The one thing left for MS to be successful, please for the love of God

[MDBulldog]

Release you phone on ALL CARRIERS. I understand that for others that may not be a big deal, but for me the number one thing that stops me from purchasing a windows phone is that I could not buy the phone of choice at my carrier of choice.
After reading about all the goodness that MS is planning with windows 10, the only thing that is stopping me from raiding my 401k plan and throwing my money at MS would be carrier exclusivity. I currently own a note 2 that I picked up from a friend after my 810 went down (no good WP option at T-Mobile). If there continues to be no good option at my carrier of choice when a windows 10 flagship phone is released, I will be forced to abandon WP for android or apple.

To make things clear.
1) I am not willing to leave my carrier of choice in chase of a WP flagship phone
2) I WANT TO BUY A WP FLAGSHIP PHONE if it appears at my carrier of choice
3) My last resort would be to abandon WP if no options are available on my carrier of choice.

I wonder if anybody feels the same, for those who are happy with there carriers of choice. Are you willing to switch carriers in chase of a flagship windows10 phone?

 

[Skulls138]

Why not just buy unlocked? I have a 1520.3 on T-Mobile.

 

[ajayden]

There are options available. It depends on how to see it. An unlocked phone can be used on any carrier.
Posted on Lumia 1520 via Taptalk

 

[MDBulldog]

Yes that could be an option, however that option may not appeal to everybody. In my particular case, to be honest (though I may be chided for this). That is not how I am used to buying phones, I normally see what available at my carrier of choice and make my decisions from there (why I bought and 810 instead of the 920).

It also my understanding (which could be wrong) that even if I did find the variant of the phone that I wanted that could work with my carrier of choice, that my experience would be subpar as compared to a branded phone available at the carrier. Things such as Wi-Fi calling or LTE may be compromised or not be as good as a carrier branded phone.

All that being said, I do prefer WP. If a flagship is released with a variant that could work on T-Mobile without compromising any of the features as compared to a carrier branded phone. I would consider it, however I do believe that the premise of this thread still remain true. The average person may not go through such lengths. For MS to be successful they have to move pass carrier exclusivity and release there phones on all carriers.

 

[HeyCori]

Release you phone on ALL CARRIERS.

Sounds simple. Problem is, not all carriers want their phones. T-Mobile only seems to opt for mid-low range Lumia devices. Verizon demands a customized, Verizon exclusive device, AT&T is pretty reliable while Sprint wants almost nothing to do with Windows Phone. Microsoft doesn't have the market share to use as leverage against the carriers. HTC managed to release the HTC One M8 on T-Mo, Verizon and AT&T, but HTC also has leverage/good will from sell of their Android devices.

 

[mary beth hale]

There are options available. It depends on how to see it. An unlocked phone can be used on any carrier.
Posted on Lumia 1520 via Taptalk

Sometimes you sacrifice with unlocked phones. Examples- Icon-off Verizon and no mms. 930-no LTE in the US. I always buy unlocked phones and know what to look for as far as restrictions. Most people,however,tend to buy on contract through a carrier.

 

[MDBulldog]

Sounds simple. Problem is, not all carriers want their phones. T-Mobile only seems to opt for mid-low range Lumia devices. Verizon demands a customized, Verizon exclusive device, AT&T is pretty reliable while Sprint wants almost nothing to do with Windows Phone. Microsoft doesn't have the market share to use as leverage against the carriers. HTC managed to release the HTC One M8 on T-Mo, Verizon and AT&T, but HTC also has leverage/good will from sell of their Android devices.

I don’t want to seem as if I am ungrateful for your input, but is that factual information. I mean, can we really put the blame at the carrier feet. After all MS paid 3 billion-ish for Minecraft, I don’t see what can be better leverage than cold hard cash.

 

[MDBulldog]

Sometimes you sacrifice with unlocked phones. Examples- Icon-off Verizon and no mms. 930-no LTE in the US. I always buy unlocked phones and know what to look for as far as restrictions. Most people,however,tend to buy on contract through a carrier.

