Costs & term(s) of mobile surfing
I'm not a firm believer in being tied down to a contract, The way my work goes is I could be travelling to a far off destination onland or in the middle of the sea at Little notice, Likewise since i don't really fancy staying in the UK so I'm reluctant to take on something with a contract that Lasts beyond 6 months.
Home broadband, for example, is something that regularly has a term around or beyond 12 months. I don't mind paying off a reasonable one off cancellation fee, but i do mind being held to term for it (Ie having to pay the remainder of the contract off yourself).
Same Goes with modern Phones, If I want a phone I'd like to buy it outright, this was what I did with my (unlocked) HTC Kaiser 2 years ago around the time the mk 1 Iphone came out. And I'm very Glad I did.
Which brings me to the costs of the Calls & data plans (here in the UK at least). For around 2 full years, till Feb this year, for my o2 UK service I was Paying £25/month for a 1200 free any network mins a month and 1000 free texts. This was sim only, If I had a phone on contract I'd have probably been paying into around the £40's. Because this was sim only the minimum term for this is one month.
Now Lets take a look at at various phone calls and data plans, and more importantly, length of term...
This is the UK pricing for the Iphone and its variants, but notably they're for 18 AND 24 month contracts.
Let's vary things a little with The Vodafone exclusive blackberry storm. Again, they're also fans of the 1.5 year term.
How about something from Orange now, something like the HTC touch 3G, a bit cheaper and lower speced than the others, but Again an 18 month minimum term.
Then there's T-mobile's G1. And at that pricing, it seems that it really wants to shift them, given the plan it's offering I'd be tempted if I hadn't already owned a smartphone and decided what I want from a future device.
Let's go away from phones to Mobile Broadband Ie the USB dongles, & examine things a bit more on that side...
On O2 We still have 18month and 24 month options, but they have recently introduced a one month option as well.
Vodafone has 12, 18, and 24 month options. as well as a no-term one on which you pay £15/gigabyte beyond your First one used.
Orange's "stick plans" are a bit more simple to follow, but still the same 18 and 24 month terms =/
And likewise for T-mobile
I've spoken about tethering and what can be achieved with it before.
& Bearing in mind all of the above, When I approached O2 uk about mobile broadband back in Feb, I discovered the following, sim only (continued use of my kaiser), 600 free texts, 800 free mins, (I was using nowhere near enough to justify what i was paying before) Add an unlimited web use "Add on" (known to them as a "bolt on") for £20/month...
And the minimum term for this... even if i was a new customer... Like before it was 1 month!! They may hold you to it if you cancel in that month, but £20 is something I can live with(out).
I hope from here, this is how it will go forward, Out of my many jaunts to mainland Europe I've certainly spent more than £20 total each trip for net access via different methods, be they through my laptop, or through net cafe's, hotel's encrypted WIFI etc, for trips that are between 1 week and up to 4 weeks as well. Thankfully for those that have been work stints I've been able to claim them back on expenses. (And before anyone asks,no I'm not a British MP :P ).
I think something like this Would Enable foreign visitors to a tech-advanced country or location to indulge in using mobile interwebs abroad. Kevin and the Iphone-ites already have playfoursquare. Thinking on the fly here, you arrive in Said aforementioned Tech savvy location with an unlocked smartphone, you could go to a local phone shop, and you get such a sim card for a one off fee - say.. €40 (or equivalent), this is if the carrier is worried about bandwidth, then by the end of the trip, if the customer has used LESS bandwidth than the limited specified, bandwidth - for argument's sake, off the top of my head - 5GB, he or she gets rebated €20, if the user goes beyond this then the carrier keeps the total cost the customer originally paid. Then once you've gone or it's remained unused for a week, then The carrier can switch it off, I'm sure this can be greatly expanded in many ways in terms of software, apps, interactivity.
Like I said before, this could bring a more social experience to your travels, With the ability to scan QR codes as well, and indulge in things like GPS film at your whim.
Bring it on!! :D