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FCC Reverses Home Roaming Rules

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wow

Disrespect

Apr 21, 2010, 11:59 AM
this is insane, wow what a good way to make money. So if I buy spectrum knowing I don't have enough money to build towers I will buy it anyways and make money because I can just use someone elses towers thats in my spectrum? lol
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justfinethanku

Apr 21, 2010, 12:04 PM
I don't understand what the FCC is doing.

I'm just going to chalk it up to the guy's in charge finding a new way to get more money from the people in the name of helping the public.

I can't wait to find out what negative effect this has on the cell phone companies.
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Menno

Apr 21, 2010, 1:43 PM
Now instead of having to wait for the capital to invest in towers, they just have to purchase the spectrum and force Verizon/Att to let them roam on their towers for dirt cheap.

Basically ATT/Verizon/The company that owns sprint towers, spend all the money building new towers/improving backhaul, and then MetroPCS or whatever other company will come in and get cheap roaming for next to no sunk costs.
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justfinethanku

Apr 21, 2010, 1:50 PM
And the small carriers get big not because they worked hard to get there, but because the government allowed them to cheat the system.

I can see the positive side of all this, but at the same time, it just seems like a forced unfair advantage to the "smaller" multi-billion dollar companies.
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justfinethanku

Apr 21, 2010, 1:54 PM
It also seems to strip the competitive advantage away from companies who wisely invest their money in network build-out. The same competitive advantage that encourages them to continue building out their network.

I think this is one of those things that looks good on the outside but in reality is bad for the customer and the carriers in almost every way possible.
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gloopey1

Apr 21, 2010, 8:50 PM
Verizon and at&t didn't get the size that they are by building out their own networks, they did so by buying up other companies. This created a monopoly within each respective technology. Now, nobody can compete with either one because they have the lion's share of nationwide coverage. Sorry, but I disagree that this hurts competition.
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carlsberg

Apr 22, 2010, 6:19 AM
I agree. The monopoly of providers is ruining the customers' experience as a whole.

Just take cable as a fine example. How is it in the same area but different zip codes you can get one cable provider but not the other.
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justfinethanku

Apr 22, 2010, 9:11 AM
Usually the cable thing has more to do with the local government blocking the company from their town.

And how is having four major companies with over 50 million customers each a monopoly? (not withstanding the DOZENS of local/subcarriers!!!)

The only monopoly in the US right now is the US government.
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SprintCC

Apr 22, 2010, 12:10 PM
By definition there is not a cell phone monopoly. Even if you want to say that T-Mobile and Sprint aren't able to compete- the fact that we have Verizon and AT&T means that there is no monopoly.

I personally think this rule is crap, but from a different perspective. It is a property issue, plain and simply. The government is demanding that carriers allow others to use their property. That is inexcusible, the towers aren't a common good, they belong to a company. That company, and only that company, should be able to decide how they are used.
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Menno

Apr 21, 2010, 1:55 PM
This type of regulation only makes sense if the government seriously subsidized network development, which they haven't.

Verizon came up with a compromise a couple years back where if a carrier bought spectrum in an area, they would allow roaming for the first 2 years, to give the company time to develop, but then that company would need to pay for their own towers or pay higher roaming fees.
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gloopey1

Apr 21, 2010, 5:34 PM
...that Verizon will cancel their roaming agreements with Sprint when their contract is up. 3G yes, basic, no.
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Menno

Apr 21, 2010, 5:45 PM
And again, the theory said nothing about government intervention. You can't really choose what you will and won't do when you have non-elected idiots legislating policy.
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gloopey1

Apr 21, 2010, 8:06 PM
I agree that the government shouldn't be forcing it. Really, we'll never know who was right.
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Amarantamin

Apr 21, 2010, 2:41 PM
If companies weren't obsessed with cheating one-another, this could be a good thing.

I mean, a handful of carriers who use the same spectrum putting money together to build towers could lower expansion costs for them all, and they would all get full benefit of the new tower.

It's called *working together*, people. We would be so much further if more people did.

Sad thing is, greed will ruin the idea. Some companies will buy spectrum and pay nothing for the towers, while gaining coverage at no cost to themselves. Bad business practice, but it will happen.
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SellPhones82

Apr 21, 2010, 3:01 PM
They are trying to make wireless networks work like the landline networks.

Everyone seems to forget that most cellular calls leave your cell providers network once they hit the switch and are passed onto the fiber optic cable of the landline provider in your area. This only happens because the wireless and landline providers work together.

I only see this as a good thing...every provider has areas were service is either bad or non-existant and this would help fix that which is good for the customer.
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Kayslay34

Apr 21, 2010, 3:03 PM
How is it not positive? This helps create more options for consumers.
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Menno

Apr 21, 2010, 5:08 PM
Because it means carriers can get a free ride on others and actually BENEFIT from not investing in their own network.
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gloopey1

Apr 21, 2010, 5:39 PM
Last time I checked, carriers are required to pay for this "ride." Verizon & At&t didn't build out their networks, they bought them.
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Menno

Apr 21, 2010, 5:44 PM
they have to, but this basically allows companies to pay next to nothing for roaming, a rate that will most likely be set by the FCC, not by costs.


Verizon and ATT both got bigger because of mergers, yes. but they did build out their own networks as well, and they continue investing billions every year expanding and updating them
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gloopey1

Apr 21, 2010, 8:19 PM
I agree that the government shouldn't set prices, but even at that, price controls don't equate to essentially a free ride. Basically, it's a forced arrangement that prevents a monopoly by one or two super carriers from taking over the industry and driving out competition.
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retrocool

Apr 21, 2010, 2:42 PM
You know, those people who pay you money. The ones you forget about and are ready to drop like a hot potato.

Yeah, them.
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stephen5688

Apr 21, 2010, 5:10 PM
So your freedom can be bought. 😳
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Azeron

Apr 22, 2010, 5:51 AM
If they make these same rules applicable to data (which is insane) then AT&T can just sit back and let Verizon build out its LTE network first. Once Verizon has an expansive network up, then AT&T can build it's LTE network up in Metro areas only and its customers will still be covered in more rural areas. This is crazy! I can understand why a wireless customer should have access to make voice calls even when their carrier has no footprint, but DATA?! Come on!
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justfinethanku

Apr 22, 2010, 9:36 AM
agreed.

also, this was pretty well worded. I couldn't have said it better myself.
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cellphoneslinger

Apr 28, 2010, 9:13 PM
Ok look at it this way. Small carrier buys spectrum. Gets low rate on roaming. Spent boat load on spectrum and is trying to make a profit but having a hard time because of major spectrum purchase. One of the bigger 4 see this and step in. They buy the company for reasonable price with roaming agreements in place. Did not cost near as much as a build out. Big 4 will end up making out on this more than anybody.
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