Tying into this article, more and more of the MVOs are gaining access to the iPhone whether it be selling it traditionally out of contract or via a BYOD sim card so it only stands to reason their going to be upping the level of competition as it ties to the iPhone and LTE. More people are being educated about the benefits of MVOs and more and more used but recent generation iPhones are being put on the market which opens the door for users to utilize them as customers on the MVOs via sim cards without the downside of having to pay for an unsubsidized device. Personally, I’m going to finally getting my wife away from Android by handing down my iPhone 4 after I get my 5; she’ll be using it on AT&T’s network with unlimited talk, text, and data for $45 per month using a sim card through Simple Talk.

It’s only a matter of time before the big 4 start to feel that pressure and, as the article says, it’s just gonna take one of them to head that direction before the others are forced to as well. I find it very exciting!

http://gigaom.com/mobile/ting-becomes-the-first-lte-mvno-next-step-the-iphone/

Now when have we (in the US) ever seen a carrier reduce the cost of data (or anything for that matter), and just because Apple deemed us fit for LTE on the new iPhone does not mean data costs will get cheaper for consumers.

The cost for LTE infrastructure to purchase, install and support let alone cover a specific geography is far cheaper than 3G. Given those facts have you seen the carriers drop their prices, NO! What we have seen is the carriers tie carrots to try and motivate consumers to get off the unlimited data plans (Verizon) by saying pay full retail ($649-849 iPhone 5) or take the subsidized price ($199-399) and take our Share Everything plan.

We will not see lower data prices just because the iPhone supports LTE, we will in fact see the same or higher data costs from the carriers. They are like pigs, eat and eat and eat.

Btw – keep up the awesome work, I love reading your posts.

Here’s your rule of thumb for energy efficiency. The more efficient sht is the more we use it.

Got a Prius? Drive it twice as much as you drove your old car because your cost per mile for gas is so much cheaper.

Got compact fluorescent lightbulbs? Don’t bother turning them off when you leave a room because they are so efficient. Net result is you leave them on 5x as long as you did when you had incadescent bulbs.

Got LTE? Now you Facetime in HD while sitting on a bench in Central park. and send your deep sea fishing trip video to your Mom before you get off the boat. And you think nothing of watching the big game on ESPN3 while waiting for your kid to warm up with his team at the local soccer field.