On Tue, 10 Apr 2007 08:36:54 -0700, SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com>
wrote in <461baf17$0$27175$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>:

>Mij Adyaw wrote:
>> Navas may call it a "pipe dream", but he will eat his words when Sprint is
>> the industry leader in data and 4G. Sprint will prevail! I think that it is
>> time for me to buy more Sprint Stock now. Talk to you later...
>
>What we haven't seen is something similar to what happened when the
>RBOCs and RVOCs decided that they'd be better off selling DSL service to
>the masses, at a lower price, rather than selling it to a relatively few
>number of users at a high price. Of course seeding the market for FIOS
>and U-Verse was one of the other reasons to go after market share for DSL.
>
>Which wireless carrier will be the first to decide to drop their pants
>on data pricing and try to sell it to the masses?

They (AT&T and T-Mobile) already have.

>And if they drop the
>price, will the masses even be interested unless it can replace their
>DSL or broadband connection? Unfortunately, despite the hundreds of
>millions of dollars that the carriers have spent on 3G and 4G, they
>don't have the capacity to sell data to the masses.

They, following the lead of NTT DoCoMo, are actually already well along
in what the masses want, not replacement of wired broadband connections
(something of interest only to a few of us geeks), but broadband content
appropriate to wireless: music, video, radio, etc. CNN News video on my
new V3xx is quite good -- I'm surprised at how often I watch it.

>Personally, every client I have has wireless available for visitors.
>Nearly every hotel I stay at (at least where 3G or 4G is available) also
>has free wireless. Free wireless is widely available in coffee houses,
>restaurants, libraries, and sometimes whole cities. I might pay
>$10/month for unlimited 3G or 4G, unless it also replaces DSL, in which
>case I'd pay $30 or so per month.

The price point for handset (not tethered) data seems to be $10-20 per
month. Tethered data seems likely to stay at a premium over wired
broadband, $40-80 per month.

--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>