The Spectrum Wars continue, folks. Remember how AT&T wanted to purchase T-Mobile? That was about more than market dominance. It was about spectrum.
No, not this Spectrum.
For those not in the know, there’s a limited amount of wireless frequency available for use. The FCC licenses out publicly available spectrum, but there have been warning signs of an upcoming crunch. As more and more people use their cellphone for more than just making calls, each company’s allotted piece of the wireless pie gets smaller and smaller.
Just like real pie, everyone wants the biggest piece
Verizon is currently trying to purchase some unused spectrum form a consortium of cable companies. They don’t really need it, what with their products being wired (or should I say, cabled). Verizon would like to take it off their hands for $3.9 million. The Wall Street Journal reports that in Verizon’s FCC filing, there’s a warning that without this added capacity they may start seeing issues due to network overload as soon as 2013. That’s a pretty grim picture, to be sure.
Sprint, flush with their public part in the killing of the aforementioned AT&T/T-Mobile deal, is already tut-tutting this deal, with pay-as-you-go provider Metro PCS also coming out against it. Don’t think they’re on your side. At the end of the day, they just want spectrum for themselves.
They'll have to catch Matt Tracker first!
If I may be blunt, the quest for more bandwidth is well and good, but it could also be helpful if carriers, hardware makers, and app developers got their acts together in terms of consumption of said bandwidth. We’ve gone from a handful of smartphones that sip data to a plethora of connected devices that suck down data on a near constant basis. Some of the blame of course lies at the feet of the consumer, who have gotten used to constantly being connected and always want more at all times. Still, there might be a more efficient way of giving bandwidth to carriers that’s easier on your bottom line and your network infrastructure.
Here, here. For two months of data service now Roth VZW, I’ve only used 1.2GB each month. And that’s with my constant picture uploads to various support desks, paperwork being uploaded to superiors, etc. If I wasn’t so “data hungry”, I’d average only a few hundred MBs, most likely. People who complain of being throttled after 3GB really should keep quiet.
Wow, does this mean I may have to get a landline again? I haven’t had one in years.
Its got to start with the developers believe it or not. In years of using a Windows mobile phone (WM5/6/6.1) I rarely used as much as a gigabyte of data in a month, averaging 200-400MB. In about a year using an Android Phone I’ve gone over a gigabyte in a month 5 times and average 800Mb a month. I have all the apps on my phone set to not automatically refresh/sync data so why is the number so high I’m still accessing the same information for both work/personal use. I believe its the way the apps are written. I’m thinking mobile sites are going to have to compromise between a full web experience and the old text only wap experience, most likely somewhat less interactive than whatever the iPhone/iPad version is.
BTW: Why can’t web sites just check the info the web browser provides them as to what the screen resolution is and feed the browser a page that best fits its screen, I see no reason to be getting a 1024×768 designed iPad page on an iPod touch or an Android phone with an 800×480 WVGA screen.