Data Plans Are Too Expensive

[Jay]

Whenever I watch TV, movies they always throw it in my face that IPHONES ARE COOL GET ONE NOW YOU RELIC.

Obviously, they are cool and this relic would LOVE to have one but... your data plans are fucken INSANE. I pay $20 a month for my cellphone, no license charges, with taxes for about 24-25 bucks which gives me a Fido-licious 300 minutes during the day, unlimited texting, voicemail, call display and nights and weekends free. Sure, I can't check "the score" or "surf" but seriously, WTF?

You know what is the cheapest data plan available to me? 60-65$ + tax.

I'm not short of money and in fact, I live comfortably however, good common sense impedes me from getting this toy... 65$ a month? for an iphone? I'd put a base plan no more than 35-40$ IMHO.

At the price is costs them, this would be like charging $100 bucks a month for basic DSL access to the internet. Yet right now I pay an extreme no limit internet plan for $35 a month.

If you think wireless carriers in North America charge too much, you are right. An analysis of cellphone plans worldwide found that consumers in the U.S., Canada and U.K. pay the highest for voice and text service on their phones, while those in India, Hong Kong and Japan pay the least. I checked some sites on the internet and here's a survey on how much WE pay for cellphones compared to other countries... yet we all talk to the same system but pass through different "middlemen"

A data plan should cost at least 20-25$ dollars less and because of the techno-junkies who accept gladly to get fleeced, the price fix for this service is beyond reasonable.

 

[strawman]

The US has far fewer people per square mile, and thus less revenue per cell tower, yet all those plans are nationwide roaming plans.

I'm sure they could be a little cheaper, but not that much. It takes far more towers to cover most of texas than it takes to cover all of japan. India is pretty large, but I expect that if you look at a coverage map it is pretty small in terms of how much area is covered by cell phone towers.
Added at: 20:02
Also, iphones/android/windows mobile 7 phones are cool, get one now you relic. (Actually you should wait until this summer or fall)

 

[Vagabond]

I'm just glad I have the unlimited data plan that verizon offers, before they eliminate that and change into tiered pricing later on this year.

Kinda being optimistic that they'll let me keep it indefinitely.

 

[strawman]

I'm skipping the iphone 4, and will probably end up getting whatever the next verizon version is, and chances are good they'll have the tiered plans in place.

While I feel disappointment about it, honestly I don't use that much data anyway, so I can't intellectually say that it's really a problem. Still, I like the idea of an unlimited plan.

 

[Jay]

Not at that price tag.

Difference of 50$ bucks? No thanks. That's 600$ thrown away a year. That's half the cost of a new gaming rig. The price of a band new XBOX and PS3. 4 DSes. 12 great dinners with the woman. 20 brand new computer games. 24+ nights at the movie theater. 1 ton of Diet Cola to send to Jiarn.

The extra stuff is cool, in fact neat but that's basically too much of a commitment. (heck, that's like paying 4 MMO subscriptions a month)

Insane!

 

[ThatNickGuy]

I just upgraded to an Android Galaxy S phone with a new plan. It's got a 1G/month data plan. BUT, and this was a relief to me when I was told...the data plan only comes into play when you aren't accessing free Wi-Fi. So, if I log into my wireless at home, it doesn't count.

You're right about the data plan costs being ridiculous, though. I haven't had a chance to fully take advantage of everything my Galaxy can do yet, but it's been enjoyable. I finally have unlimted texting worldwide, which is going to save me some bucks since I've become a big texter since first getting a cell.

 

[fade]

I have an iPhone 4. I use the min data plan at 15 a month. WiFi is so ubiquitous that I never even come close to the 200MB limit. In fact, some months, I barely use any.

 

[figmentPez]

The US has far fewer people per square mile, and thus less revenue per cell tower, yet all those plans are nationwide roaming plans.

I don't buy that reasoning. Sweden has a lower population per square mile than than the USA, but it also has lower priced plans (are they government subsidized?). Also, some countries don't bundle phones with contracts. You have to buy the phone outright, unlike here where the cost of the phone is usually built-in to the price of the plan. How much of the extra price we pay is actually the cost of the phone?

There isn't cellphone coverage for every square mile in the USA. There are huge areas with no coverage. I wish there were numbers for the population per square mile, in areas that have cellphone coverage. If you cut out all the uninhabited deserts, and other areas with no people and no coverage, how much does that change the numbers?

 

[LittleSin]

I'm just glad I have the unlimited data plan that verizon offers, before they eliminate that and change into tiered pricing later on this year.

Kinda being optimistic that they'll let me keep it indefinitely.

As a former SprintNextel employee I will tell you that those kind of plans are called legacy plans and usually don't go anywhere unless you make changes to you cell plan.

Even if they do try to switch on you just threaten to cancel...those retention reps are sly bastards and will do anything to make sure you stay.

Then again, this isn't Verizon but I suspect that all phone companies run in a similar fashion.

 

[Jiarn]

Droid X here. $59.99 unlimited mobile to mobile + text. $29.99 Data plan. 22% work discount = Very comfortable 75-80$ bill after taxes.

