[quote=sdduuuude]I have a second landline phone at my house. It costs me $55/month, though I make very few calls on it.
I have a Verizon plan which allows me to add mobiles for $9.99/month, and any usage on that phone gets subtracted from the minutes I have available for use every month.
Basically, by moving this second line to my Verizon account, I will save $45/month. That move is coming soon.
When people lose their job, they keep their cell phone. It’s that simple. Many will pay their cell phone bill BEFORE rent. Few, if any, industries survied the early 90’s better than wireless.
I think the industry will continue to grow, but barely. They’ll lose some of the teen market and people will buy crappier phones, but landline substitution for both voice and data will continue.
There may be some price/market share battles through the tough times so some weaker players (Sprint?) may get eaten up. Capitalization and customer service will be key to retention.
I also think T-Mobile is not in the best position due to the fact that they are on a low-capacity system but likely don’t have the capital to upgrade it, and yes – they need to upgrade it. If you aren’t going to listen to CDMAEng on this matter, you might as well not even bother asking anyone on this board.
Cricket has $500M – $1B in capital and are focused on the right customer base.
“Everyone’s a Cricket customer now.”
HEH, HEH.[/quote]
sdude,
you are getting ripped off? As a major QCOM and VZ holder, I wish you weren’t kidding.
Your second line cost $55?? ATT offers phone line starting at $10 for basic line. For $40 on land line you get unlimited calling in US, that’s 43,200 minutes free, VZ wireless is $99 for one line. Cable cos have unlimited in CA for $20/mo for US/CAN for $30/mo.
My Verizon Wire account reps said that cell modem is NOT cable modem replacement. The modem cost for $59.99/mo has limit of 5GB/month. Over that it is $25/MB, so if you hit 6GB, your data cost would be 60+250=$310! The old data plan had strict limit of 5GB, going over would get you banned from VZW.
On the Bright side or “Why you should sell your house and buy these two stocks”:
The PDA phones are the fastest growing category with Average Revenue Per Unit (ARPU) over $100/mo. The Iphone/Blackeberry is what the Nike Jordan shoes were in the 90’s or what Coach/Louis Vuitton bags were 2005.
From VZ Q4 2008 report:
“As we have seen all year, about 70% of service revenue growth is driven by wireless data. Wireless data represented 26.8% of total service revenue in the fourth quarter. Data revenue is now in excess of $10 billion annually, up 44% in 2008. Total data ARPU in the fourth quarter grew by $3.02 or nearly 28% year-over-year. http://seekingalpha.com/article/116798-verizon-communications-inc-q4-2008-earnings-call-transcript?page=3
Hello, 44% growth in data revenue!! Bring on 4G, 5G and print that money.
