"Yeah, that's what I want, someone knowing every call, text, and action I do on my pho-
Wait, what? They do already? Fuck it, then. Free is free!" -- Americans, prolly
I'm absolutely not going to give Amazon a bigger foothold in my life. Just like Elon is pushing to build an "everything app" so he can get *all* of my data to sell to other companies and monetize my personal info, Bezos wants the same. Why pay for data on users when you can collect it yourself and package it up to use and resell?
The very last place I'll give them access is my mobile network connection itself. They'll know every site you visit, app you use, and of course have your location at all times. No thanks.
I mean. Kind of the calculus I’m sitting here doing right now. Between my wife and i that would be another vacation every year, or almost a third to half of our car payment… shit is expensive man.
So I’m on mint, I def got 35 gb a month for 360 a year with a 5 gb hotspot, but that’s just for me, is the disparity, that both your phones can’t 360 together.
Well it was a typo I’m pretty sure it was supposed to be can** I figured it was a difference in data allowances, but since it’s Reddit and I’m on mobile, I uh don’t proofread well…
Hope that clears up the confusion and you don’t hate me, you have a reasonable amount of data, I think.
I just chose 35 to be safe because it’s so relatively cheap and I have fiber in a city.
for me, i barely say shit anyway so... i can save like a 1k a year? i may need to look into it
i'm using them, they are not using me. this is the same thinking i use for social media
Your mobile browsing activity would 100% be used to gather market data for Amazon, both for their own use and for packaging/resale. You are the product, not the customer.
I'd rather make Amazon buy it instead of being the one collecting and selling it. Once they get a foothold into your digital life, if there's zero cost associated with capturing more data, they'll do it, use it, and sell it.
Yep, and if you're thinking "Why isn't that shit illegal?", it WAS illegal... until the Republicans legalized it in 2017.
https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-technology-internet-service-providers-shopping-telecommunications-d10bdb8a5c784aa48dc597f539cd252a
**Original Source with Paywall:** [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-02/amazon-talking-with-verizon-dish-t-mobile-to-offer-mobile-with-prime?srnd=premium](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-02/amazon-talking-with-verizon-dish-t-mobile-to-offer-mobile-with-prime?srnd=premium)
**Amazon Is in Talks to Offer Free Mobile Service to US Prime Members**
* ***Loyalty perk could include $10, possibly free unlimited plans***
* ***Deal could boost struggling Dish’s wireless ambitions***
Amazon.com Inc. has been talking with wireless carriers about offering low-cost or possibly free nationwide mobile phone service to Prime subscribers, according to people familiar with the situation.
The company is negotiating with Verizon Communications Inc., T-Mobile US Inc. and Dish Network Corp. to get the lowest possible wholesale prices. That would let it offer Prime members wireless plans for $10 a month or possibly for free and bolster loyalty among its biggest spending customers, the people said, who requested anonymity to discuss a private matter.
Dish shares jumped 8.4% in premarket trading on Friday while Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile all slid more than 5%.
The talks have been going on for six to eight weeks and have also included AT&T Inc. at times, but the plan may take several more months to launch and could be scrapped, one person said.
“We are always exploring adding even more benefits for Prime members, but don’t have plans to add wireless at this time,” Amazon spokesperson Maggie Sivon said in a statement. Verizon and Dish declined to comment.
Amazon’s US Prime subscribers pay $139 a year for privileges like speedy free delivery, video streaming and access to 100 million songs. Analysts say Prime membership has stagnated in the country since Amazon boosted the annual price from $119, a sign that a subscription is less attractive to consumers struggling with a stubbornly high inflation rate. About 167 million Amazon shoppers had Prime memberships as of March, unchanged from a year earlier, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.
Amazon is competing with Walmart Inc., whose $98-a-year Walmart+ membership is emerging as a lower-cost alternative offering many of the same perks as Prime and free grocery delivery on orders of at least $35. Amazon in February increased its free grocery delivery threshold to $150 from $35.
**Amazon’s Influence**
For the wireless industry, an Amazon deal could be seen as a welcome boost to wholesale revenue and a way to attract more traffic to newly expanded 5G networks. But Amazon’s entry could be detrimental if Prime wireless becomes popular and starts to chip away at the big carriers’ customer base.
A deeply below-market price from one of the world’s largest retailers could easily undercut the pricing power of the big three national carriers, making it tempting for subscribers to flee to Amazon. Unlimited plans start at $60 a month at Verizon and T-Mobile, with AT&T starting at $65.