 

[Ravenpoe]

Droid X here. $59.99 unlimited mobile to mobile + text. $29.99 Data plan. 22% work discount = Very comfortable 75-80$ bill after taxes.

Droid X here as well. Welcome brother!

$29.99/month* for unlimited voice, texting, and internet, complete with unlimited wifi tether.


*verizon employee plan!

 

[David]

Virgin has 300 talk minutes plus unlimited data and texts and for $25 a month. Unfortunately they don't seem to cover my area very well.

 

[Ravenpoe]

Virgin has 300 talk minutes plus unlimited data and texts and for $25 a month. Unfortunately they don't seem to cover my area very well.

I hate Virgin Mobile. And this doesn't stem from being someone who makes a living selling Verizon phones. It comes from someone who used to sell cellular phones of all kinds. Virgin Mobile had the most shit service of all of them, and god help you should you ever be forced to deal with their shoddy, fly by night customer service.

 

[PatrThom]

Pay-as-you-go phone, here. $3.35/mo gives me all the minutes I need.

I would jump at an iPhone almost immediately if they ever come out with a data-only option (without having to be medically deaf). I can probably handle paying $30/mo for data, but having to pay almost $70/mo on top of that for messaging and minutes that I obviously don't need?

No.

--Patrick

 

[strawman]

Yeah, they really should sell the iPad data plan for the iPhone.

 

[fade]

PatrThom, AT&T has a low minute plan and a low data plan. I pay about $80 a month for a family plan of iPhones. That's with a 15% discount from work, but still. I never come close to using it all.

 

[strawman]

I don't buy that reasoning. Sweden has a lower population per square mile than than the USA, but it also has lower priced plans (are they government subsidized?).

IIRC a lot of telecoms were or are either run by, subsidized by, or heavily regulated by the gov't in many of those countries. Further, like the US, there is a lot of area that isn't covered by cellular signals. But even if you just look at major US cities with full coverage and add those areas up, you'll still have a much larger area, and more people, to cover than many countries with cheaper plans.

Also, some countries don't bundle phones with contracts. You have to buy the phone outright, unlike here where the cost of the phone is usually built-in to the price of the plan. How much of the extra price we pay is actually the cost of the phone?

This is actually a very relevant issue. Carriers offer the phone unsubsidized, but through clever contracts they hide the fact that you are paying the subsidized service rate even if you bring your own phone to the network.

However, even a subsidized iPhone only carries $200 into the cost of a two yer contract (the business is tricky, so even if you are getting a $399 phone for $99 plus contract, they really only spend $200 subsidizing it), so the unsubsidized plan would only be on the order of $8 less per month. That certainly doesn't cover the difference, but it is a large part of the overall puzzle.

 

[Jiarn]

Actually you get a $600 phone for $200 if you get the 2yr plan with Verizon. That's a chunk of savings.

 

[Adam]

I pay $20 for the data plan on my Ipad. 500MB limit though (Which I've never come close to hitting).

 

[Ravenpoe]

I average about 8 gigs a month on my droid's 3g

 

[Azurephoenix]

The only thing that's inexpensive in Canada is gasoline (and even then the USA is still cheaper).

I really like my iphone... but I'm paying about $75 a month for it. That does include a 500mb data plan though which is nice when you need it.

 

[Chibibar]

What I don't like (but I do have it) is that the data plan is 30$ a month on TOP of you minute plan but my wife, my mother and I are all on unlimited data plan (grandfather in) with our iPhone my phone bill for 5 phone + U-verse internet is 400 a month.

 

[TheBrew]

Data plan?

Lisa needs braces!

 

[Jay]

What I don't like (but I do have it) is that the data plan is 30$ a month on TOP of you minute plan but my wife, my mother and I are all on unlimited data plan (grandfather in) with our iPhone my phone bill for 5 phone + U-verse internet is 400 a month.

jesus christ

 

[evilmike]

Pay-as-you-go phone, here. $3.35/mo gives me all the minutes I need.

Which plan are you using?

 

[strawman]

Which plan are you using?

He's probably got Boost or something similar. You buy a $10 credit every three months just to keep it alive, and the $10 gives you 100-200 minutes.

 

[PatrThom]

PatrThom, AT&T has a low minute plan and a low data plan. I pay about $80 a month for a family plan of iPhones. That's with a 15% discount from work, but still. I never come close to using it all.

I pay $60/mo for 6/1 Internet and unlimited home phone (landline which I will not cancel). Even with that discount (yes, I can get it also), the best plan I could find was still going to be about $70/mo total in addition to the landline. I refuse to pay more than $40. It is true that I haven't checked recently, though. Things may have changed (especially with Verizon entering the picture).

Which plan are you using?

T-Mobile, buy a $10 card every 3 months, never text.

--Patrick

 

[Chibibar]

jesus christ

lets see.
They charge 30$ per phone (3 iphones) I pay 10$ per additional line (4 lines total) I have 1300 family plan (70$) unlimited Text which is another 25 plus taxes. My U-Verse is around 120 (400 channels + 2 movie channels+6MB internet) so comes to around 400$ a month.