Will UK networks kill off smart phone use ?

old bill2 · 27-01-2011, 15:32

With smart phones becoming more and more advanced, they rely so much more on data usage. The networks (ok except 3) cannot cope and keep on cutting back the data caps. So will the great british public give up their love of smart phones as the networks keep on restricting what you can do with them ? After all why buy a Porsche if you can only do 30MPH. Yes the it may look good but you can not use it to its full potential. Will we as ever just put up with the limits as long as we have the latest gadget ?

BT@home · 27-01-2011, 15:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by old bill2

With smart phones becoming more and more advanced, they rely so much more on data usage. The networks (ok except 3) cannot cope and keep on cutting back the data caps. So will the great british public give up their love of smart phones as the networks keep on restricting what you can do with them ? After all why buy a Porsche if you can only do 30MPH. Yes the it may look good but you can not use it to its full potential. Will we as ever just put up with the limits as long as we have the latest gadget ?

Not really. Its like being able to use it at 140mph for 1000 miles each month, and then having it locked in the garage for the remaining part of the month .... being allowed to drive normally for the whole month (just not excessively)

Confusing · 27-01-2011, 16:13

Personally I don't think so. I'm with 3 all you can eat plan but if demand for mobile internet did get so big, surely they would expand the network infrastructure to cope with it?

Also, I'm increasingly finding myself attached to wireless networks anyway. At home, uni and work, all completely covered by wireless.

I don't understand how as phones get more advanced, they require 'so much more data usage'? What more could a phone do with the internet than it already does now? With the iphone I can do everything I do on my laptop on my mobile.

BoBaDoB · 27-01-2011, 16:17

Well we are a couple of years away from LTE and i think from the testing that has gone on in Korea (Testing of 600mbps while travelling) i think we can safely say that capacity will be a thing of the past as soon as the new technologies are out.

Let the bidding war commence for the LTE frequencies!

interactiv-uk · 27-01-2011, 16:18

New propositions like O2's recently announced high-speed free-to-all WiFi will help reduce the impact of 3G restrictions.

huwdw · 28-01-2011, 10:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoBaDoB

Well we are a couple of years away from LTE and i think from the testing that has gone on in Korea (Testing of 600mbps while travelling) i think we can safely say that capacity will be a thing of the past as soon as the new technologies are out.

Let the bidding war commence for the LTE frequencies!

Yeah, im sure lack of backhaul will be come an issue then - if it isn't already now.

IvanIV · 28-01-2011, 10:41

I have 250MB monthly limit and I hardly use half of it. Just do not watch videos on it or only with moderation and you'll be fine. The rest can be done over wi-fi.

alanwarwic · 28-01-2011, 12:55

The £500 smartphone certainly kept use at bay.

Rations for us all now there is choice.

call100 · 28-01-2011, 13:03

Still getting unlimited data here but I do agree that the major phone companies want their cake and eat it. They sell you a smart phone and then restrict the usage. Before they all started to make money from data and give away silly amounts of minutes I never had any problems with congestion or unavailability/slowdown due to over usage.
IMO it's a myth their only to make them more money. That I don't have a problem with if it was done with honesty!!!

ArcticFox · 28-01-2011, 13:36

I dont really see the problem with bandwidth restrictions, its not free or cheap for providers to give you this service they pay for it in bulk they dont pay for your personal usage so if a lot of people are using more than the provider has "budgeted" for then everyone else gets restricted.

The way i look at it is that most if not all smartphones come with WIFI thesedays so i would use data for daily updates like email, social networking, some web browsing maybe the odd app then wait till i get home to do some heavy downloading like big apps and the like and ive never hit my pretty meagre 500mb a month limit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by call100

Still getting unlimited data here but I do agree that the major phone companies want their cake and eat it. They sell you a smart phone and then restrict the usage. Before they all started to make money from data and give away silly amounts of minutes I never had any problems with congestion or unavailability/slowdown due to over usage.
IMO it's a myth their only to make them more money. That I don't have a problem with if it was done with honesty!!!

Its a business, would you appreciate someone knocking on your door and asking you how you ran your household, what bills you paid and how much it costs.

The big networks pay for the bandwidth in bulk, they dont pay for each persons individual usage, its nothing to do with unavailability or overcongestion its all about people using more than is budgeted for in the overall bandwidth usage, if more people are unreasonable and start downloading multiple hundred mbs or gigabytes then thats going to affect how much it costs the business which then means they restrict people.

There is no reason to use loads of data in a month and its not a myth, if they charged you what it costs them for the bandwidth you wouldnt be able to afford your monthly contract.

IvanIV · 28-01-2011, 15:45

It could be simple. Shortage of product = higher price. If you limit transfer speeds, it must not be called unlimited data, no small print, but transparently written in big f.ecking letters. Surely there must be some controller on the market already who can say the name of the product does not match the product and it misleads the customers.

david.boobis · 28-01-2011, 17:16

The networks are going to have to deal with it. They can cap people at 1GB all they like, but if double the number of people pick up a smartphone the problem will just come back. They make ridiculous profits, it's about time they put some of it back into infrastructure.

currykev · 28-01-2011, 17:55

Mobile phones, banks, betting, charityand making coffee are the big earners at the moment.
Just count the shops in your High Street.

acoolwelshbloke · 28-01-2011, 18:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by currykev

Mobile phones, banks, betting, charityand making coffee are the big earners at the moment.
Just count the shops in your High Street.

