It is always the carrier. The iPhone is a big hit. But in the United States, the iPhone has been held back by being restricted to a single carrier: AT&T. AT&T is often viewed as unreliable, at least for voice communication.
But now comes the competitors to the iPhone and iPad, and they are available on most carriers. For example, the Samsung Galaxy Tab can be purchased for use on Verizon. Isn’t that great?
Well, not really. Joel Evans writes about his interaction with Verizon and his Samsung Galaxy Tab:
Long story short, I used to think that the pricing of the hardware itself on the Samsung Tab was too high. Now I see that there are a bunch of hidden fees if you decide to start and stop your service. This may be acceptable for some people, but I would think that most people are going to be shocked when they receive a bill that’s not only loaded with an activation fee and more taxes, but also a possible overage fee. Overage fee, you ask? It turns out that even though I mostly used my Samsung Tab on Wi-Fi this month, whatever time I spent demoing the Tab completely sucked away my 1GB of data. I can honestly say that I think the total demo time was maybe 10 minutes, so I’ll be researching that one, too. Verizon Wireless wasted no time sending me an email letting me know that my data usage was running out, though.
I’m not sure what the other carriers are doing for pricing and hidden fees on the Samsung Tab, but this definitely makes me appreciate my $14.99 a month fee for my iPad. In the case of the iPad, the $14.99 never changes, except when I have to renew it again for another $14.99 for the next month.
Hardware makers can cook up stunning devices, but a service provider that can provide good coverage without hidden fees and without mucking up the device with its own crapware is crucial for any mobile device.