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Carrier charge $5/month for Smartwatch tether.

D

dan330

Extreme Android User
http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/0...lified-plans-ends-phone-subsidies-completely/

"Verizon's new plans have consistent line access fees for each device—$20 for every phone, $10 for tablets, and $5 for a connected device like a watch"

Carriers said they need to charge for laptops and tablets that tether to cell phones.. because these devices and use more data.

How can a small smartwatch.. consume more data than a phone?
no one wants to watch stream service like Netflix.
no one wants to use music streams on it.
cant really use long navigation on it.
it aint a good way to surf the internet.

so what BS will they use to .. charge $5/ month Tether access fee?
 
Wow. That's just- Wow.

I mean, here I was ready to pat VZW on the back for moving away from contracts and carrier subsidies. And then they had to go and pull this?

Well, I guess money-grubbing corporations gonna be money-grubbing corporations one way or another.
 
Actually, looking at Verizon's actual release rather than AP's always-stellar reporting,
Verizon is simplifying further by streamlining monthly line-access charges. On the new plan, every smartphone line is $20 per month, tablet and Jetpack lines are $10 per month, and connected device lines for devices like smart watches are $5 per month, all the time.
Click to expand...

So that sounds like LTE-enabled watches rather than watches tethered by Bluetooth.
 
Yeah, looks like a $5 monthly fee for letting your smartwatch eat out of your $30/month shared 1GB of data.

Fun fact: I still pay $30/mo for 5GB.
 
codesplice said:
Actually, looking at

So that sounds like LTE-enabled watches rather than watches tethered by Bluetooth.
Click to expand...
I already knew that included LTE watches, not Bluetooth - sorry my point was not clearer, I'll try again.

What additional data does a Bluetooth watch consume used in conjunction with a phone?

None.

Given that the realistic data use case for a smart watch is adjunct use of a smartphone line, what is the average overall data increase used?

Effectively none.

So what's next??

That's my point.
 
I didn't know there was a smartwatch with LTE connect ability.

I thought they all had to be connected to a phone.. via Bluetooth.
 
LTE .. eats battery...
is that really a good fit? LTE in smartwatch?

will a smartwatch replace a smartphone?
99.9% of smartwatch owners will have a smartphone. why eat the small battery with LTE?
 
EarlyMon said:
That or independent updates on important messages without having your smartphone on yeah? :D
Click to expand...
Also, streaming music without being attached to a phone (I could see that being useful while jogging or something).

So I guess it's got use cases. Just not a big enough draw for me to maintain another data line.
 
codesplice said:
Also, streaming music without being attached to a phone (I could see that being useful while jogging or something).

So I guess it's got use cases. Just not a big enough draw for me to maintain another data line.
Click to expand...
Yeah, because how often are jogging and streaming music while also using data on your smart enough phone? (See what I did there Verizon?)
 
Back 5 years or more ago, I had that argument with Verizon about using the phone as a hotspot for my laptop, they said I had to pay them for that. I said why? it is the same data pool that is being used, and you want to charge me for my laptop? well, FY VZW, I just installed FoxFi and went on about my business...
but to be honest, I really have no use for those small extra little data mongers anyway, don't own a watch of any kind, don't need it, look at my phone and the time of day shows up right there :D
 
EarlyMon said:
That or independent updates on important messages without having your smartphone on yeah? :D
Click to expand...

sure.. there are few cases that might be... a little helpful... from time to time.

but.. day to day.. would you want to go a few hrs with ..
just a smarthwatch?
or
just a smartphone?

I don't think I can leave my fully functional big screen smartphone at home! and try to live with just the watch for a few hrs.
why bother?

=======================
I can see a good argument for having 2 smartphones.
1. big 6 inch screen for most cases.
2. a 3.5 inch screen phone.. to take instead..when you know it would be to much a hassle to lug the big one around.
(just switch out the SIM) no need for extra month stupid charges.
 
Those are all great arguments but the only thing that the OP said was that Verizon is charging $5/month as a line fee. :D

Going for the ultimate answer to - Does a smart watch make sense? - is exactly equal to - Is the Labrador Retriever the right dog to have?

Interesting discussions can go from there, but no ultimate answers.

There are plenty of fine reasons to go with a smart watch. If not, they would have died off instead of growing as a market segment.
 
Gmash said:
If the carriers are going to do away with subsidized phones, they should also get rid of the carrier meddling, branding and bloatware.
Click to expand...

I totally agree.... There should not be any special branding software at all.
Just what's required to make the radios work on the carrier's frequency bands, and leave the rest of it just like Google made it. or Samsung, or Nokia, etc...
 
Phones: Come with the apps by the manufacturer of the phone, not by the carrier. but have apps like T-Mobile's Account app come pre-installed. That's how it should be.
 
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