Your not wrong there.

mrdeejay · 28-01-2011, 18:34

I think it's the networks trying to make a quick buck.

We have more minutes than ever now and the EU ruled on the roaming charges being execive.

Mobile Data is the thing of the moment, everybody wants it so they will charge for it as long as they get away with it.

ih8mondays · 29-01-2011, 10:18

If the capacity on the mobile networks isn't increased soon, I see them starting to charge per MB again, with no package deals, to try and keep demand down.

old bill2 · 29-01-2011, 23:22

While I am happy to see 3 doing all you can eat data. You can end up in the situation I am in. Live in a town of between 80000-100000 people. Orange has 4 3G masts, T-Mobile/3 2 3G masts and O2 and Vodafone 1 3G mast. The T-Mobile/3 mast came live late last year. At first I was getting good data speeds off it. 3 launched all you can eat data in December. Since Christmas data speeds have on the new mast down to less then half a meg. So many people have jumped on to 3 now the service is barley usable. Yes if you live in a big city with lots of masts or in small areas with very little load on the masts then its fine. However if you live in towns where most networks just offer a token 3G presence then you will end up with poor service.

zantarous · 30-01-2011, 17:19

With smartphones being like mini computes data usage is going to continue to get higher and higher as more and more people buy them and apps get more data hungry. It is not just phones but tablets as well now.

also I guess there is a reluctance to invest in the 3G infrastructure any more as the LTE war will begin once digital switchover has occurred. 3G may have been good when they first bought the spectrum but the networks have been caught napping with the explosion of smartphones.

While it is reasonable to expect people to use their limits reasonably to expect people to limit themselves to 500MB or 1GB for £35 a month is silly. i could use that in a few days without even trying. It is no use saying don't stream music or video but that is how they advertise these handsets and data plans.

Don't get me started on the con that is tethering charges, charging you twice for the data that you are already paying for.

27-01-2011, 15:32	#1
old bill2 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 621	Will UK networks kill off smart phone use ? With smart phones becoming more and more advanced, they rely so much more on data usage. The networks (ok except 3) cannot cope and keep on cutting back the data caps. So will the great british public give up their love of smart phones as the networks keep on restricting what you can do with them ? After all why buy a Porsche if you can only do 30MPH. Yes the it may look good but you can not use it to its full potential. Will we as ever just put up with the limits as long as we have the latest gadget ?

27-01-2011, 15:49	#2
BT@home Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 1,911	Quote: Originally Posted by old bill2 With smart phones becoming more and more advanced, they rely so much more on data usage. The networks (ok except 3) cannot cope and keep on cutting back the data caps. So will the great british public give up their love of smart phones as the networks keep on restricting what you can do with them ? After all why buy a Porsche if you can only do 30MPH. Yes the it may look good but you can not use it to its full potential. Will we as ever just put up with the limits as long as we have the latest gadget ? Not really. Its like being able to use it at 140mph for 1000 miles each month, and then having it locked in the garage for the remaining part of the month .... being allowed to drive normally for the whole month (just not excessively)

27-01-2011, 16:13	#3
Confusing Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 8,491	Personally I don't think so. I'm with 3 all you can eat plan but if demand for mobile internet did get so big, surely they would expand the network infrastructure to cope with it? Also, I'm increasingly finding myself attached to wireless networks anyway. At home, uni and work, all completely covered by wireless. I don't understand how as phones get more advanced, they require 'so much more data usage'? What more could a phone do with the internet than it already does now? With the iphone I can do everything I do on my laptop on my mobile.

27-01-2011, 16:17	#4
BoBaDoB Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Stoke On Trent/Staffordshire Posts: 1,556	Well we are a couple of years away from LTE and i think from the testing that has gone on in Korea (Testing of 600mbps while travelling) i think we can safely say that capacity will be a thing of the past as soon as the new technologies are out. Let the bidding war commence for the LTE frequencies!

27-01-2011, 16:18	#5
interactiv-uk Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 587	New propositions like O2's recently announced high-speed free-to-all WiFi will help reduce the impact of 3G restrictions.

28-01-2011, 10:21	#6
huwdw Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: St Albans Posts: 638	Quote: Originally Posted by BoBaDoB Well we are a couple of years away from LTE and i think from the testing that has gone on in Korea (Testing of 600mbps while travelling) i think we can safely say that capacity will be a thing of the past as soon as the new technologies are out. Let the bidding war commence for the LTE frequencies! Yeah, im sure lack of backhaul will be come an issue then - if it isn't already now.

28-01-2011, 10:41	#7
IvanIV Forum Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 25,199	I have 250MB monthly limit and I hardly use half of it. Just do not watch videos on it or only with moderation and you'll be fine. The rest can be done over wi-fi.