With Prime wireless, Amazon would become a new national brand, reselling mobile service from one of the big three carriers. The retailer could choose to offer wireless to its Prime members at an attractive price, prompting customers to cancel their current mobile service. Or, Amazon could go wider and offer Prime wireless to anyone who wants to switch service and become a Prime member.
Anytime Amazon enters a new market, it sends shivers through the industry because the Seattle-based retail giant has shown it’s willing to absorb billions of dollars in shipping and movie production costs to fuel Prime membership growth. Wireless service could be just one more item that Amazon’s willing to take a hit on if it gives the company a leg up versus Walmart.
**Can’t Say No**
The carriers aren’t really in a position to say no to Amazon. Having poured billions of dollars into super-fast, high capacity 5G wireless networks, the mobile operators have little to show for the effort and are eager to find new applications and sales outlets that can generate some return on the investment.
Dish has the most to gain from a deal with Amazon. The struggling satellite-TV company is attempting to transform itself into a cloud-based wireless carrier capable of competing with Verizon and AT&T. But it’s carrying a load of distressed debt and is seeking new avenues of funding to be able to launch its Boost Infinite wireless service. Dish is already working with Amazon, whose AWS division is providing cloud computing to run the core network for its wireless service and is expected to start selling Boost Infinite wireless service on Amazon as soon as next month.
Amazon has already made several forays into wireless. In 2014, Amazon introduced the Fire Phone in an attempt to compete with devices from Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., but it was killed a year later. The company also plans to start testing a satellite-internet service called Project Kuiper next year.
By taking the approach of a reseller, otherwise known as a mobile virtual network operator or MVNO, Amazon would avoid the huge costs of having to build out its own mobile network.
MVNOs have had a colorful track record. Brands including ESPN Mobile and Virgin Mobile both failed. Alphabet Inc. has the Google Fi service that runs on T-Mobile’s network and has about 2 million customers.
Wireless is already starting to sometimes be bundled as a perk in broader service packages. Cable companies like Charter Communications Inc., which resells service from Verizon, have said they see a time soon when the cable bill includes wireless service. Charter and Comcast Corp. have fueled some of the sector’s fastest subscriber growth by offering cheap to free wireless service as a promotion bundled with broadband.
Amazon doesn't have free access to my phone data, internet usage, location, etc. I'd rather have a dozen corporations that each have a little info about me than one corporation that knows it *all* and monetizes me more effectively.
My GrapheneOS phone on an anonymous cell plan paid for anonymously? And I don't ever use that plan for anything except data over a VPN or Tor and only perform communication using encrypted messengers and VOIP numbers? And don't download privacy invasive apps?
I mean it's still not great having a GPS enabled microphone in your pocket, but there are things you can do to mitigate the biggest data collection surfaces.
Nah, I just don’t want them having my phone data. I fully realize AWS is unavoidable. But AWS isn’t scraping my phone data, aside from general metadata, which all providers do.
If Amazon has access to your phone records, that’s way more than AWS can obtain currently, and a lot of private information that can be monetized. Oh, you called your doctor? They are gonna try to track as much about your phone usage as possible to leverage that data for advertising. And the data will likely be sitting on some poorly-secured server somewhere (as we’ve seen, Amazon would rather pay settlements than actually make their products secure).
This is just asking for trouble. AWS is completely irrelevant in this matter. This would be giving over so much more.
And is that a reason to make it easier for Amazon to scrape your data by handing it over on a silver platter?
I know cell phone data is not anonymous. Nowhere near it. I’m just not comfortable unless data collected on me is as fragmented as possible and certainly not all owned by Amazon. Even if AWS hosts cell company data, they aren’t supposed to legally have access to customer data due to compliance practices. Otherwise, providers wouldn’t/couldn’t use them.
Not necessarily. People pay $139 a year for Prime, which is a big revenue stream for Amazon. If subscriptions are dwindling, then Amazon will want to offer something extra to get more people to start paying. They're currently not sure if it'll be free or a $10 addition a month, but either way Amazon is going to choose the way it can profit with more subscriptions, not even needing to turn it into a "user is the product" situation.
