[Everything Goes]

O2 have confirmed that they will price 4G as a premium service much like EE. Im not sure that many people find EE's premium price enticing. Plus no doubt O2s 4G network coverage will be the worst of all networks.

Quote:

Meanwhile, O2’s chief technology officer Derek McManus said it will price 4G services higher than 3G because of the new services it will offer. EE has been criticised by some for its 4G pricing, which begins at around £4 above its typical contract ARPU of £32. McManus told delegates that the current sales model needs to change.

He said: ‘I guess customers will pay for what they value. I think there are many things that 4G will give us that customers will potentially value [but] we want to see a return.’ McManus said a big opportunity for businesses would be to use O2’s 4G network to offer new services to consumers. He added: ‘I would like to see increased pricing but based on value added to the technology.’

http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/News/23...ata_plans.aspx

[Everything Goes]

Vodafone had already indicated 4G would be premium priced too. That leaves it to 3. Lets see what they do.

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1752051

[moox]

Hopefully O2 will have a service to match a "premium" price. EE seem to be busting a gut to get both 3G and 4G coverage to be something like it in a short time frame so I can imagine why they are charging for it, and of course their network isn't built on a house of cards unlike O2.

It'll be hilarious if O2 charge a "premium" price and continue down that path of under investment, chronic outages and terrible 4G coverage just as they have during the 3G era.

As for 3 it will be interesting. They won't have to get the network built fast because this time they have a fallback that they own and don't have to pay obscene amounts to use. Part of the reason why people put up with the sometimes iffy customer service and occasionally dodgy coverage is because of their excellent pricing, so it'll be interesting how they handle that too.

[dephanix02]

Three are the only ones able to change this situation. The other operators are no different to the big energy providers these days. If only they had a "Three" as well!

I'm pretty sure Three will not premium price 4g, and they'll make damn sure the country knows about it just like the all you can eat campaigns.

[jabbamk1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dephanix02

Three are the only ones able to change this situation. The other operators are no different to the big energy providers these days. If only they had a "Three" as well!

I'm pretty sure Three will not premium price 4g, and they'll make damn sure the country knows about it just like the all you can eat campaigns.

I never see Three advertise the phrase "all you can eat". I've only seen their internetting advert and their stupid £13 deal advertised everywhere. If they want more custom they need to advertise this alongside 4G. I think tariffs like the one plan but £5-10 more than their 3G counterpart would be ok ish.

But looks like 4G is going to start off high everywhere. I don't even see Three doing the above or keeping it much cheaper than the competition. Look out for some £50+ tariffs from every network in the future guys.

But i think it'll come down a bit when everyone launches this summer. Not everyone will launch as high as EE did.

BTW any word on when the auction results will be announced?

[The Lord Lucan]

Three will still charge more for 4G.. It's always going to be that way. EE in some ways have a right to charge a premium price as it always costs more to be the first.

By the time that the others will have launched, fibre backhaul connections will be available in each site or very nearby for a large number of cities. Making it cheaper for them to start out, lessons will have been learned from EE's initial roll out etc etc. Three especially will have the cheapest roll out as basically EE will have preped every site with only Three's cabinets needing upgraded to the new Samsung versions.

However I feel none of the networks will be hugely cheaper than EE or each other, especially at the start.. Three could end up the cheapest but THEY WILL CHARGE EXTRA! for a PREMIUM service.

[Everything Goes]

If I recall correctly none of the networks charged extra for 3G? They paid a lot more money for 3G spectrum than they are ever likely to pay for 4G. So why do they want to charge more for it? Is it because they see EE doing it so they all jump on same the bandwagon?

[jabbamk1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Everything Goes

If I recall correctly none of the networks charged extra for 3G? They paid a lot more money for 3G spectrum than they are ever likely to pay for 4G. So why do they want to charge more for it? Is it because they see EE doing it so they all jump on same the bandwagon?

Because nearly every network worldwide *COUGH* USA *COUGH* has done it.

Plus 4G gives a much better boost than 3G did, remember when 3G launched we did not have smartphones and data was not as important. And we only had wap, and speeds up to 384kbps. So there was no need to price 3G as a premium as there was no point for the consumer. Plus 3G was only priced higher later on when it became more used for stuff like video calls and all that jazz.

With 4G there is much faster speeds and it is a premium product in a high data usage environment. It can replace home broadband and be great for mobile users on the go.

