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BusbyBusby t1_ixsv5ce wrote

Reply to comment by zap_p25 in Bye-bye airplane mode: EU allows smartphones during flights by Zhukov-74

Why was roaming a big deal with carriers?

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zap_p25 t1_ixtbkt0 wrote

Charge you money for roaming outside of you standard coverage plan. If you can beat the roaming charges by maintaining an in-area tower longer...they feel cheated.

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BusbyBusby t1_ixtlbk4 wrote

That's ridiculous. You should be able to go from one of their towers to the next from one end of the country to the other.

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zap_p25 t1_ixxf6q4 wrote

That's how it is today. It's not how it is used to be though. For example, in the early 2000's Verizon, Cingular (pre-merger with AT&T) and AT&T all used to offer varying coverage plans...local, statewide and nationwide. If you roamed outside of your coverage plan...you would incur roaming fees. Today though, the coverage is simply assumed at the national level.

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9-11GaveMe5G t1_ixtngnb wrote

Much like data caps of now, they were an invented problem and they charged for the "solution". In reality when you went on someone else's network "roaming" the telecoms charged each other less than your carrier charged you for borrowing that usage.

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