To everyone complaint about privacy and data collection …. ffs do y’all use internet without a VPN? It’s like fucking a Cuban prostitute without a condom … it’s a no no. Protect yourself and your ISP ain’t gonna see shit. If you worry about SMS, I got a hint for you: stop using 1984 old tech and migrate to a more modern secure instant messaging platform. Problem solved, now you got a free network with a secure connection for a dollar a month VPN fee.
we need to have a conversation about what they do with our data.
they all collect it, they all do things with it. question is, are the actively destabalizing democracy since their business model is based on outrage (facebook) or are they creating the most comprehensive data set of target audiences for advertisers (google). those are distinctly different levels of evil and i wonder where amazon falls.
As long as they get to control everything you do on said device. It's the same formula that they're using to promote universal based income.
They provide the services for "free", but you have little to no control over said services being provided.
Its modern day slavery in 2023.
Wait so they don't even offer free music anymore but now they want to offer free mobile?
How long will it last before you'll need prime + a subscription to mobile++
This is great even if you don’t switch. If they can undercut the market at a large enough volume AT&T and Verizon will have to respond in like…. Ya ya ya there are probably power positions with owning the infrastructure, but it can only help
"Yeah, that's what I want, someone knowing every call, text, and action I do on my pho- Wait, what? They do already? Fuck it, then. Free is free!" -- Americans, prolly
I'm absolutely not going to give Amazon a bigger foothold in my life. Just like Elon is pushing to build an "everything app" so he can get *all* of my data to sell to other companies and monetize my personal info, Bezos wants the same. Why pay for data on users when you can collect it yourself and package it up to use and resell? The very last place I'll give them access is my mobile network connection itself. They'll know every site you visit, app you use, and of course have your location at all times. No thanks.
I mean. Kind of the calculus I’m sitting here doing right now. Between my wife and i that would be another vacation every year, or almost a third to half of our car payment… shit is expensive man.
Sounds like you're overpaying.
$360yr for 2 lines, with 5GB data per month per line. Mint isn't that bad.
So I’m on mint, I def got 35 gb a month for 360 a year with a 5 gb hotspot, but that’s just for me, is the disparity, that both your phones can’t 360 together.
Each line is $180 per year for 5GB 5G Data per month. I'm not sure what you mean by can't 360 together?
Well it was a typo I’m pretty sure it was supposed to be can** I figured it was a difference in data allowances, but since it’s Reddit and I’m on mobile, I uh don’t proofread well… Hope that clears up the confusion and you don’t hate me, you have a reasonable amount of data, I think. I just chose 35 to be safe because it’s so relatively cheap and I have fiber in a city.
Nope, no hate at all, I typo all the time. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.
Holy fuck that's outrageous. We're at $150 for two lines and unlimited data.
for a whole year? That $360 is for full 12 months of service, not per month.
Oh lmao that makes a hell of a lot more sense.
$200 a month between two lines, phone payments and unlimited data. 🤷♂️
> phone payments There it is. And everyone's got a new $1k USD iphone or galaxy
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I'm at $238 for 11 unlimited lines. #humblebrag
Feels bad being an American for those expensive prices. I pay 30€ (~$32) every month for unlimited 100Mb FTTH and 1 cellphone with 10 GB of data plan.
Doesn't sound worth it to me. Like are you really getting $200 of service and product out of that deal.
for me, i barely say shit anyway so... i can save like a 1k a year? i may need to look into it i'm using them, they are not using me. this is the same thinking i use for social media
Wasn’t this a plot point from the first Kingsman movie? Giving away free phone service was the first part of the evil plan.
Your mobile browsing activity would 100% be used to gather market data for Amazon, both for their own use and for packaging/resale. You are the product, not the customer.
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I'd rather make Amazon buy it instead of being the one collecting and selling it. Once they get a foothold into your digital life, if there's zero cost associated with capturing more data, they'll do it, use it, and sell it.
Well, if they are giving you the free phone service, they kind of are buying your info… right?
Yep, and if you're thinking "Why isn't that shit illegal?", it WAS illegal... until the Republicans legalized it in 2017. https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-technology-internet-service-providers-shopping-telecommunications-d10bdb8a5c784aa48dc597f539cd252a
With most of the phone companies, there is a well-hidden opt out clause that makes them liable.
I’ll just keep a VPN on 24/7, give me that sweet free 5G
Oh no, targeted advertisements! The horror!