[moox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Everything Goes

If I recall correctly none of the networks charged extra for 3G? They paid a lot more money for 3G spectrum than they are ever likely to pay for 4G. So why do they want to charge more for it? Is it because they see EE doing it so they all jump on same the bandwagon?

Googling suggests that Orange, at least, had special 3G tariffs that you had to move to. ("from £30 a month"). Unfortunately it doesn't tell you the tariffs or what you got for your money.

[wavejockglw]

3G had no killler application when it launched. Videocalling was a lead baloon, sports clips were not something folks would pay for nor was live TV. With a new entrant (3) desparate to gain customers there was no opportunity to make a premium given Hutchison Whampoa's deep pockets and track record building the Orange network.

4G may be different. Customers now want faster speeds to stream video so may be prepared to pay a premium price if it's good enough. They could also pay a premium if the 4G can free them from fixed line services.

This time 3 seem to be drawing back from 'all you can eat data' for their 4G offering. They consider it sustainable presently but not indefinately with the spectrum available. So perhaps 3 will also pitch 4G with some limits.

I don't doubt O2 have the right strategy (again) by saying it will be services rather than speed that will make customers buy 4G.

http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/News/23...ata_plans.aspx

[moox]

You can imagine that even if they don't do unlimited it will still be a decent amount for a decent price - not £35/mo for 500MB as EE want.

I don't understand why some people are so het up about unlimited data anyway. As long as the limit is sensible (e.g. many gigabytes) and reasonably priced (i.e. not 500MB for £35) does it really matter.

[-ajm-]

Will you be unable to connect to the LTE network or just be capped bandwidth wise?

[wrexham103.4]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wavejockglw

3G had no killler application when it launched. Videocalling was a lead baloon, sports clips were not something folks would pay for nor was live TV. With a new entrant (3) desparate to gain customers there was no opportunity to make a premium given Hutchison Whampoa's deep pockets and track record building the Orange network.

4G may be different. Customers now want faster speeds to stream video so may be prepared to pay a premium price if it's good enough. They could also pay a premium if the 4G can free them from fixed line services.
[/b]
This time 3 seem to be drawing back from 'all you can eat data' for their 4G offering. They consider it sustainable presently but not indefinately with the spectrum available. So perhaps 3 will also pitch 4G with some limits.

I don't doubt O2 have the right strategy (again) by saying it will be services rather than speed that will make customers buy 4G.

http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/News/23...ata_plans.aspx

its going to be a hell of a deal from one of the operators to offer unlimited downloads to sway consumers from fixed line BB atm, but i think its going to be a while before that happens. However, regardless of operator ,this is something I would be /am looking for, i would love to give up my land line as i only use it for BB. so fingers crossed in the next 48 + months this will become reality

[tghe-retford]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wavejockglw

They could also pay a premium if the 4G can free them from fixed line services.

Not with the dire caps they're pitching at present. 8GB maximum will nowhere near cover what I use on my landline connection.

And I don't watch video 24/7, torrent, play online games or download huge files as the big users do either.

I could manage to get unlimited data, line rental and calls via Skype for less than £20 a month with the deals I strike via my landline. When 4G can offer unlimited mobile Internet (not phone) data for less than that a month, then I'll consider it. Until then, landline wins out comfortably.

[wavejockglw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tghe-retford

Not with the dire caps they're pitching at present. 8GB maximum will nowhere near cover what I use on my landline connection.

And I don't watch video 24/7, torrent, play online games or download huge files as the big users do either.

I could manage to get unlimited data, line rental and calls via Skype for less than £20 a month with the deals I strike via my landline. When 4G can offer unlimited mobile Internet (not phone) data for less than that a month, then I'll consider it. Until then, landline wins out comfortably.

Same here..... I have Sky Broadband and its unlimited for home use including using my mobile at home with WiFi. I also have free WiFi at work during the day so that only leaves travel to and from work most of the time and when driving I dont use mobile data so the 500MB allowance I have now covers all of my needs more than comfortably. I do use mobile data when shopping and out at weekends but never use my allowance and I suspect there are many others in a similar situation.

Most folk I know just check Facebook and e-mail on their mobiles, perhaps if using public transport some might use some streaming but I suspect the vast majority of mobile data use is by the few who don't have access to fixed line broadband and who use it as an alternative. Fine as long as the bandwidth exists to support that but as mobile networks have a finite resource that opportunity may be short lived and managed by networks with things like 3's Trafficsense which limits p2p traffic and throttles heavy users.