This has been my understanding when it comes to buying a unlock phone.

 

[HeyCori]

I don’t want to seem as if I am ungrateful for your input, but is that factual information. I mean, can we really put the blame at the carrier feet. After all MS paid 3 billion-ish for Minecraft, I don’t see what can be better leverage than cold hard cash.

I'm going off what we've seen in the past. Historically the carriers have all followed the same pattern. AT&T has always been the flagship carrier since the WP7 days. That we know for sure because AT&T/Microsoft announced it. T-Mo has been using mid-range WP devices since the early days. Verizon usually gets an exclusive, so the 822, 929, Icon for example. While Sprint has always been skittish on Windows Phone, offering nothing beyond the bare minimum.

The only WP producing companies that managed to get their WP flagship on the big four is HTC and Samsung. HTC managed to get the 8X/M8 on multiple carriers while Samsung managed to get the Ativ S on multiple carriers. No coincidence that HTC and Samsung are two of the biggest Android device sellers in America and usually get the best deals from the carriers.

As far as cold hard cash, that only goes so far. Without sustainable sales, eventually whomever is in charge at Microsoft has to justify giving so much money to the carriers. Spending even more money without a significant increase in sales is 1: A quick way to lose your job, and 2: ruins the budget which in turn burns the platform down even faster.

 

[worldspy99]

I have been a T-Mobile customer from day one. I have never bought a carrier branded phone directly from the carrier. Recently I have decided that the best strategy is to buy an AT&T device - WP or otherwise and ask AT&T to unlock it using their portal and then use it on T-Mobile. If for some reason, AT&T refuses to unlock it then go to a 3rd party to do that since AT&T devices are the cheapest to unlock are also also way cheaper than T-Mo branded devices to buy on Swappa/eBay etc.

I know VZW devices are unlocked but usually tend to have one issue or another - MMS/SMS problems on T-Mobile - 822, 928, Icon, M8 etc.

I am currently using a Lumia 830 that I bought on eBay and AT&T unlocked it for free for me. Getting full LTE on T-Mobile without any issues since I live in their re-farmed area.

 

[kwright62]

While I agree that hardware choice should not be dictated by carrier I think that the decision to enable applications that are native to competing operating systems is far more important.
But I'm with you: If I could I would have a 1520 on Verizon right now.

 

[EMINENT 1]

I agree. The only thing they need to do is make it with a pentaband modem so it works on every carrier.

 

[syspry]

Release you phone on ALL CARRIERS. I understand that for others that may not be a big deal, but for me the number one thing that stops me from purchasing a windows phone is that I could not buy the phone of choice at my carrier of choice.
After reading about all the goodness that MS is planning with windows 10, the only thing that is stopping me from raiding my 401k plan and throwing my money at MS would be carrier exclusivity. I currently own a note 2 that I picked up from a friend after my 810 went down (no good WP option at T-Mobile). If there continues to be no good option at my carrier of choice when a windows 10 flagship phone is released, I will be forced to abandon WP for android or apple.

To make things clear.
1)I am not willing to leave my carrier of choice in chase of a WP flagship phone
2)I WANT TO BUY A WP FLAGSHIP PHONE if it appears at my carrier of choice
3)My last resort would be to abandon WP if no options are available on my carrier of choice.

I wonder if anybody feels the same, for those who are happy with there carriers of choice. Are you willing to switch carriers in chase of a flagship windows10 phone?

This x 1000!

Your post reminded me that there's still some obstacles to overcome that I'd forgotten about in my eagerness to see it succeed. I have an MS store near me. If they started offering contract pricing so I could walk across the street to my carrier for a Sim card that'd be nice.