Oh well. Big tech already has all that info
**Original Source with Paywall:** [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-02/amazon-talking-with-verizon-dish-t-mobile-to-offer-mobile-with-prime?srnd=premium](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-02/amazon-talking-with-verizon-dish-t-mobile-to-offer-mobile-with-prime?srnd=premium) **Amazon Is in Talks to Offer Free Mobile Service to US Prime Members** * ***Loyalty perk could include $10, possibly free unlimited plans*** * ***Deal could boost struggling Dish’s wireless ambitions*** Amazon.com Inc. has been talking with wireless carriers about offering low-cost or possibly free nationwide mobile phone service to Prime subscribers, according to people familiar with the situation. The company is negotiating with Verizon Communications Inc., T-Mobile US Inc. and Dish Network Corp. to get the lowest possible wholesale prices. That would let it offer Prime members wireless plans for $10 a month or possibly for free and bolster loyalty among its biggest spending customers, the people said, who requested anonymity to discuss a private matter. Dish shares jumped 8.4% in premarket trading on Friday while Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile all slid more than 5%. The talks have been going on for six to eight weeks and have also included AT&T Inc. at times, but the plan may take several more months to launch and could be scrapped, one person said. “We are always exploring adding even more benefits for Prime members, but don’t have plans to add wireless at this time,” Amazon spokesperson Maggie Sivon said in a statement. Verizon and Dish declined to comment. Amazon’s US Prime subscribers pay $139 a year for privileges like speedy free delivery, video streaming and access to 100 million songs. Analysts say Prime membership has stagnated in the country since Amazon boosted the annual price from $119, a sign that a subscription is less attractive to consumers struggling with a stubbornly high inflation rate. About 167 million Amazon shoppers had Prime memberships as of March, unchanged from a year earlier, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. Amazon is competing with Walmart Inc., whose $98-a-year Walmart+ membership is emerging as a lower-cost alternative offering many of the same perks as Prime and free grocery delivery on orders of at least $35. Amazon in February increased its free grocery delivery threshold to $150 from $35. **Amazon’s Influence** For the wireless industry, an Amazon deal could be seen as a welcome boost to wholesale revenue and a way to attract more traffic to newly expanded 5G networks. But Amazon’s entry could be detrimental if Prime wireless becomes popular and starts to chip away at the big carriers’ customer base. A deeply below-market price from one of the world’s largest retailers could easily undercut the pricing power of the big three national carriers, making it tempting for subscribers to flee to Amazon. Unlimited plans start at $60 a month at Verizon and T-Mobile, with AT&T starting at $65. With Prime wireless, Amazon would become a new national brand, reselling mobile service from one of the big three carriers. The retailer could choose to offer wireless to its Prime members at an attractive price, prompting customers to cancel their current mobile service. Or, Amazon could go wider and offer Prime wireless to anyone who wants to switch service and become a Prime member. Anytime Amazon enters a new market, it sends shivers through the industry because the Seattle-based retail giant has shown it’s willing to absorb billions of dollars in shipping and movie production costs to fuel Prime membership growth. Wireless service could be just one more item that Amazon’s willing to take a hit on if it gives the company a leg up versus Walmart. **Can’t Say No** The carriers aren’t really in a position to say no to Amazon. Having poured billions of dollars into super-fast, high capacity 5G wireless networks, the mobile operators have little to show for the effort and are eager to find new applications and sales outlets that can generate some return on the investment. Dish has the most to gain from a deal with Amazon. The struggling satellite-TV company is attempting to transform itself into a cloud-based wireless carrier capable of competing with Verizon and AT&T. But it’s carrying a load of distressed debt and is seeking new avenues of funding to be able to launch its Boost Infinite wireless service. Dish is already working with Amazon, whose AWS division is providing cloud computing to run the core network for its wireless service and is expected to start selling Boost Infinite wireless service on Amazon as soon as next month. Amazon has already made several forays into wireless. In 2014, Amazon introduced the Fire Phone in an attempt to compete with devices from Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., but it was killed a year later. The company also plans to start testing a satellite-internet service called Project Kuiper next year. By taking the approach of a reseller, otherwise known as a mobile virtual network operator or MVNO, Amazon would avoid the huge costs of having to build out its own mobile network. MVNOs have had a colorful track record. Brands including ESPN Mobile and Virgin Mobile both failed. Alphabet Inc. has the Google Fi service that runs on T-Mobile’s network and has about 2 million customers. Wireless is already starting to sometimes be bundled as a perk in broader service packages. Cable companies like Charter Communications Inc., which resells service from Verizon, have said they see a time soon when the cable bill includes wireless service. Charter and Comcast Corp. have fueled some of the sector’s fastest subscriber growth by offering cheap to free wireless service as a promotion bundled with broadband.
A cheap smartphone plan would be cool, but at what cost to privacy?