[The Lord Lucan]

Going back to 3G launch in the UK (from memory!)

Orange was offering 'all you can eat' for £75
Vodafone with less coverage at the time was offering 500MB for £85!
Three (first to launch, with a great supporting tv campain on 03-03-03) I can vaguely remember they had a strange method of pricing (depending on what you were using the data for) but remember data being £59 & £99 but I cannot remember what the allowances were. A quick google seems to support this but doesn't show what it gave you ha!
O2 were late to the game and I can't remember what they offered. One2One no idea. Can just remember in Scotland they had no coverage so no one here were with them..

Didn't you also have to pay activation fee's back then?

I Remember the 3G data cards for the computers were a blistering 380kbps! (My dad still has one in the loft!)

[Thine Wonk]

O2 are getting this out there now as many expected stupidly low prices from EE and then there was a backlash when people were shocked.

Part of the reason 3 were able to do AYCE is because of the call centre being offshore, something that gets it a lot of flack, but a necessary if you want to be that competitive something has to give. MBNL helped reduce infrastructure costs too, however they are going it alone with 4G and not pooling into MBNL, so I doubt it'll be cheap.

You won't get unlimited, you might get a bit more data package size and at one or two pounds less than the others. You should get a really decent 4G if their 3G network is anything to go by though.

[ajh94]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Lord Lucan

Going back to 3G launch in the UK (from memory!)

Orange was offering 'all you can eat' for £75
Vodafone with less coverage at the time was offering 500MB for £85!
Three (first to launch, with a great supporting tv campain on 03-03-03) I can vaguely remember they had a strange method of pricing (depending on what you were using the data for) but remember data being £59 & £99 but I cannot remember what the allowances were. A quick google seems to support this but doesn't show what it gave you ha!
O2 were late to the game and I can't remember what they offered. One2One no idea. Can just remember in Scotland they had no coverage so no one here were with them..

Didn't you also have to pay activation fee's back then?

I Remember the 3G data cards for the computers were a blistering 380kbps! (My dad still has one in the loft!)

Lol I had one of them O2 3G data cards back in 2004, it =was really expensive and the speed was always super slow like 56kbps and sometimes it would be 380kbps and i would be like WOOO thats so fast! Haha isn't it funny to look back on!

[legends wear 7]

Don't hold out hope on 3 doing much to unsettle the market

http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/News/23...ata_plans.aspx

But as long as they contiue to roll out DC-HSPA across 100% of their network and offer AYCE on that at current 3G pricing i could not give too hoots about having 4G

[The Lord Lucan]

Thine.. surely they will be using MBNL refresh sites... In fact i've seen a planning app showing Sammy cabinet. If they didn't it would be new build sites, very unlikely pal.

[slick1two]

Quote:

Originally Posted by legends wear 7

Don't hold out hope on 3 doing much to unsettle the market

http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/News/23...ata_plans.aspx

But as long as they contiue to roll out DC-HSPA across 100% of their network and offer AYCE on that at current 3G pricing i could not give too hoots about having 4G

Yeah same here, do yourselves a favour folks, get a handset which supports DC HSPA and get a three all you can eat plan, and you'll see speeds around 14mb or greater download. A guy at work showed me his speed test with EE on iphone 5 and that hit 22mb, but he's paying more and got data limits. I got the one plan 35 a month totally unlimited data, I just need a better compatible phone and i'm all set.

When you can get close to 4g speeds and still have unlimited data on your current plan thats a win win situation!

[The Lord Lucan]

DC suffers from slow down far more that 4G. It literally can be 1mb one minute then over 20mb the next. I've never seen less than 10mb on 4G.

However Three and T-Mobile "unlimited" plans are cheaper and a great half way service.
Raw 3G speed go with Three.
For more reliable (2G) coverage pretty much everywhere go with T-Mobile.
Both have very similar 3G coverage due to mast share.

Don't bother with the others.

[Thine Wonk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Lord Lucan

Thine.. surely they will be using MBNL refresh sites... In fact i've seen a planning app showing Sammy cabinet. If they didn't it would be new build sites, very unlikely pal.

Same sites different equipment though,.

[The Lord Lucan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thine Wonk

Same sites different equipment though,.

Only Different cabinets. Just like it is right now with EE's 4G.