Carrier deregulation

[fshrago]

It seems to me that regulation in the US Cellphone industry is keeping prices very high and stifling competition.

In many countries deregulation has brought huge reductions in monthly bills and has also resulted in being able to transfer your cell phone from one company to another easily and without penalties.

In Israel, for example (where the concept of cell based communication was developed by Motorola Israel) you can get an unlimited calls, data and sms plan for $13 a month including international calls. If you don't need international this can go down to as low as $2.50 a month.

Transferring your number from one carrier to another can be done in minutes for only the cost of a sim card - $10 (and depending on the carrier, not even that).

Why is this not possible in the UK or USA?? Etc

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[xandros9]

on the contrary, regulation i suspect is the one of few things keeping us from shooting in the opposite direction into some expensive dystopia, judging from what the Carriers are pulling or attempting to pull.

Its a mess.

 

[Laura Knotek]

We had a regulated monopoly in the days before cell phones. AT&T was the only carrier that controlled the phone system in the continental US. That system was eventually broken up.

 

[fatclue_98]

As a fiscal conservative (socially hyper-liberal), I should espouse deregulation. But as someone who was studying the aviation industry in college in 1982, I can tell you, in no uncertain terms, that the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 was the single worst piece of legislation ever enacted by the US Congress and signed By President Carter. Small to mid-tier carriers were obliterated (Braniff), the unions were weakened (which led to further upheaval - see Eastern Airlines) and safety was compromised due to cost-cutting measures and Ronald Reagan's unilateral decision to fire the traffic controllers on strike during the summer of '81.

I firmly believe in healthy competition to keep prices in check and to spark innovation. Unfortunately that only looks good on paper. In the real world, he with the most toys wins. In hindsight, it was a master stroke by the FCC to not allow the AT&T/T-Mobile merger. There's no way Sprint would have survived against the Ma Bell/Big Red two-headed monster and we'd be in a heap of dung without the Uncarrier's tactics. They single-handedly caused the death of the 2-year contract and gave us financing options like Next, Jump, etc.

I'd like to keep the government out of my bedroom, my wallet and my church. But they need to keep their nose in USA, Inc.