Wireless Data
Top message: Well, I went to a Clear store to see TRUE mobile broadband for myself. . . by Jayshmay
Replying to: Re: Well, I went to a Clear store to see TRUE mobile broadband for myself. . . by Jayshmay
Re: Well, I went to a Clear store to see TRUE mobile broadband for myself. . .
What happened to earning a consumer? Consumers started demanding things for free (or almost free).
When you're giving away things to a customer, you need a way to make that money back.
Of course contracts favor the company over the customer. Customers do benefit if thy are content to just have a phone, and don't switch devices more often than they need to, it's great because they would (most likely) be paying for 2+ years anyway. as a bonus, they get the phone for next to nothing.
But the customer wanted something for free, and contracts became the way to get it.
Every choice has a cost associated with it. For a consumer who wants to be free to choose his carrier, they pay the premium for the device, for the customer that want to pay little (if anything) for the device they pay a premium through being locked to a contract.
Believe me, I'm a huge supporter of Unlocked devices (it's my only major gripe with CDMA), but I understand why contracts exist.
I've seriously had people WALK FROM MY STORE because I said that the cheapest phone was .99 (if we sell it for free, my company pays the tax on the retail cost, we sell it for .99, we pay sales tax for a dollar).
While there is a VERY vocal minority (mainly on the web) of people who hate contracts and are willing to pay to avoid them, but an overwhelming majority of consumers in the US (no matter the market) only see monthly payments, and think that the phones should be free.
When you're giving away things to a customer, you need a way to make that money back.
Of course contracts favor the company over the customer. Customers do benefit if thy are content to just have a phone, and don't switch devices more often than they need to, it's great because they would (most likely) be paying for 2+ years anyway. as a bonus, they get the phone for next to nothing.
But the customer wanted something for free, and contracts became the way to get it.
Every choice has a cost associated with it. For a consumer who wants to be free to choose his carrier, they pay the premium for the device, for the customer that want to pay little (if anything) for the device they pay a premium through being locked to a contract.
Believe me, I'm a huge supporter of Unlocked devices (it's my only major gripe with CDMA), but I understand why contracts exist.
I've seriously had people WALK FROM MY STORE because I said that the cheapest phone was .99 (if we sell it for free, my company pays the tax on the retail cost, we sell it for .99, we pay sales tax for a dollar).
While there is a VERY vocal minority (mainly on the web) of people who hate contracts and are willing to pay to avoid them, but an overwhelming majority of consumers in the US (no matter the market) only see monthly payments, and think that the phones should be free.
Replies
- Re: Well, I went to a Clear store to see TRUE mobile broadband for myself. . . by Jayshmay
- Re: Well, I went to a Clear store to see TRUE mobile broadband for myself. . . by WernerCD
