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from the informations-sans-frontières dept.
Wired had a story Sunday where they make the case that, between it's own wireless service and current negotiations with phone companies that would let customers move its service and international cellular networks at no extra cost, Google is doing its best to keep users locked into its network:
...you'd be able to travel across the US, the UK, Italy, Hong Hong, and Sri Lanka while paying the same fees for calls, text, and data—an attractive option for anyone who's ever carried a phone overseas. Carriers tend to charge inflated rates for this kind of "roaming," forcing you to think twice about using your phone at all while traveling. "Roaming fees in Europe and Asia can kill you," says Richard Doherty, an analyst with New York-based research firm Envisioneering.
...Google said it doesn’t comment on "rumor or speculation." But the report fits nicely with what we already know about Google's plans for its unconventional wireless service. Google appears to be envisioning a wireless world where we can move effortlessly from one wireless network to another, making it easier for us to stay online.
Of course that just means more ad revenue for Google:
The more you're online, the more you'll use Google's search engine and other apps—and the more the company can serve you ads. "Google needs reach," Doherty says. And what better way to extend that reach than by offering what so many of us want: ready access to the internet at all times?
Having just opened my wireless bill that included a recent week spent in Cancun, Mexico I can personally attest that roaming charges hurt not just in Europe and Asia.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday April 08 2015, @05:44PM
Consider that I'm trolling Soylent as I write this.
That I can't really use iDevices when offline is a primary reason that I don't use them other than for playing music that I ripped from CDs that I purchased at a store.
I regard as a total clusterfuck that I was unable to get online with my Mavericks MacBook Pro not long ago. Unable to determine the cause I looked in the Help menu, only to be told that Help was unavailable as I was not connected to the Internet.
I am able to work most productively when I download whatever I will need onto my box, then find some way to make the Internet totally unavailable to me for at least a few hours, then get back online for only the amount of time required to deliver what I've complete back to The Tubes (eg. uploading a new version of a web page, or checking code into Subversion) then I download what I need and go back offline.
I commonly point out to non-technical people that the reasons why their computers, phones and tablets are made to appear as if they really require Internet, is so that they will click on ads, or make online purchase.
The most productive day I have ever had since the World Wide Web became commonly used, my bride-to-be and I were driving about five hours from St. John's to her childhood home in Southern Newfoundland, with my Compaq Presario 1800T powered by an inverter plugged into our car's cigarette lighter.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]