Comments on: ThoughtPiece: Those Nasty Cell Phone Contracts http://www.blackberrycool.com/2007/03/07/thoughtpiece-those-nasty-cell-phone-contracts/ The voice of the BlackBerry community. Tue, 21 May 2013 07:20:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Jim http://www.blackberrycool.com/2007/03/07/thoughtpiece-those-nasty-cell-phone-contracts/comment-page-1/#comment-97443 Jim Thu, 08 Mar 2007 02:47:43 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/2007/03/07/003796/#comment-97443 Cincinnati Bell Wireless (Cincinnati, OH) dominates their market with a no contract program. Additionally, they have confounded the likes of Cricket by meeting them head-on with a Cricket-like offering. And no, I am not a CBW employee or shareholder, just an admirer of a smaller, scrappier company doing battle and clobbering the nationals. Every town would benefit by having a CBW.

]]> By: Jim http://www.blackberrycool.com/2007/03/07/thoughtpiece-those-nasty-cell-phone-contracts/comment-page-1/#comment-485419 Jim Thu, 08 Mar 2007 02:47:00 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/2007/03/07/003796/#comment-485419 Cincinnati Bell Wireless (Cincinnati, OH) dominates their market with a no contract program. Additionally, they have confounded the likes of Cricket by meeting them head-on with a Cricket-like offering. And no, I am not a CBW employee or shareholder, just an admirer of a smaller, scrappier company doing battle and clobbering the nationals. Every town would benefit by having a CBW.

]]> By: Aaron http://www.blackberrycool.com/2007/03/07/thoughtpiece-those-nasty-cell-phone-contracts/comment-page-1/#comment-97379 Aaron Wed, 07 Mar 2007 16:40:03 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/2007/03/07/003796/#comment-97379 In Canada,

When you acquire a cable / dsl modem, the modem -is- locked to a single provider.

When you acquire a cable / satellite box, the box -is- locked to a single provider.

I’m in a contract with the GSM provider here in Canada. I’ve even had it expire and I renewed it twice. I know I’m not going to switch to another provider, because I’m content with the service, despite the average price of a mobile bill in Canada being the highest in the world.

I guess I’m just someone who is easily satisfied.

]]> By: Aaron http://www.blackberrycool.com/2007/03/07/thoughtpiece-those-nasty-cell-phone-contracts/comment-page-1/#comment-485418 Aaron Wed, 07 Mar 2007 16:40:00 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/2007/03/07/003796/#comment-485418 In Canada,

When you acquire a cable / dsl modem, the modem -is- locked to a single provider.

When you acquire a cable / satellite box, the box -is- locked to a single provider.

I’m in a contract with the GSM provider here in Canada. I’ve even had it expire and I renewed it twice. I know I’m not going to switch to another provider, because I’m content with the service, despite the average price of a mobile bill in Canada being the highest in the world.

I guess I’m just someone who is easily satisfied.

]]> By: Wibbly http://www.blackberrycool.com/2007/03/07/thoughtpiece-those-nasty-cell-phone-contracts/comment-page-1/#comment-97374 Wibbly Wed, 07 Mar 2007 15:16:50 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/2007/03/07/003796/#comment-97374 In the UK, at least, contracts subsidise the cost of the phone. That’s how users appear to be able to get them ‘free’. The service provider recovers the cost over the earlier life of the contract. Locking in the customer also allows them to take a ‘whole contract term’ view of the money they think they’ll get from the contract and do crazy offers like ’1/2 price for the first 6 months’, etc.

There’s a LOT of churn in the mobile industry – people who change their provider at the end of their contracts. Providers don;t get it all their own way :-)

]]> By: Wibbly http://www.blackberrycool.com/2007/03/07/thoughtpiece-those-nasty-cell-phone-contracts/comment-page-1/#comment-485417 Wibbly Wed, 07 Mar 2007 15:16:00 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/2007/03/07/003796/#comment-485417 In the UK, at least, contracts subsidise the cost of the phone. That’s how users appear to be able to get them ‘free’. The service provider recovers the cost over the earlier life of the contract. Locking in the customer also allows them to take a ‘whole contract term’ view of the money they think they’ll get from the contract and do crazy offers like ’1/2 price for the first 6 months’, etc.

There’s a LOT of churn in the mobile industry – people who change their provider at the end of their contracts. Providers don;t get it all their own way :-)

]]>