The Odd Variations On 3G Per-Megabyte Pricing

GMGruman writes "Carriers are increasingly charging for 3G mobile access by the megabyte, to prevent 'unfair' subsidies of heavy users by everyone else. So why does the price of a 3G megabyte vary based on the device used to send or receive it? Why is an iPad megabyte cheaper than a MiFi one? After all, a megabyte is a megabyte as far as the network is concerned. InfoWorld has a comparison of 3G pricing for the four major US carriers for their various supported devices, so you can see whose 3G pricing is out of whack for which devices."

Comments

Profit!

[Pharmboy]

Look, these are businesses which are in business to make a profit. No business sets their price based solely on cost of good. It is determined by supply and demand, what the market will bare, and what competitors are charging. If we start getting into telling businesses what to charge, according to OUR ideas of what is fair, well, that isn't capitalism. Don't like your carrier? Change. What we need to do is get rid of contracts and open up the marketplace, not tell companies what to charge.

Capitalism IS a self-correcting system. It isn't instantaneous, but given a level playing field, it is fair.