WSJ's Wireless Savings Calculator

[Red Storm]

Well I can't imagine going over 500MB on Verizon's 3G. That would take a while.

 

[Super56K]

Well I can't imagine going over 500MB on Verizon's 3G. That would take a while.

And I swear they've been slowing it down gradually over the last two years. I just did a Speedtest and got: 106ms ping; .91 Mbps down; .71 Mbps up. Ugh.

 

[soccerballtux]

Verizon/AT&T/T-Mobile and the rest are so expensive it's insane.

I pay 38 dollars for 3 gigabyte of traffic, 6000 free text messages and 600 free phone calls and of course the maximum LTE speeds here in Sweden. Paying around 100 bucks for something less than that is a total ripoff. And I'd wager most people in 'Murica knows that, but why put up with it?

I sorta get that. I get 300 minutes, unlimited text, and 2.5GB data with Virgin mobile, $38.
used to be unlimited 4g data
it still is just throttled to 256k after 2.5g.
Doesn't bother me too much, I just wish they'd be more forgiving. I never use much data but still get caught by the streaming media filtering.

 

[BladeVenom]

Size of Sweden: 173,732 sq miles

Size of America: 3.794 million sq miles

95% of people live in less than 10% of the land. So for 95% of us, the size of the country shouldn't matter.

 

[Bateluer]

This really makes higher data usage on AT&T and Verizon look especially bad.

 

[Phanuel]

I've still got a grandfathered unlimited AT&T. Really hard to justify switching to anybody due to that.

 

[Red Storm]

95% of people live in less than 10% of the land. So for 95% of us, the size of the country shouldn't matter.

We've got 300 million people, they have 9 million. Which is easier to setup and then in the future upgrade a mobile network for? It's not at all the same scenario.

 

[Sid59]

I've still got a grandfathered unlimited AT&T. Really hard to justify switching to anybody due to that.

I left ATT unlimited (3gigs then throttled for non-LTE phones, 5 gigs then throttled for LTE phones)

I even had a 25% discount on Att

 

[AstroManLuca]

And I swear they've been slowing it down gradually over the last two years. I just did a Speedtest and got: 106ms ping; .91 Mbps down; .71 Mbps up. Ugh.

That's still about 8x faster than Sprint's 3G. And Sprint doesn't have LTE in very many places.

Oh yeah, I'm using Platinumtel pay-per-use. Data is kind of expensive (10 cents per MB) but I just leave it turned off unless I need to look something up. I have WiFi at home and at work, and the Nokia map app lets you download them for offline use.

I've had it for a month and a half now and used $23 of the $40 I started with. Pretty happy with that price. I realize it's not for everyone, but if you can live without mobile data all the time, you can save tons of money. Plus it makes the battery last longer.

 

[BladeVenom]

We've got 300 million people, they have 9 million. Which is easier to setup and then in the future upgrade a mobile network for? It's not at all the same scenario.

Economy of scale should make it cheaper for the larger population.

 

[Brian Stirling]

As best I remember Sweden is kind of two countries: almost all the people live in a fairly small area in the south and almost nobody lives up in the north. My guess is there is very little cellular service in the north. I'd guess that Sweden has, maybe, 0.2% as many cell towers as the USA.

The other factor, already mentioned, is the plan pricing in the USA includes about $400 for the phone over two years or more than $15/month.

I also have to wonder how much the Swedish carriers pay for spectrum? In the USA, with population centers like NYC that have 2X as many people as the entire country of Sweden, you have to patch together all the spectrum you can get.


Brian

 

[Sid59]

A bit off topic bit .. Anyone know which variant of the Samsung S4 will work on both att and Tmo?

 

[dlock13]

The one from the Play Store works on both.

 

[Tom]

95% of people live in less than 10% of the land. So for 95% of us, the size of the country shouldn't matter.

So you'd be happy if you could not reach people who live in the 90% you think should have no coverage ?

That misses the point of cell phones.

 

[Sid59]

The one from the Play Store works on both.

Can it be flashed with touchwiz? The phone would be for someone that'll like the extra features of touchwiz

 

[soccerballtux]

That's still about 8x faster than Sprint's 3G. And Sprint doesn't have LTE in very many places.

Oh yeah, I'm using Platinumtel pay-per-use. Data is kind of expensive (10 cents per MB) but I just leave it turned off unless I need to look something up. I have WiFi at home and at work, and the Nokia map app lets you download them for offline use.

I've had it for a month and a half now and used $23 of the $40 I started with. Pretty happy with that price. I realize it's not for everyone, but if you can live without mobile data all the time, you can save tons of money. Plus it makes the battery last longer.

Even so sprint's 3G is usually good enough for me. Anything 600kbps + I am ok with, which their 3G hits about half the time

 

[dguy6789]

I don't like savings calculators like this an awful lot because they are misleading. The only difference between the various services is not price. It isn't entirely accurate to just say Tmobile is cheaper so people should switch to Tmobile.

Unlimited mins, unlimited texts, and 2GB of data on Verizon is a very different experience from unlimited mins, unlimited texts, and 2GB of data on ATT, Sprint, or Tmobile. Prepaid and virtual networks are often given the last priority traffic wise on their parent networks when things get busy.

 

[dlock13]

Can it be flashed with touchwiz? The phone would be for someone that'll like the extra features of touchwiz

http://androidcommunity.com/modaco-switch-beta-1-arriving-for-the-samsung-galaxy-s-4-today-20130822/

There you go.

*note it's only in beta.

 

[evident]

Verizon/AT&T/T-Mobile and the rest are so expensive it's insane.

I pay 38 dollars for 3 gigabyte of traffic, 6000 free text messages and 600 free phone calls and of course the maximum LTE speeds here in Sweden. Paying around 100 bucks for something less than that is a total ripoff. And I'd wager most people in 'Murica knows that, but why put up with it?

what can we do ?

 

[lothar]

Verizon/AT&T/T-Mobile and the rest are so expensive it's insane.

I pay 38 dollars for 3 gigabyte of traffic, 6000 free text messages and 600 free phone calls and of course the maximum LTE speeds here in Sweden. Paying around 100 bucks for something less than that is a total ripoff. And I'd wager most people in 'Murica knows that, but why put up with it?

And what does the equivalent family plan cost in Sweden in comparison to T-Mobile's family plan?

 

[Yuriman]

I don't like savings calculators like this an awful lot because they are misleading. The only difference between the various services is not price. It isn't entirely accurate to just say Tmobile is cheaper so people should switch to Tmobile.

Unlimited mins, unlimited texts, and 2GB of data on Verizon is a very different experience from unlimited mins, unlimited texts, and 2GB of data on ATT, Sprint, or Tmobile. Prepaid and virtual networks are often given the last priority traffic wise on their parent networks when things get busy.

Very true, but I would argue that savings calculators still have a place for people who are less invested in quality of service.

Personally, if I had to start paying for my own service (employer covers it currently) I would probably try something like Republic Wireless's $20 per month no-contract plan. I'm hoping to become financially independent before I'm 40, and a large cellphone bill is something easily cut to improve rate of savings.

If I had 2 kids and wanted them to have phones, T-Mobile's $100 per month for 4 lines looks really tempting. I wouldn't want a $600 subsidized phone in the pocket of an elementary school student, and I wouldn't want to pay for it.