Verizon Will Introduce Tiered Data Pricing in Next 4 to 6 Moths, Says VCast App Store is about

[ekyle]

Similarly..what if all the carriers all got together and decided to stop competing for customers. They could raise the prices for everything, and as long as they ALL DO IT, the consumer won't be able to find a better deal.

What if all carriers went to a $150/mo rate for 450 anytime minutes? What would the consumers do? My guess is...eventually, they would start to lose customers...some people will just get rid of their cell phones completely. This would eventually cause a change...but as mentioned...if everyone is doing the same thing...there isn't REAL competition out there is there?

I don't see it getting this bad. You can usually find WiFi just about anywhere. If rates went to $150/month just for voice, I really think people would switch to prepaid. Kinda like gas. We all suffered through $4.05/gal (at least in central NY) for awhile. It it had gone up to $10/gal I would have said F*** it and taken the bus.

There is a threshold that can be met where consumers will stop buying. That is when the industry will backpedal. I still think this is just a phase the wireless industry is going through. It will pass and unlimited data plans will come back.

 

[Deleted User]

Yeah, tell that to big oil and the gas companies.

Oil and gas is simply sold to the highest bidder, they don't have to agree to do anything together.

The problem here is you can't just go and buy oil and gas (for your own use) directly, you can only buy it through many intermediaries, and they each add their own mark up on the product.

On the other hand, you too can get in on the action and buy oil and gas futures, and be part of the system that sets the oil/gas prices, and makes a profit from them when they go up (and a loss when they go down. Think of all the people who bought at $120/barrel right before it fell back down to $60/barrel.)