I am incredibly annoyed with T Mobile for blocking Skype on my web and walk bundle. I don't see why it's any of their business what data I transfer down the connection I paid for (at considerable expense I would add, £7.50/month).
If you read their terms and condiitons, the disallowed services list is even more restrictive - IM apps, VPNs and Remote Desktop products are all ruled out.
I don't understand how they can get away with this, it seems like the height of anticompetitiveness. Given that Microsoft gets sued for millions of dollars for daring to bundle their media player with Windows, why are the mobile operators' unbelievably sleazy blocking of their competitors just ignored?
My guess is there just isn't the user base to challenge it yet. Hopefully that will change. But it's something that has really got to me.
PostScript I actaully strongly disagree with the Microsoft Ruling. People have a choice of operating systems. However, my moaning about the UK mobile operator market is that UK consumers don't have a choice. Mobile operators in the UK are limited to five due to a limited number of licenses handed out, which makes the environment essentially an oligopoly.
Mobile phone companies blocking data products
This falls under the same reason you get capping and bandwidth shaping with ISPs, none want to be simply pipes for vast amounts of data even though that is essentially all they are. Skype is short-ending the voice service you signed up for and you can charge more for voice calls and they take up a lot of bandwidth as do VPNs and RDCs. IM apps probably do the same as Skype does but instead its doing it to the texting service instead.
And about the Microsoft ruling, you're wrong cdd.
And about the Microsoft ruling, you're wrong cdd.
I think mobile phone operators are long overdue being looked in to. They routinely supply phones tweaked to their own custom specification, which alongside hideous default skins which sometimes come at the expense of standard ones, includes locking the phone to their network and removing any features which they see as a threat to their tarrif (most UK operators stripping out VoIP when bundled etc). This has been going on for years - my very first phone (an Philips PH301) was missing an entire menu (documented in the manual) for network services on the grounds that Orange had no use for it - that doesn't mean that no other operator would should I want to take my phone elsewhere (One2One being my only choice since it was GSM1800 only)!
When my contract is over, despite the fact that I will own my N95 and I'm perfectly happy with it, the operator's legacy will live on in that I can't take it with me to a cheap 'sim only' contract on another network without replacing the firmware in the phone, at the risk of it not working at all afterwords.
Whilst I understand the business case for the operator of doing so, surely there's something wrong about operators supplying customised variants of phones without having to bring this to the purchaser's attention.
It wouldn't be acceptable for Heinz baked beans bought from Tescos to be different from Heinz baked beans bought from the local corner shop and then trying to justify that on differing prices, business models and market conditions, so why is it acceptable for the 'same' phone to have varying specifications depending on whether it was sim-free or with a network (and then varying again depending on which operator supplied it and being incapable of being used with any other network without performing undocumented modification) without any changes to the manufacturer's specification being explicitly stated at purchase?
As others have said, Microsoft was dragged over the coals for it's supposed anti-competitiveness at bundling a web browser and a media player with it's operating system, but last time I checked this didn't prevent anyone changing to alternatives should they wish. As it is now, mobile operators are essentially supplying a doctored product to protect their business model without bringing this to the express attention of the purchaser first. To me, this is very, very wrong.
When my contract is over, despite the fact that I will own my N95 and I'm perfectly happy with it, the operator's legacy will live on in that I can't take it with me to a cheap 'sim only' contract on another network without replacing the firmware in the phone, at the risk of it not working at all afterwords.
Whilst I understand the business case for the operator of doing so, surely there's something wrong about operators supplying customised variants of phones without having to bring this to the purchaser's attention.
It wouldn't be acceptable for Heinz baked beans bought from Tescos to be different from Heinz baked beans bought from the local corner shop and then trying to justify that on differing prices, business models and market conditions, so why is it acceptable for the 'same' phone to have varying specifications depending on whether it was sim-free or with a network (and then varying again depending on which operator supplied it and being incapable of being used with any other network without performing undocumented modification) without any changes to the manufacturer's specification being explicitly stated at purchase?
As others have said, Microsoft was dragged over the coals for it's supposed anti-competitiveness at bundling a web browser and a media player with it's operating system, but last time I checked this didn't prevent anyone changing to alternatives should they wish. As it is now, mobile operators are essentially supplying a doctored product to protect their business model without bringing this to the express attention of the purchaser first. To me, this is very, very wrong.
Ah now the customisations thing I don't agree with. I think the mobile operators are within their rights to do whatever they like with the phones they sell you, you don't have to buy your phones from them. Service blocking, on the other hand, is wrong because there is no alternative to it.
When your contract expires, most mobile operators give you the Phone Unlock Code for free.
When your contract expires, most mobile operators give you the Phone Unlock Code for free.
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Dr Lobster*
- Posts: 2123
- Joined: Sat 30 Aug, 2003 20.14
cdd, do t mobile block skype on their business bundle?
just wondering if they're just trying to move you over to a more expensive package?
just wondering if they're just trying to move you over to a more expensive package?
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