Pat Phelan has been on the warpath since O2 announced its pricing scheme for the iPhone deployment in Ireland on March 14. Alexia and Conor find a few more Paddy Taxes that O2 hoists upon its customers. If you look deep enough it is in much of the telecom industry, though there are a few exceptions like Pat’s own ventures and (for a particular kind of user) MobiPCS back in Hawai‘i. But by and large the major players all treat customers like potential prey instead of valued customers – it’s death by a thousand razors, or Paddy Taxes.
My wife and I share a mobile phone and our daughter has her own here in New Zealand. The only reason we have one is we don’t have a land-line, otherwise I’d be happier not being victimized by a vulture-like provider. Vodaphone NZ’s pricing for pay-as-you-go plans is ridiculous ($0.89 a minute, $0.20 per text), though on the plus side we don’t pay for incoming calls like most PAYG plans do back in the U.S.
I love Apple products, I love the iPhone, but I’m not getting one until I can choose a network without potentially bricking the phone, and am able to do so without making a long term commitment. It’s not going to happen until someone makes a better mobile phone. And before all of the Nokia fan-boys and fan-girls out there get up in arms – it’s not about what the phone can do, it’s about how it does it. And unfortunately nothing quite does it like the iPhone.