Skype Asks FCC to Level the Playing Field
Different situation
In the case of landline phones everyone was using the same type of network. Although there were numerous different network providers, one phone COULD be used with any of the networks with very little effort. Not the case for cell phone providers. All this would do, should it go through, is circumvent any kind of quality testing done by the carriers. It MAY in the end lower costs to the consumer, but the quality of customer service would go even lower than it currently is.
I can see it now...
customer: "my service isn't working very well"
Provider: "The service is fine, you bought a crappy phone from someone we didn't approve"
customer calls manufacturer of Phone
customer: "my phone isn't working very well"
Manufacturer: "The ph...
(continues)
I can see it now...
customer: "my service isn't working very well"
Provider: "The service is fine, you bought a crappy phone from someone we didn't approve"
customer calls manufacturer of Phone
customer: "my phone isn't working very well"
Manufacturer: "The ph...
(continues)
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Yeah this is true, but how would they go about finding out what company you should go with? Because in the state that I live in there are no Cingular towers, but if I wanted a phone that only Cingular carries, and all phones run off the same things, would it even matter who I chose to have for a company? If that is the case, then the providers that have these amazing rate plans because they have crappy coverage, are going to take over the cell phone empire, and then in the end when everyone is with them they are going to raise the prices of everything because they wont have any competiton. So you see in the end we still lose.
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Just because there is no longer any competition doesnt mean that the prices of the service is gonna go up.
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Name a situation in which this is the case. Mind you, keep it free market- no federal regulation of prices.
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I'm not sure that I would agree with the argument that quality would go down. In fact, it probably wouldn't change much at all.
The manufacturer would work with the carriers to have their hardware certified on a particular network. Much like PCs. You can by an HP, Gateway, Dell, etc. and they are stamped with a seal that they have been tested and are certified to work with Windows or whatever OS that people would like them approved for. I would think cell phones could be done the same way. Typically, when a phone is "branded" doesn't that just mean that a specific carrier has added their flavor of software customizations on an existing hardware platform? So, the RAZR V3c is basically the same phone whether you buy the Alltel, Sprint...
(continues)
The manufacturer would work with the carriers to have their hardware certified on a particular network. Much like PCs. You can by an HP, Gateway, Dell, etc. and they are stamped with a seal that they have been tested and are certified to work with Windows or whatever OS that people would like them approved for. I would think cell phones could be done the same way. Typically, when a phone is "branded" doesn't that just mean that a specific carrier has added their flavor of software customizations on an existing hardware platform? So, the RAZR V3c is basically the same phone whether you buy the Alltel, Sprint...
(continues)
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This forum is closed.
