Midgen wrote:
Just curious...
How much would wireless you be willing to pay for a data onlyplan that allows unlimited VoIP? And do you see it as a profitable business model for wireless providers?
I can see me getting not too choked up at around $75/mo. I'd actually like to see it be more like switching to a la carte pricing - keep the mobile broadband, drop the voice plan, which would cut out about half my total current bill - but I'm already paying around $100 a month right now for voice/data/messaging. I wouldn't be too terribly bummed at seeing an increase in data pricing if it was explicitly acknowledged that I was going to be generating significantly more traffic than someone who was paying for a voice plan (and even though it's all passing over the same network, they're billing that voice part as a separate item).
As far as profitability, I think so? I do seriously think the days of "voice plans" as we know them are numbered. One of Google's neater accomplishments of the past couple years was their $4.6B bid on the C block of the former broadcast spectrum. Ensuring the FCC's reserve was met allowed cool stipulations to be set. FCC Chariman Kevin Martin said, ""Consumers will be able to use the wireless device of their choice and download whatever software they want onto it." To me, that reads that Verizon, who actually won the C block with a $4.74B bid and is going to use it for their LTE rollout, would be compelled to let people put Google Voice on their phones.
I can't help but think that before too long some mobile provider is going to get wise, and realize that the device doesn't necessarily have to be a phone in the sense that we've used phones for 100 years. It doesn't have to have a phone number, it just has to have a connection. Someone else (like Google, and I'm sure others over time) will come up with ways to connect it to our existing legacy telephony stuff.
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