Most of what 3G brings is just more of what we've already got: bandwidth.
So it certainly ought to be cheaper.
But one of the few new features of 3G is the ability to classify and
prioritise traffic: so, for instance, email can be "dribbled" down to
phones at low data rates without significantly affecting the user
experience, whilst streaming audio/video, or instant messaging - which
demand lower latency - can get priority.
This brings with it the ability for telcos to charge different data rates
for different classes of traffic. Now, whether they can do this without
completely confusing their customers is a different question ;)
At 10:10 10/01/2003 +0900, Funk wrote:
>as an aside to my previous comment on curt's calculation for current 2G
>systems, what do people think of qualcomm's argument that 3G data can be
>priced less than $0.10 per megabyte or less than 1/200 the current i-mode
>packet charge? see the whitepaper on the economics of wireless data on
>qualcomm's home page: http://www.qualcomm.com/about/downloads.html
>if qualcomm's estimates are even close to reality, 3G systems will
>completely change the economics of sending photos, videos, and music.
>jeff funk
>kobe university
>
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Received on Fri Jan 10 13:16:45 2003