Posted on 06/18/2009 8:15:00 AM PDT by llevrok
Let’s say you’re one of millions of Americans with a Verizon contract. Let’s say you really want an iPhone. And let’s say you don’t have hundreds of dollars necessary to break your contract, ditch your BlackBerry, and hop on board with AT&T. Right now, the whole furor over the 3G S is probably pretty frustrating, right?
Well, now you’ve got someone on your side.
Yesterday, Sen. John Kerry and three others on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation fired off a note to Michael J. Copps, the acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, asking Copps to look into exclusive arrangements between mobile phone manufacturers and national carriers.
The letter has drawn a lot of attention, mostly because it seems to be partly targeting one of the longest standing deals around – the one that gives AT&T the sole right to sell service for the iPhone.
The request, which was penned by Kerry and Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), precedes a Senate hearing this week on wireless service. Kerry is Chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet. The other three authors of the letter are all members of the same subcommittee.
“We ask that you examine this issue carefully and act expeditiously should you find that exclusivity agreements unfairly restrict consumer choice or adversely impact competition in the commercial wireless marketplace,” the senators wrote. Among the specific factors they suggested Copps address: “Whether exclusivity agreements are becoming increasingly prevalent between dominant wireless carriers and handset manufacturers.”
(Excerpt) Read more at features.csmonitor.com ...
they've got a year to go on their Verizon contract and they want an iPhone?
Was it over Christmas or New Years?
IMO AT&T has not handled their iPhone deal in away that engenders customer loyalty. They didn’t have MMS ready for the launch of the 3.0 OS and their bogus refusal to allow video streaming for the SlingBox app over 3G is an insult given my expensive “unlimited” data plan. Plus Verizon just has better basic coverage overall. There will be a mass exodus if Apple ever cuts a deal with another carrier. That said, the government has no place in this type of business decision. Kerry is just trying to glom on to hot story as usual.
Verizon will always have better coverage. They are the GTE and they had more towers than anyone.
As far as slingbox, you might consider Sprint. I pay $99 for unlimited everything.
In parts of the East Coast they are delivering abouve T1 speeds.
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