28-01-2011, 12:55	#8
alanwarwic Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: the wild world web Posts: 28,132	The £500 smartphone certainly kept use at bay. Rations for us all now there is choice.

28-01-2011, 13:03	#9
call100 Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 6,572	Still getting unlimited data here but I do agree that the major phone companies want their cake and eat it. They sell you a smart phone and then restrict the usage. Before they all started to make money from data and give away silly amounts of minutes I never had any problems with congestion or unavailability/slowdown due to over usage. IMO it's a myth their only to make them more money. That I don't have a problem with if it was done with honesty!!!

28-01-2011, 13:36	#10
ArcticFox Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 314	I dont really see the problem with bandwidth restrictions, its not free or cheap for providers to give you this service they pay for it in bulk they dont pay for your personal usage so if a lot of people are using more than the provider has "budgeted" for then everyone else gets restricted. The way i look at it is that most if not all smartphones come with WIFI thesedays so i would use data for daily updates like email, social networking, some web browsing maybe the odd app then wait till i get home to do some heavy downloading like big apps and the like and ive never hit my pretty meagre 500mb a month limit. Quote: Originally Posted by call100 Still getting unlimited data here but I do agree that the major phone companies want their cake and eat it. They sell you a smart phone and then restrict the usage. Before they all started to make money from data and give away silly amounts of minutes I never had any problems with congestion or unavailability/slowdown due to over usage. IMO it's a myth their only to make them more money. That I don't have a problem with if it was done with honesty!!! Its a business, would you appreciate someone knocking on your door and asking you how you ran your household, what bills you paid and how much it costs. The big networks pay for the bandwidth in bulk, they dont pay for each persons individual usage, its nothing to do with unavailability or overcongestion its all about people using more than is budgeted for in the overall bandwidth usage, if more people are unreasonable and start downloading multiple hundred mbs or gigabytes then thats going to affect how much it costs the business which then means they restrict people. There is no reason to use loads of data in a month and its not a myth, if they charged you what it costs them for the bandwidth you wouldnt be able to afford your monthly contract.

28-01-2011, 15:45	#11
IvanIV Forum Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 25,199	It could be simple. Shortage of product = higher price. If you limit transfer speeds, it must not be called unlimited data, no small print, but transparently written in big f.ecking letters. Surely there must be some controller on the market already who can say the name of the product does not match the product and it misleads the customers.

28-01-2011, 17:16	#12
david.boobis Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 376	The networks are going to have to deal with it. They can cap people at 1GB all they like, but if double the number of people pick up a smartphone the problem will just come back. They make ridiculous profits, it's about time they put some of it back into infrastructure.

28-01-2011, 17:55	#13
currykev Inactive Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: No space here Posts: 1,537	Mobile phones, banks, betting, charityand making coffee are the big earners at the moment. Just count the shops in your High Street.

28-01-2011, 18:12	#14
acoolwelshbloke Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Swansea, UK. Posts: 2,469	Quote: Originally Posted by currykev Mobile phones, banks, betting, charityand making coffee are the big earners at the moment. Just count the shops in your High Street. Your not wrong there.

28-01-2011, 18:34	#15
mrdeejay Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Scotland Posts: 568	I think it's the networks trying to make a quick buck. We have more minutes than ever now and the EU ruled on the roaming charges being execive. Mobile Data is the thing of the moment, everybody wants it so they will charge for it as long as they get away with it.

29-01-2011, 10:18	#16
ih8mondays Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 1,114	If the capacity on the mobile networks isn't increased soon, I see them starting to charge per MB again, with no package deals, to try and keep demand down.

29-01-2011, 23:22	#17
old bill2 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 621	While I am happy to see 3 doing all you can eat data. You can end up in the situation I am in. Live in a town of between 80000-100000 people. Orange has 4 3G masts, T-Mobile/3 2 3G masts and O2 and Vodafone 1 3G mast. The T-Mobile/3 mast came live late last year. At first I was getting good data speeds off it. 3 launched all you can eat data in December. Since Christmas data speeds have on the new mast down to less then half a meg. So many people have jumped on to 3 now the service is barley usable. Yes if you live in a big city with lots of masts or in small areas with very little load on the masts then its fine. However if you live in towns where most networks just offer a token 3G presence then you will end up with poor service.

30-01-2011, 17:19	#18
zantarous Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Ealing, London Posts: 2,140	With smartphones being like mini computes data usage is going to continue to get higher and higher as more and more people buy them and apps get more data hungry. It is not just phones but tablets as well now. also I guess there is a reluctance to invest in the 3G infrastructure any more as the LTE war will begin once digital switchover has occurred. 3G may have been good when they first bought the spectrum but the networks have been caught napping with the explosion of smartphones. While it is reasonable to expect people to use their limits reasonably to expect people to limit themselves to 500MB or 1GB for £35 a month is silly. i could use that in a few days without even trying. It is no use saying don't stream music or video but that is how they advertise these handsets and data plans. Don't get me started on the con that is tethering charges, charging you twice for the data that you are already paying for.

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Will UK networks kill off smart phone use ?