3G, for ten minutes a day?!
I've long thought that 3G will be delayed or killed because carriers will charge too much for it. AT&T's GPRS service is too expensive for ordinary people and Verizon's new offering is similarly high priced. It seems that carriers want immediate payback for their infrastructure costs. The question is, will they get a quick return on their investment when so few people can afford such rates? Wouldn't it make more sense to charge less, over a longer period of time, to a larger group of people? I think this thought is lost on the carriers. Look at what at what Verizon is charging for their new data network.
First, you have to be spending $35 a month on a cellular plan to qualify to use the service. Next, they charge $30 a month for the service itself. For that you get 300 minutes a month, ten minutes a day on average. These count against your voice minutes so download or talk fast. Extra time cost 35 cents a minute. So you are looking at $65 dollars a month for a data rate that city wide may average 50Kbs a second. Throw in $300 dollars for the PC card you'll need to make your laptop work with the system, and, well, we're now talking about $90 a month averaged over a year. Plus whatever signup or activation fee they want to charge. For ten minutes a day?