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3G... what a fnckin rippoff...

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    #2
    STaN
    Registered Users Posts: 2,127 ✭✭✭STaN


    I hope they do. Its rediculous especially considering one webpage could cost you €3 with images, embedded tags, some flash etc.

    This is even unfeasable for most business use unless it was purely text, but still a rip off per "character" !


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    #3
    Turner
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 3,934 Mod ✭✭✭✭Turner


    I cant really see everyman in the street using Vodafones 3g services. Their prices reflect the general trend in 3g services throughout the world.

    Only when it becomes available in developed countries and becomes quite widespread I believe the prices will drop.

    One area I would love to see it used is in telemedicine. It really does have endless possibilities. I'd say fair play to Vodafone and their staff as I know alot of work went into bringing 3g to Ireland.

    Chief.


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    #4
    SkepticOne
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,718 ✭✭✭SkepticOne


    It was doomed from the start considering the multi-billions they spent on licences in other countries.

    They fact that these companies got the licences very cheap in Ireland obviously does not detract from the fact that they have to pay huge debts abroad. It's a shame we did not hold auctions like the other countries and got a couple of billion for ourselves knowing we would be ripped off anyway.


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    #5
    DeVore
    Business & Finance Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 32,387 Mod ✭✭✭✭DeVore


    here here SkepticOne. The fnck I'm going to support their foreign debts.
    I'm worried about the time when you *cant* buy anything but a 3G phone.

    Chief? Telemedicine? At 144Kbitps? Kinda like operating on someone over a duel ISDN line.

    That someone wont be *me* if I'm conscious....

    DeV.


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    #6
    SkepticOne
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,718 ✭✭✭SkepticOne


    Originally posted by DeVore
    here here SkepticOne. The fnck I'm going to support their foreign debts.
    I'm worried about the time when you *cant* buy anything but a 3G phone.
    If you use a mobile (ordinary 2G) in Ireland, you are paying for 3G licences in UK, Germany (40 billion I think).

    The department of finance had a long running dispute over the licence fees here, McCreavy wanted to hold an auction (at the time, mobile telcos were throwing money away), the ODTR, however disagreed, opting instead for a 'beauty contest' approach.

    The wisdom of that decision is now apparent.


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    #7
    Serbian
    Registered Users Posts: 2,157 ✭✭✭Serbian


    Originally posted by DeVore
    They are charging 3 EURO... not cent EURO per Mb for 3G here.

    Hey Dev,

    There is a monthly fee of €11.99 to avail of this fantastic pricing scheme. Although you would probably be better off on the Pay as You Go scheme as they only charge €15.36 for a megabyte of data...


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    #8
    50Cent
    Closed Accounts Posts: 630 ✭✭✭50Cent


    Ridiculous pricing...who can afford that?


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    #9
    Dustaz
    Registered Users Posts: 9,046 ✭✭✭Dustaz


    Originally posted by 50Cent
    Ridiculous pricing...who can afford that?

    No-one. and noone will go for it unless the prices come down. Its exactly the same as noone had mobiles untill and it became affordable to have one and it became affordable to have Satellite TV and it became affordable to have Broadban....oh wait, not yet :)


    As to the relevance of this whole topic, i dont see this being under Ioffls remit (certainly not at the moment). Ill leave this here cos its pretty interesting, but all other more specific 3g topics should be on the wireless forum


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    #10
    spongebob
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,143 ✭✭✭spongebob


    Originally posted by Dustaz
    Ill leave this here cos its pretty interesting, but all other more specific 3g topics should be on the wireless forum

    Lick :D Schlurp


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    #11
    Xian
    Closed Accounts Posts: 301 ✭✭Xian


    Originally posted by DeVore
    Does IOFFL cover stupidity in the wireless sector?...Will IOFFL be taking up this fight too?

    WRT 3G, in a word, no.

    3G and Wireless (as we use the term) is a permanet vs. nearlynet debate.

    The permanet strategy is to start with a service that is good but expensive, and to make it cheaper. The nearlynet strategy is to start with a service that is lousy but cheap, and to make it better. The permanet strategy assumes that quality is the key driver of a new service, and permanet has the advantage of being good at every iteration. Nearlynet assumes that cheapness is the essential characteristic, and that users will forgo quality for a sufficient break in price.
    ...
    What the permanet people have going for them is that good vs. lousy is not a hard choice to make, and if things stayed that way, permanet would win every time. What they have going against them, however, is incentive. The operator of a cheap but lousy service has more incentive to improve quality than the operator of a good but expensive service does to cut prices.