 

[Praxius]

It's somewhat similar here in Australia. Optus and Telstra had the 1020 while Vodafone didn't. All three carriers had the 925, but Vodafone had the exclusive 32GB model while the other two only had the 16GB version. All three got the 930, but none of them offered the 1520 and that had to be bought unlocked from other stores or online. All of them had the 1320 I believe.

I generally stick with what the carrier offers. Even though I was tempted by the 1020, I stuck with Vodafone and got the 925. Not a bad choice when I think back as my coworker has a 1020 & complains about the short battery life.

That and I can't say there was a huge difference in image quality between her photos and mine. Her photos were quite large in file size but the clarity and threshold of when things started to get pixelated when zoomed in was almost the same.

Of course I have an unlocked 930 right now with Vodafone and it works just fine. I was still able to download and install their app from the store and keep an eye on my plan. Otherwise the only real difference is that I don't have a Vodafone splash screen when I boot.

 

[ajayden]

The important thing to note here is, all the manufacturers are in the business to make profit, by getting wider reach for their devices and OS. It is the same for Microsoft, Apple and Google. Even though they need wider reach, it also depends on carriers to embrace them. I am very sure that every manufacturer/OS company have approached all the carriers.

You can also see that carriers refuse to deploy new OS updates also to existing devices. Do I smell Conspiracy theory?

 

[adrian1338]

Why not buying unlocked? Because people like the easy way of financing the phone without them knowing that they finance it. They enjoy paying more on their contract every month thinking the phone is for free

 

[tgp]

Why not buying unlocked? Because people like the easy way of financing the phone without them knowing that they finance it. They enjoy paying more on their contract every month thinking the phone is for free

Using carrier branded phones under a contract isn't all bad. It does cost a bit more, but it's for the most part hassle free. For one thing, who cares about unlocked phones that get regular updates? Almost nobody. You walk into a store, choose a phone, and walk out. It works with no effort on your part, you don't worry about LTE compatibility or if MMS works, and you do not have to do a single thing for 2 years besides pay the bill. And if you do have an issue, you return to the store and it's taken care of for you.

It's commonplace to pay for convenience, and to let someone else worry about your problems. This is one of those times. Some of us prefer to do our own homework, make the decision on our own, and as a bonus, save a bit of money. But a lot of customers are not interested in doing that.

 

[HeyCori]

Using carrier branded phones under a contract isn't all bad. It does cost a bit more, but it's for the most part hassle free. For one thing, who cares about unlocked phones that get regular updates? Almost nobody. You walk into a store, choose a phone, and walk out. It works with no effort on your part, you don't worry about LTE compatibility or if MMS works, and you do not have to do a single thing for 2 years besides pay the bill. And if you do have an issue, you return to the store and it's taken care of for you.

It's commonplace to pay for convenience, and to let someone else worry about your problems. This is one of those times. Some of us prefer to do our own homework, make the decision on our own, and as a bonus, save a bit of money. But a lot of customers are not interested in doing that.

And on AT&T and T-Mobile (not sure about Verizon/Sprint), you do get a discount once the contract runs out and you keep the same phone. It's $15 on AT&T and I'm guessing it's about the same on T-Mobile.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I don?t want to seem as if I am ungrateful for your input, but is that factual information. I mean, can we really put the blame at the carrier feet.

Of course its at the carrier's feet. Microsoft doesn't refuse to let a carrier sell a particular model of phone EXCEPT if the only way they could get a bigger carrier to sell particular Lumias is if they guarantee exclusivity. Obviously if all carriers would sell the phone, MS would much rather have that.

 

[boltz82]

Me personally, I feel that for WP to be successful they need to expand the App Store (which they are seemingly addressing) and advertise the merits of the OS. Everyone knows all about Android and iPhone. My seven year old can tell you all about the functions of a iPhone based solely on what he has absorbed from the media. The same cannot be said about WP. I love my M8 and 930, but the average consumer will continue to shy away from WP I think as they simply do not know much about it and hoenstly, the general public is to lazy to look on their own to find out.