I'm frequently surprised by how much power the US carriers seem to have. Here in the UK they are mostly reduced to dumb pipes. There are (almost) no operator exclusive phones, except for the cheapo own-brand ones, which few people would choose a network for. On top of that any phone you buy can be legally unlocked and switched to any other network.
It seems like a much better position as a consumer to be able to pick an operator based mainly on the line-rental charges and included data, minutes, etc.
I don't know if this is a consequence of laws around unlocking phones or simply because the operators in the UK pretty much match each other in coverage. Most built up areas have even coverage from them all so there is little to lock a buyer into one network or another.
You paint a rather rosy picture of UK carriers. Whilst you are right with regards to phone availability, while contracts and PAYG are still centred primarily around voice minutes and text messages, we are far from 'dumb pipe' territory.
Yes, I see your point that the pricing of the pipes is still weird and uneven. What I mean is that I can pick my network based mainly on the price of their pipe, not the availability of some handset or because it's the only one available in a certain area. This seems to be the theme of US carriers: driving people to buy the service not because of the service itself, but because of the other details. But then I suppose coverage is a service, especially in the large and sparse fields of the US.
Of course nothing is perfect. Just interesting as a contrast.
It seems like a much better position as a consumer to be able to pick an operator based mainly on the line-rental charges and included data, minutes, etc.
I don't know if this is a consequence of laws around unlocking phones or simply because the operators in the UK pretty much match each other in coverage. Most built up areas have even coverage from them all so there is little to lock a buyer into one network or another.