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AT&T May Charge App Makers for Consumer Data Use

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please enlighten me

Massively

Feb 27, 2012, 6:17 PM
"..AT&T is working on a new service offering for application developers that, in effect, would charge the developer for the network data consumed by AT&T's wireless customers. The idea is to help application developers (specifically those that require heavy use of data networks) convince more users to sign up for their services."

seriously, can someone explain to me, HOW IS CHARGING THE DEVELOPER FOR NETWORK DATA CONSUMED BY CUST going to convince more users to sign-up for their service?

when your'e going to start charging app makers, the end-result is they might pass the charge to the consumers who use these apps.. so this might result in free apps getting chargers.AND might limit the signing-up too.

the way it was worded, it seem...
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Versed

Feb 27, 2012, 8:33 PM
It probably won't work, and if it does, it will be some kind of niche idea for certain content providers like Pandora (and not saying they will) then developers. In all honesty I think its going to fail.
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T Bone

Feb 27, 2012, 9:44 PM
"In all honesty I think its going to fail."

Then everything stays exactly the same as it is now, no harm, no foul. But at least at&t and its developer customers are trying to 'think outside the box' to solve the problem of limited bandwidth and network congestion.
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tether

Feb 27, 2012, 10:23 PM
Can't understand that? I had T-Mobile for 10 years and Verizon now for half a year. T-Mobile didn't seem to have network congestion problems and certainly Verizon doesn't. I've lived in Chicago, IL and now Albuquerque, NM. I've traveled to all 48 continental U.S. states and go on 5-6 road trips a year. I wonder how T-Mobile and Verizon escape these problems I always hear that AT&T and Sprint seem to have of an "overly congested" network. Sprint seems to oversell their network but I really admire that they are unlimited still though. Does AT&T oversell too? For God's sake, build out your frickin network so you can handle the customers you sell too. Can't AT&T hire some Verizon or T-Mobile engineers to build a capable network? I had n...
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T Bone

Feb 27, 2012, 10:30 PM
It isn't....at&t is merely the only company willing to admit it....while Verizon tries to cover up its network weaknesses at&t tries to be transparent...
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tether

Feb 27, 2012, 10:39 PM
Yes. Honesty is the first word that comes to mind when I think of AT&T. Threatening customers that prices will go up for everyone if we aren't allowed to acquire T-Mobile. Throttling "UNLIMITED" data customers to unusable speeds after using 2GB of data to force them to migrate to 3GB and up tiered plans. Telling Congress that allowing AT&T to acquire T-Mobile will actually "increase" competition in the wireless industry. Forcing a lot of people off of their unlimited data because "they used too much data, they must be tethering". Literally, just changing their data plan automatically, tethering or not. Super company that AT&T is.
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CellStudent

Feb 27, 2012, 10:23 PM
T Bone said:
But at least at&t and its developer customers are trying to 'think outside the box' to solve the problem of limited bandwidth and network congestion.


The solution to the data crunch is patently obvious and well-developed: WiFi offloading.

If cellular data traffic was consumed only by people who were actually moving and incapable of holding a WiFi connection- there would be no spectrum crunch.
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T Bone

Feb 27, 2012, 10:32 PM
Ultimately, the only real solution is reduced usage, WiFi offloading is one way, increased prices and tiered data are another way....
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tether

Feb 27, 2012, 10:43 PM
Spending a little bit of their massive profits on building out and improving their network is another way.......just saying. I know I'm in the AT&T Board of Directors meeting here so the idea of spending any money on their network sounds terrible, but just an idea.
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CellStudent

Feb 29, 2012, 7:20 AM
tether said:
Spending a little bit of their massive profits on building out and improving their network is another way.......just saying. I know I'm in the AT&T Board of Directors meeting here so the idea of spending any money on their network sounds terrible, but just an idea.

Hey, I'm a Verizon customer, not an ATT board member.

I also have a degree in Electrical Engineering with an emphasis on communication systems, so I can confidently say that while "investing in the network" would increase service quality, it CAN NOT address the cost of providing cellular service.

I'll try to make the explanation as simple as I can. Cell towers run on electricity. They transform that electric power into commu...
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T Bone

Feb 27, 2012, 9:47 PM
The idea is that people on tiered data plans might be more willing to sign up for services, like Netflix, Pandora One or Slacker Radio if they knew they could use them without being charged overages....the result of that would probably be higher monthly fees for those customers to use those services on mobile devices to cover the costs...but those customers may well think that a couple bucks more a month is a fair price to pay to guarantee they never have to pay an overage charge....
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atandtrep

Feb 28, 2012, 9:07 PM
or consider that in you example, netflix or pandora or whoever, doesn't pass the buck to the consumer directly, but through advertisments, banners, commercials.
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