Cellphone Companies Predicted to Go Extinct by Year 2020?
Say Good-bye to Your Mobile Carrier come 2020. Cellphone Companies May Be Going Extinct.
Broadband customers that actively use Wi-Fi on a regular basis save more than $30 per month on their wireless bill, according to a Macquarie Group survey published last week.
So what do you need your cell phone company for?
In Europe, many cell phone owners have already ditched their wireless carrier. But Wi-Fi isn’t quite widespread or robust enough for most Americans to completely ditch their wireless carrier just yet.
Some people are also (rightfully) concerned with the security of public Wi-Fi. A new generation of hotspots lets you seamlessly switch between Wi-Fi and 4G-LTE service, and they offer improved encryption. But Wi-Fi’s security issues likely won’t be resolved by 2016, Macquarie predicts.
4G’s limitations are inherent in the technology that makes it work: Airwaves are limited, and you can only cram so much data into one MHz of spectrum.
That’s why the two biggest carriers — AT&T and Verizon — place data caps on their customers. Only about one-third of U.S. cable customers have an idea of how much data they’re downloading each month on their home Wi-Fi networks, but two-thirds of wireless customers track their usage, according to Macquarie.
That’s why wireless carriers will likely be jockeying for position to partner with cable companies, particularly Comcast. With Sprint’s (S) sub-par 4G network, AT&T’s ties to U-Verse, and Verizon’s FiOS and congestion issues, T-Mobile (TMUS) is the likeliest wireless company to win over Big Cable, Macquarie predicts.