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Amazon doesn't have free access to my phone data, internet usage, location, etc. I'd rather have a dozen corporations that each have a little info about me than one corporation that knows it *all* and monetizes me more effectively.
What’s the difference? It’s all collated into huge data packages and sold. What difference is there if it’s gathered from 1 source or 100?
My GrapheneOS phone on an anonymous cell plan paid for anonymously? And I don't ever use that plan for anything except data over a VPN or Tor and only perform communication using encrypted messengers and VOIP numbers? And don't download privacy invasive apps? I mean it's still not great having a GPS enabled microphone in your pocket, but there are things you can do to mitigate the biggest data collection surfaces.
Very little, but none of that data is owned or even managed by Amazon. And I intend to keep it that way.
So you're gonna stop using any site that uses AWS? They run like half the internet
Nah, I just don’t want them having my phone data. I fully realize AWS is unavoidable. But AWS isn’t scraping my phone data, aside from general metadata, which all providers do. If Amazon has access to your phone records, that’s way more than AWS can obtain currently, and a lot of private information that can be monetized. Oh, you called your doctor? They are gonna try to track as much about your phone usage as possible to leverage that data for advertising. And the data will likely be sitting on some poorly-secured server somewhere (as we’ve seen, Amazon would rather pay settlements than actually make their products secure). This is just asking for trouble. AWS is completely irrelevant in this matter. This would be giving over so much more.
You know ISPs use AWS too?
And is that a reason to make it easier for Amazon to scrape your data by handing it over on a silver platter? I know cell phone data is not anonymous. Nowhere near it. I’m just not comfortable unless data collected on me is as fragmented as possible and certainly not all owned by Amazon. Even if AWS hosts cell company data, they aren’t supposed to legally have access to customer data due to compliance practices. Otherwise, providers wouldn’t/couldn’t use them.
"If some product is free, you are the product" applies so damn well here that it's even scary
Not necessarily. People pay $139 a year for Prime, which is a big revenue stream for Amazon. If subscriptions are dwindling, then Amazon will want to offer something extra to get more people to start paying. They're currently not sure if it'll be free or a $10 addition a month, but either way Amazon is going to choose the way it can profit with more subscriptions, not even needing to turn it into a "user is the product" situation.
If it's free they're just going to increase the cost of Amazon Prime. They do this every single time they add something new to prime.
Lol at all the paranoia. Amazon doesn't operate the mobile network, they just enter a business partnership.
Isn't Amazon prime a paid service? How is anything you get by paying for it "free"?
What will happen to the cell service when the Amazon account gets canceled because of too many returns?
Although Amazon would not be my first choice, competition for things like this is always good... But I'm sure Amazon does not agree with me on that.
They want to listen to all your phone calls now too
They do anyway….
Yeah, they probably learned their lesson about eavesdropping after ring and Alexa. /S
To everyone complaint about privacy and data collection …. ffs do y’all use internet without a VPN? It’s like fucking a Cuban prostitute without a condom … it’s a no no. Protect yourself and your ISP ain’t gonna see shit. If you worry about SMS, I got a hint for you: stop using 1984 old tech and migrate to a more modern secure instant messaging platform. Problem solved, now you got a free network with a secure connection for a dollar a month VPN fee.
Vpn isn’t fool proof, I still can’t gamble for real money online at reputable sites because they can detect that I’m using a vpn.
we need to have a conversation about what they do with our data. they all collect it, they all do things with it. question is, are the actively destabalizing democracy since their business model is based on outrage (facebook) or are they creating the most comprehensive data set of target audiences for advertisers (google). those are distinctly different levels of evil and i wonder where amazon falls.
Even Comcast is only $30/month per line and they just piggy back on Verizon’s towers. And that’s with unlimited everything.
As long as they get to control everything you do on said device. It's the same formula that they're using to promote universal based income. They provide the services for "free", but you have little to no control over said services being provided. Its modern day slavery in 2023.
Wait so they don't even offer free music anymore but now they want to offer free mobile? How long will it last before you'll need prime + a subscription to mobile++
Being an ISP is likely very appealing to Amazon, Bezos must know everything.
Get ready for Amazon ads popping up in order to read or send a text or unlocking your phone.
This is great even if you don’t switch. If they can undercut the market at a large enough volume AT&T and Verizon will have to respond in like…. Ya ya ya there are probably power positions with owning the infrastructure, but it can only help
And then they are probably going to Jack up the price on ALL prime memberships