Carriers Blame the iPhone For Data Caps and Increased Upgrade Fees 272
zacharye writes "Bruised mobile carriers such as AT&T and Verizon are 'fighting back' against Apple's iPhone, despite the fact that the device has helped them eke out consistently higher average revenue per wireless subscribers since its launch. To hear the carriers tell it, the iPhone is a major inhibitor to their profits as last year they were 'only' generating wireless service profit margins in the 38% to 42% range. But ever since these beleaguered companies started 'fighting back' by implementing data caps, increasing fees for device upgrades and implementing longer waiting periods before users can switch devices, they’ve seen their wireless service profit margins surge. AT&T reported a 45% margin in Q2 2012 and Verizon reported a record-high 49% margin."
US problem, not the iPhone (Score:5, Informative)
In other news, in other parts of the world, some carriers just do manage their infrastructure correctly and the prices are actually going down instead of going up.
So please, stop blaming the customers and start rethinking your now-stinking strategy.
Re:Victims of their own greed (Score:5, Informative)
And since I'm on Verizon and they now need to remove the $20 per month tethering charge I will be tethering everything.
Removing the tethering charge does not apply to people on unlimited data plans. [zdnet.com] It's either/or. Either you get on one of their bandwidth-cap plans and have free tethering, or you continue to pay the fee for tethering. I'm not passing judgment on whether that's fair or not, just pointing it out.
Re:why are american corporations so incompetent? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:38% profit margin? (Score:4, Informative)
That's just obscene!
It is almost as much as Apple's profit margin on the iPhone (around 50%)
Re:Victims of their own greed (Score:5, Informative)
i was at the beach last month and my iphone was SLOW. i look around and every other person has a smart phone.
Hmm... Seems you and the others were using the beach wrong. Not trying to judge, but put down the phone and enjoy the surf, sand and sun.
Re:Charge Apple Users More then (Score:5, Informative)
Now perhaps us iPhone users like our phones and actually use them more than android folks, but I don't think that's really the case.
Yet, it appears to be true [cultofmac.com]