Why are phone plans so expensive?

[BarkingGhostar]

The fact that north america has by far the highest rates in the world leads me to believe there is price fixing going on. I don't see any good reason why we should pay 2x what europe pays

Not only that, but the profit is about 40% on delivered services. Compare this to <10% in all other delivered services by the Bell companies.

And yet, I can consistently watch the parking lots of cellular companies filled with poor people looking to starve their children in order to have it. Its the electronics version of crack.

Of course, one needs to do the accounting review to see just what they are paying in other areas of their lives. For instance, how much one spends on eating out. How much they spend on the gasoline taxes. How much you spend on your neighbor's failing students.

I pay $100/month for my TMo service and +$200 for the public school system I am not burdening. I get better results with TMo that the county public school system.

 

[Lean L]

Don't be retarded. The cost per minute of telecommunications service has always and will always continue to fall. It has never been cheaper to own and use a phone than it is today. The fist long distance calls between New York and San Francisco cost $21 for 3 minutes, in 1915 dollars. That's roughly $300/minute in today's cost. You now get several months worth of calls for that amount. The cost reduction is staggering really. To arrive at your crybaby perspective requires extreme myopia.

Are you familiar with the tech lifecycle? Looking at the number of adopters of cell phones, we are at maturity yet they charge us as early adopters. How do you explain european or asian rates? The fact that they charge 20 cents per text now vs 10 cents per text a few years ago proves that they are doing some sort of price manipulation.

It doesn't matter how much it cost when the tech was first available. I'm sure if you compared the price decline of cell phones vs the price decline of... oh say.. any other piece of technology you'd see the "myopic" viewpoint.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Umm....what part of "unlimited" did you not understand?

You confused me when you added: to any cellphone, read like fine print so I'm asking for clarification. Thx

4 lines
Unlimited minutes to ANY cellphone
Unlimited texts
Unlimited data

Sprint does not charge you extra minutes/time when you talk to another cell phone with a US/Canada # - no matter who the carrier is.

 

[shortylickens]

The fact that north america has by far the highest rates in the world leads me to believe there is price fixing going on. I don't see any good reason why we should pay 2x what europe pays

 

[AMDZen]

The fact that north america has by far the highest rates in the world leads me to believe there is price fixing going on. I don't see any good reason why we should pay 2x what europe pays

Why don't you try looking at a map and then maybe you can figure it out.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Are you familiar with the tech lifecycle? Looking at the number of adopters of cell phones, we are at maturity yet they charge us as early adopters. How do you explain european or asian rates? The fact that they charge 20 cents per text now vs 10 cents per text a few years ago proves that they are doing some sort of price manipulation.

It doesn't matter how much it cost when the tech was first available. I'm sure if you compared the price decline of cell phones vs the price decline of... oh say.. any other piece of technology you'd see the "myopic" viewpoint.

You obviously weren't an earlier adopter of cell phones when it cost $20 for 20 minutes of time. And the fact that the size of the US makes the cost of deployment, maintenance, etc much higher than in other countries.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Why don't you try looking at a map and then maybe you can figure it out.

Lots of stupid people out there. Scary.

 

[Lean L]

You obviously weren't an earlier adopter of cell phones when it cost $20 for 20 minutes of time. And the fact that the size of the US makes the cost of deployment, maintenance, etc much higher than in other countries.

That may be so but increasing sms costs makes no sense whatsoever. There should not be a price hike no matter how expensive the infrastructure. As tech advances, the cost per tower goes down, the footprint of towers go down, the tower:user ratio goes down. So even if the infrastructure has to increase drastically due to more users, the price per text should not double.

 

[Monster_Munch]

Does that $120 a month include a free phone every 2 years as well?

 

[Capt Caveman]

That may be so but increasing sms costs makes no sense whatsoever. There should not be a price hike no matter how expensive the infrastructure. As tech advances, the cost per tower goes down, the footprint of towers go down, the tower:user ratio goes down. So even if the infrastructure has to increase drastically due to more users, the price per text should not double.

Buy an unlimited plan for $5/month.

/thread

 

[Tweak155]

Sprint does not charge you extra minutes/time when you talk to another cell phone with a US/Canada # - no matter who the carrier is.

Its usually unlimited to any cell phone, but not land lines.

 

[Svnla]

<<<--- is hugging his old (> 2 years) smart phone with SERO from Sprint for $30 plus junk fees/taxes ~$34/month with 500 anytime minutes and unlimit everything else. Yes, unlimit everything else (text, data, picture, etc.).

Take that ATT and Verizon (for now).

 

[Tweak155]

<<<--- is hugging his old (> 2 years) smart phone with SERO from Sprint for $30 plus junk fees/taxes ~$34/month with 500 anytime minutes and unlimit everything else. Yes, unlimit everything else (text, data, picture, etc.).

Take that ATT and Verizon (for now).

I had this but with discounts up until a few months ago. Was about $29 after taxes.

I then wanted a different phone and then I needed more minutes. But still, 1250 minutes with all that other jazz on a blackberry for $59.99 isn't terrible. Either way my work pays my cell bill so what do I care?

 

[SphinxnihpS]

I can't see the forest for the trees!

 

[CVSiN]

I'm currently on a family plan with att.

2 lines
700mins shared
200 txts on one
200mb data on the other

This shit adds up to around $120 a month? How have wireless telcos been able to continually rip everyone off like this?

What can I do to lower this?

because CEOs summer homes need pools? and 10th Ferrari's need new tires?

Corporate greed.. that's why..

 

[Sureshot324]

Why don't you try looking at a map and then maybe you can figure it out.

And your point is what, that North America is more spread out? That still doesn't justify the massive price differences compared to everywhere else in the world.

 

[AMCRambler]

coz verizon guy need braces

Spaceman never fails to get me to shake my head and chuckle at his posts.

 

[alkemyst]

Spaceman never fails to get me to shake my head and chuckle at his posts.

:awe: tr00 luv!

 

[Dominato3r]

Unlimited minutes, data, texts - $45

http://www.mobilicity.ca/

 

[BUTCH1]

Unlimited minutes, data, texts - $45

http://www.mobilicity.ca/

useless unless you live in their limited coverage area and if you leave it watch them whack you with roaming charges.

 

[Sureshot324]

Unlimited minutes, data, texts - $45

http://www.mobilicity.ca/

Fuck that's a sweet plan. Voicemail/call display is included too and if you scroll down, you can even get 33&#37; off that if you commit for a year. Only downside is you have to buy the phone outright but at those rates it would take less than a year to make that back. If only I could get out of my Rogers contract. I wouldn't even care about the roaming charges outside of their coverage. I don't use my phone outside Ottawa enough for that to matter.

 

[freegeeks]

LOL, in Belgium you have no contract 15 euro / month plans which include data (2 GB), SMS (2000) and calls and people still bitch here that it is expensive

 

[Dulanic]

The fact that north america has by far the highest rates in the world leads me to believe there is price fixing going on. I don't see any good reason why we should pay 2x what europe pays

It has to do with 2 things. 1 is top of the line smart phones everyone wants that the carriers are recovering the cost from. 2 is the amount of cell towers needed by the carriers, there is ALOT more land to cover and lower population density than europe. Oh and 3, we are getting ripped off too.

 

[dmcowen674]

You're only option, move to Europe

This

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally Posted by AMDZen
Why don't you try looking at a map and then maybe you can figure it out.

And your point is what, that North America is more spread out?

That still doesn't justify the massive price differences compared to everywhere else in the world.

Those that personally gain from the raping of Americans use this excuse for everything.