From: Giu1i0 Pri5c0 (g2002@prisco.info)
Date: Sun Aug 04 2002 - 10:10:16 MDT
<<<Rafal: ### Just out of curiosity - how do you pay for the service? I can get a calling plan covering most of the continental US for $35, with 5000 minutes of airtime per month. Is it so much worse than the service in Europe?>>>
I have a contract wit a national wireless operator (Vodafone Spain). In other countries I use the services of local operators and am billed by Vodafone Spain through roaming agreements with the other operators, often at a global European rate of 0.8 euro/min. This is quite expensive, so many people keep different SIM cards for use in different countries. It is not cheaper than in the US, but my point is that it is a very good system, very easy to use, that permits freely moving in Europe with the same phone and being online (voice + data) all the time, and getting better and better.
<<<I also wonder what kind of bureaucratic intervention do you credit with the current state of European telecommunication. Is there a mandatory standard or just a non-binding set of guidelines? Restrictive rules on access to spectrum? It's hard to tell if the bureaucrats help without more details.>>>
Well I suppose that if a new operator decides to launch a non GSM wireless voice/data service, they would be legally able to do so, but I doubt they would be profitable. The system has reached a critical mass "a la Microsot" that protects itself. Now the uniform standard improves everyone's life and this is what I regard as a positive example of "big government", the European way. Please note that I am not saying that massive state intervention is alays good, only that it is not always bad.
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