iPhone and Android vs Mobile carriers

I was watching the TV ads of some mobile carriers and I've realised about a common factor:

• We are the cheapest
• We have the coolest phones

So I've decided to go to a couple of mobile carriers shops in the area where I live to ask them how good is the signal in my house. The people in the shop were not able to tell me about the signal strength. They have no tool to check how strong the signal is in the area. But they do have cool phones. But how useful are they without signal?

So, I asked them. If I sign the contract and later I find out that I do not have any signal at home. Can I come back and cancel it? They told me that there is a legal period where I am allowed to cancel it, but after that period I cannot. So I asked them, what happens if I move in the future to a house where there is no signal, as it has happened to me. The answer was, no sorry, you cannot cancel.

The reason he gave me was that the phone cannot be returned since it is subsidised. So, again, it is all about the phone and the price you pay, not about the service you receive.

Android and iPhone are pushing the service to the limit. People are taking advantage of the features set and the connectivity. This is slowly moving the carriers away from their current business model. As we have seen in the US where Verizon Wireless was advertising how much stronger its network is compared with AT&T.

It is not about phones and price anymore. Now it is all about SERVICE.

Carriers don't make phones. They sell the access to the networks. Without signal, there MUST not be profit. However they continue to, let's say, encourage, the phone manufactures to slow down innovation, just because they cannot cope with the demand. As it can be read in this note in the Financial Times showing how Apple was warned by mobile carriers to stop working in a built-in SIM card.

Ironically mobile operators show record profits all around the world, but they still cannot cope with the demand.

Just for the record, I cannot talk by cell phone in my house. Because I have no signal. And as customer service told me, there is nothing T-Mobile Germany can do about it. Of course, I can do something. I won't renew my contract.

I wish I can enjoy an unlocked iPhone with skype on it all the time. Apparently this is going to happen sooner than later.

Comments

[Alex]

I had the same problem: no service at my house! I'm glad I came across your post, as I was wondering about the same question – what if I move and it turns out there's no service at my house? When my contract came to an end, I switched to Verizon - the service was a little better, but still not that good. Anyway, interesting post – especially what you said about carriers encouraging phone manufactures to slow down innovation.
Alex from software development company