Know Your Enemy

Cell phone carriers are shit. That's right, I said it and I make no bones about it.

They offer horrible customer service (tons of experience with that), force cell phone manufacturers to build the phones that they want, install bloatware/spyware on the phones they sell, continually raise rates/change data plans to suit their needs and continually fight for no oversight of our precious public spectrum.

1) Horrible customer service - I have AT&T (I know, I know) and I don't know if I can say enough horrible things about the level of customer service that I have received when calling into get an issue resolved. I can point to any number of surveys that, depending on the how the stars align will point to one of the bigServi 4 carriers being the best or worst.

2) Services Rendered/Cost balance tipping towards cost - Carriers are increasingly trying to nickle and dime users (most noticeably smartphone users - has anyone seen a cell phone ad that isn't for a smartphone?) using a variety of mechanisms: charging for texting (the cost per data usage for an MMS is obscene, much like the price of ink toner/liter), taking away unlimited data plans, throttling unlimited data plans, pushing horrible family data plans.

3) Force cell phone manufacturers to build the phones that they want - I get it, you own the network, you get to decide what goes on it. This forces manufacturers to cater to the carrier, which limits design/function/capabilities and in essence let's them pick the winners and losers in the handset arena. All of this stifles innovation and is very anti-free market (which 'Merica is seemingly obsessed with).


4) Installation of bloatware/spyware - Everyone who has owned a smartphone (that isn't an iPhone) will noticed pre-installed apps on their phones that come courtesy of their carrier, usually it pushes a carrier based product/service. They also install software like CarrierIQ (see link below) or something similar. The carriers will claim that said software is installed for "diagnostic" purposes to improve their network and phones...tin foil hat types like myself and others cry SPYWARE (gov't back door). I'm not sure about you, but I don't want any of this crap a phone that I use for business and more importantly personal use. 


5) Continually fight for no oversight in regards to their usage of public spectrum - Pretty much says it all...you have a limited resource and the companies that own (lease from the government) continually fight tooth and nail to make sure that the public has no clue as to how it is being managed. Result: Phones that aren't cross-compatible across carriers and spectrum hoarding which only drives up the costs for the end user.


Ok, so now that I've outlined a few of the things that are wrong with the cellular industry in America, how can I as a conscious consumer help fix things?


1) Don't buy into a contract, go pre-paid or month to month - This will help take away the leverage that carriers have over handset manufacturers and will allow you the consumer to hop from carrier to carrier with ease if you don't like their service


2) Buy an unlocked phone - (Directly from Apple/Samsung/Google/etc) Subsidies (the reason why you only pay $200 or so for a smartphone in exchange for a 2 year contract) stifle innovation in the handset market, so don't buy into it. Sure, you'll pay the full price for a smartphone, but you'll sleep soundly at night knowing that you're supporting the handset maker directly, and helping to fund the R&D that makes for better products. For those security minded folks, you'll also be happy to know that an unlocked phone will not have the carrier bloat/spyware...and in the case of buying directly from Apple/Google you'll know there isn't any handset maker BS software on your phone either


3) Write your elected officials/EFF/ACLU (other like minded organizations) to protest the use of CarrierIQ and other similar spyware applications on smartphones...while you're at it urge them to support transparent and firm oversight of the public spectrum that we all use and cherish.

Phew - Quite the lecture but the reason that prices are so high and service is so shitty in America is that the big 4 carriers have a death grip on the market and the lawmakers that supposedly oversee them. So let's get out there and kick some carrier ass!

Unlocked phones:
http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&keywords=iPhone%20unlocked&rh=n%3A2335752011%2Ck%3AiPhone%20unlocked&page=1
http://www.google.com/nexus/#/galaxy
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone/iphone4/about_unlocked
Month to month/pre-paid cell phone glans - just google it

Where I get all my crazy ideas from:

http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/5/3138711/five-years-after-the-iphone-carriers-are-the-biggest-threat-to-innovation-editorial
http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/04/atandt-ceo-voices-regret-over-iphone-unlimited-data-model/
http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/21/professor-singles-out-mobile-carriers-for-stifling-cellphone-inn/
http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2012/05/22/are-carrier-subsidies-hurting-innovation-and-driving-up-mobile-phone-costs/
http://www.gottabemobile.com/2011/07/08/why-i-wont-sign-another-cell-phone-contract/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2011/11/30/phone-rootkit-carrier-iq-may-have-violated-wiretap-law-in-millions-of-cases/
http://gthing.net/the-true-price-of-sms-messages/