100K customers in the first week because of free 4G and customer churn goes down because of the free 'carrot' then it is far better than Voda mostly up-selling existing customers and churn staying roughly the same from a shareholders point of view.
I see what you saying it greater value to have new customers 4G than existing customers just upgrading. Least I think that is what you saying it will be interesting to see if Free 4G gives Three more customers.
It is not much in the scheme of things.
Just shows that people are gullible and will spend money because they think that they need it. No doubt some people with Tablets or even a laptop may find the extra speed a boost, but on a mobile phone?
These companies make one hell of a profit, they just put prices up because they know people will pay it or they have little choice.
it is like a cartel, one mobile network or broadband /phone supplier puts their price up and the rest follows. Just like the energy market.
so what have we been paying for all these years then?
You've been paying for a communications service you can use anywhere. If you're not clear maybe you should throw yours in the bin?
Except the cost of running a mobile phone has dropped over time, as has the amount of calls, data and SMS you get for your money, to the point where now you get tonnes of stuff for very little.
When a company sells you a high end phone like an iPhone5S on a contract for £40 a month, if you add up £40 x 24 months, that's only £960 over 2 years, with the phone costing the network about £400.
They've made literally £200 a year from you, or £16 a month, and out of that they've invested £400M in the network, paid up to £100M in licensing costs, they have to pay for the bandwidth you use at a wholesale rate, and they have to pay the wholesale call termination rates, staffing customer support, sales and marketing costs, etc etc etc
Actually I think you'll find things are cheaper than they have EVER been in the mobile world, and the companies are making less revenue in most cases.
We have one of the most competitive and cutthroat mobile industries in the world and mobile service in the UK is much, much cheaper than in the US, Canada, Australia or many other places in Europe. You have a complete misunderstanding of the market and just how much of a good deal you're getting right now compared to pretty much everywhere else in the world. There is absolutely no such cartel.
Or in the USA where T-Mobile US is the only PAYG worth using and in some places their coverage is non existent.
I been using a mobile phone for a few years now, got to be about 15 years or more. I remember when vodafone top up was split in two. Half for payment to use the service and half for calls and text. But those was different days, not much competition and it was a new thing to most people.
These days, most people have a mobile phone and the networks make millions and we got more competition.
i know the costs of using a mobile phone have gone down, but it had to really, a mobile phone is not really essential, so if it cost too much a lot of people would not bother. I think I have got a pretty good deal on my sim only contract, sure I expect there are better ones around, but aat least voice and text wise Vodafone is pretty reliable, 3G is a bit iffy mind you, not signal wise, but speed wise. I still think they have not got enough bandwidth to cope.
I still disagree with there not being a cartel.
As for living elsewhere, I don't live elsewhere, I live here in the UK, so why should I care what the U.S or Europe have got? Unless it is better than what we have got and then we should catch up.
The problem with the phone market is that it is a chuck away market, have a phone for two years, and we will then give you another one in another two years time, the old one can be dumped. i am pretty sure if more people kept their older phones, then networks would not have to subsidise so many people getting new phones they don't really need.