    "Good enough and cheap" inevitably wins over "reliable but very expensive". For the same reason we don't have anything to do with WiFi Hotspots at Dun Laoghaire Harbour or the Radisson (c. €20/hour, generously funded by the Government). For a history lesson on how this is the case you should consider the AC vs. DC battle a century ago:

    In 1887 direct current (DC) was king. At that time there were 121 Edison power stations scattered across the United States delivering DC electricity to its customers. But DC had a great limitation -- namely, that power plants could only send DC electricity about a mile before the electricity began to lose power. So when George Westinghouse introduced his system based on high-voltage alternating current (AC), which could carry electricity hundreds of miles with little loss of power, people naturally took notice. A "battle of the currents" ensued. In the end, Westinghouse's AC prevailed.


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    #12
    DeVore
    Business & Finance Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 32,387 Mod ✭✭✭✭DeVore


    Urk!?

    3G is always on (a bit like my mobile!)... how is this different to a wireless internet connection (like I have with Leap) or an ADSL connection where the computer is turned off...

    Obviously its IOFFL's choice etc but I'd dearly love to see them take it up as a cause!

    with the Pay As You Go option it will only cost you 45 Euro to d/l that MP3... more then it would cost you to go and see the band play the song live!

    *BOG-FNCKIN'-GLE*


    DeV.


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    #13
    seamus
    Registered Users Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    It just worries me that mobile telco's have gotten very comfortable with per-unit charging, very much like most fixed telco's were 10 years ago.

    All mobile operators charge per unit - per second calls, per SMS, per MMS, per KB. It's another thing that's going to have to be drilled into the mobile telco's like it is (was) drilled into the fixed telco's - Flat-rate charges for non-voice services will drastically increase their popularity and uptake.

    For example, Vodafone began charging for MMS and Live! GPRS services on Thursday. Nobody will use them. Why? Cost.


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    #14
    pepsiman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 76 ✭✭pepsiman


    Originally posted by DeVore
    They are charging 3 EURO... not cent EURO per Mb for 3G here.
    Isn't this 2.5G (GPRS)? I thought UMTS was 3G. Oh, well :)

    Swedish Telia Mobile offer GPRS at €2.55 per megabyte (€11/month subscription. €11 for activation).

    Swedish Vodafone offer GPRS at €2.25 per megabyte (€7/month subscription).

    Telia Mobile will launch their 3G (UMTS) network on Monday 5th I've read somewhere.
    Originally posted by seamus
    mobile telco's have gotten very comfortable with per-unit charging, very much like most fixed telco's were 10 years ago
    (A thought) Wouldn't this be because it was the fixed telco's who started up the mobile telco's in the first place? And so set the standard?

    /T


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    #15
    Matfinn
    Closed Accounts Posts: 364 ✭✭Matfinn


    If you feel that 3g is a complete rip off then dont bother buying it at all. Do you really need to have the internet on your mobile phone or mobile device? Companies who charge like this will come to their senses and if they dont they go under.

    Matt


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    #16
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 91,718 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    www.irishwan.org don't have full coverage yet and haven't implemented roaming yet and besides who needs that much unmetered bandwidth in a mobile device anyway.

    Why would anyone bother to setup a base station with a link to the rest of the network, when the most they could save is only one Euro per second when ftp-ing on the wan...


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    #17
    pepsiman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 76 ✭✭pepsiman


    Originally posted by Matfinn
    Do you really need to have the internet on your mobile phone
    Did we all really need a mobile phone? :cool:

    /T


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    #18
    Xian
    Closed Accounts Posts: 301 ✭✭Xian


    Originally posted by DeVore
    Urk!?

    Originally posted by seamus
    It just worries me that mobile telco's have gotten very comfortable with per-unit charging, very much like most fixed telco's were 10 years ago.

    Disco! In the same way as Edison's DC model was flawed in that it required power stations within a mile's radius of where it was to be used, the 3G model is based on the assumption that you will pay a premium for the ability to send a pdf from the M50. The expenditure required to achieve this coverage makes a (costly) metered pricing structure necessary, whereas if you wait until you get to an internet access point, be it at home or in the office, it can be done at no additional cost and independent of the size of the document. That's not a problem unique to 3G services in Ireland - it's a fundamental flaw of the system and no amount of campaigning is going to change it. And so, to the 3G companies we say "Good luck. You're going to need it", while to the users it has to be "Get used to it: it's not going to change anytime soon".


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    #19
    Matfinn
    Closed Accounts Posts: 364 ✭✭Matfinn


    Originally posted by pepsiman
    Did we all really need a mobile phone? :cool:

    /T

    Yes I tihnk so.

    Matt


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