questions to carriers

Questions to Carriers: Why do You Charge to Share Data Between Devices?

The number of connected devices in the world overtook the number of people on earth in 2014. The same year, nearly half a billion new connected devices were activated. Among those device activations were smartphones, tablets, mobile hotspots and wearables to name a few. And all those newly-connected devices helped

Charge

Questions to Carriers: Why does mobile data expire?

By now most of us are accustomed to the way mobile carriers price their data plans. We typically drop $20 to $50 each month on a few gigabytes. If we use more than our monthly data allotment we’re hit with inflated overage fees, but if we don’t use

questions to carriers

Questions to Carriers: Why Do Mobile Carriers Bundle Their Services?

Have you ever wondered why mobile carriers bundle all their services together? In a recent Charge blog post, we discovered that the vast majority of activities we do on our mobile devices use data only. But mobile carriers don’t offer data-only plans for phones. In fact, it’s actually

questions to carriers

Questions to Carriers: Will LTE Bands Lock Us to a Specific Network?

The US mobile market is undergoing a ton of change. Just over the past few months we saw Verizon follow T-Mobile’s lead and do away with contracts. All four major carriers now unbundle device payments from service payments. Device manufacturers, like Apple and Samsung, started to roll out their

questions to carriers

Questions to Carriers: What is 3G, 4G and LTE?

Last week, Questions to Carriers started to explain the constantly changing scope of mobile networks within the US. We broke down the difference between CDMA and GSM network infrastructures, which has been a hurdle for consumers in terms of devices and carrier switching. But now manufacturers are creating phones that

Chargecomm

Questions to Carriers: What is CDMA and GSM?

When shopping for a new phone you are faced with a lot of acronyms, from GSM and CDMA to 3G, 4G, LTE and now even 5G too. For US mobile consumers, the mobile service (and device) market is constantly changing, making it difficult to keep up-to-date with the latest in

Charge

Questions to Carriers: What are prepaid, postpaid and no contract plans?

Over the last year, US consumers have seen some major shifts in the mobile carrier market. From rolling data options to doing away with contracts, carriers seem to continually attempt to one-up one another to convince consumers to switch providers. The most recent transition in the four-carrier power struggle is

Chargecomm

Questions to Carriers: What is a MVNO?

This week, rumors flooded Twitter with talk about Apple starting its own MVNO. The iPhone creator partnered with mobile carriers back in 2007, but now it seems Apple may have an interest in entering the carrier game itself. While journalists pondered whether Apple is just following Google’s lead into

Mobile

Questions to Carriers: Will You Unlock My Phone?

As Americans, we are accustomed to the notion of a two-year mobile phone contract. When cell phones emerged as a new standard of communication, contracts locking you to a carrier were accepted as the norm. Fast forward to today and many people are still using the same carrier that sold

Chargecomm

Questions to Carriers: What is Throttling?

Throttling has been a hot topic in the news as of late. Thanks to the announcement of a major fine by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against AT&T, throttling, a word we previously associated with our car engines, has taken on a new meaning that impacts our

iOS

Questions to Carriers: How do you estimate data usage?

Last week, Questions to Carriers asked “Why aren’t data usage calculators more helpful?” We broke down how the data estimation “tools” US carriers provide are convoluted, while also discovering a clear disparity in data estimates between carriers for the same tasks. This week, we want to help you rely

Chargecomm

Questions to Carriers: Why aren't data usage calculators helpful?

As more and more of us transition to internet-capable mobile devices, we look for mobile plans that transition with us too. Rather than worrying about voice minute and SMS message allotments, we are worried about understanding our data usage. While carriers move away from unlimited data plans, as consumers, we

Chargecomm

Questions to Carriers : Why are contracts so expensive?

Understanding the nuances of your mobile “plan”, “pack”, “bundle” or whatever other cute all-in-one name your carrier deems fit, is a tedious undertaking regardless of your locale. As Americans, we typically find ourselves with two-year contracts which lock us into high prices. Conversely, most mobile users around the world have