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Comment by abcdefidk | Hacker News Reader

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abcdefidk

So.....

Why are we paying for ginormously expensive cell phone bills again? With a wifi connection, you can now:

Talk

Text

Send MMS (think Snapchat)

Do everything else smartphone-wise.

I know a few things that might run into issues - you can't take a call while on the road without cell service. GPS would be a no-go. Things like Google Maps and Nike Running wouldn't work.

But aside from that.... what good reasons still exist for having a cell phone bill?

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> But aside from that.... what good reasons still exist for having a cell phone bill?

Coverage. Cell phones are much longer range than wi-fi.

For instance, you couldn't make a wi-fi call out of your car without using the cell network. So if your cell phone is connected to the net in your car then you're using the cellular modem, not the wifi one.

I think widespread 3G is making the range less of an issue now. I can see providers - third party or not - using existing cellular networks offering data-only plans that make this far more feasible.

You'd just be exchanging your 'cell phone bill' with a 'data plan bill'. The phone company really doesn't care if you stick that SIM in a tablet or in a phone.

From the phone company's view there are only data networks, voice networks are dying out. Voice is just another form of data.

You would think they only view it as data networks!

Instead, Verizon for example, likes to charge per minute, text message, and media message if you are not on an "unlimited" (which is actually limited unless you are truly grandfathered in from an unlimited plan)

I think a lot of people would welcome a 'data plan bill' only and get rid of the nickel and diming

Of course they do. That's abusing peoples misunderstanding of how this all works under the hood. The whole notion of 'air time' makes 0 sense with a cell phone, the phone is off the air more than 90% of the time even while a conversation is in progress.

Widespread is one of those relative terms... finding a carrier that understands people use their phones outside of population centers has always been a challenge for me.

Fair point. I'll add that carriers also selectively drop speeds for certain mobile users based on arbitrary data caps and, in some circumstances, type of phone. Ex: My Blackberry inexplicably loses speed after the first week of the billing cycle.

data-only plans solve all issues, we don't need "talk" or "texts" to be included. Just carry around a "hotspot" (it get's hard when you have a family plan since it would be to expensive to buy multiple hotspots.

Been able to do that for a _long_ time.

CuSeeMe came out in 1992, and Email has been around since the early 60's. Yes; now we have 'nicer' versions of these features, and internet connectivity is almost ubiquitous.

You can offload Maps by downloading geographic areas to limit the amount of connectivity you really need.. But ya. GPS is still _HORRIBLE_ on my Android.

Anyways; my point is: All this technology has existed for a long time. Once people started getting broadband speeds at home 'phones' could have been made completely irrelevant.

The reason is; Cable / Phone industry oligopolies.

"what good reasons still exist for having a cell phone bill?"

Ultra high interest rate subprime loan to buy a phone.

Can't afford a once time charge of $599 to buy a phone? Save tons of money by paying $100/month on a 24 month contract!

Based on your post you would be very interested in some of the services republic wireless offers. I've been a customer since the very earliest beta days, first wave and all that. RW used to have legendary issues with MMS (I don't use MMS so I don't care)

If, like many people here, you have a wifi signal 90% of the time, you shouldn't have a large cell phone bill. Get a prepaid plan from, say, Page Plus Cellular. Or get their $12/month plan. It's nice to have the cell network as a backup, but it shouldn't be costing you too much.

You mean, besides all those good reasons you listed. Wifi is far from ubiquitous.

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