Wireless Carriers = Dumb Pipes

One good thing that came out the iPhone craze is that it really puts the ugly side of the mobile industry under a spotlight. Everyone in the industry secretly loathes the carriers but knows to bite their tongue. The Carriers are trying their hardest to clamp down on companies that threaten their turf. They know they'll eventually turn into dumb pipes but might as well squeeze out whatever revenue they can out of the consumers before the inevitable happens.

My friend Frank forwarded me this story about a guy who took his iPhone to Ireland and the UK and got hit with a $3000 roaming bill! Yeah, he's a jack-ass for prancing around EU showing off his iPhone and may deserve it but $3000 seems pretty outrageous for sending some bits and bytes through the air. AT&T offers $69.95 unlimited roaming plans so does that give them a license to charge the customer all they want for not signing up for a plan? How's that going to help customer retention? AT&T, how about contacting the customer and asking "We noticed you were roaming quite a bit, may we put you on an unlimited plan to save you money?".

Wireless Carriers = Dumb Pipes