Mobile Data Costs

Started by Kythia, October 07, 2013, 04:57:50 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Kythia

http://gizmodo.com/the-price-of-500mb-of-mobile-data-across-the-world-1442047579

I'm amazed.  How on earth is it costing so much in the US?  What's going on there?
242037

Aiden

We are basically at the mercy of whatever our mobile providers say.

I am in transition from Verizon to Metro PCS, where my bill would be cut in half.

Callie Del Noire

Quote from: Kythia on October 07, 2013, 04:57:50 PM
http://gizmodo.com/the-price-of-500mb-of-mobile-data-across-the-world-1442047579

I'm amazed.  How on earth is it costing so much in the US?  What's going on there?

I think the words you are looking for are 'agreed price fixing'. The mobile companies state side are gouging the hell out of us and ironically are NOT using as much for what they are getting to upgrade their networks.

gaggedLouise

My brother acquired and iphone/ipad package last week, a bargain deal with subscriptions on the go, I'll have to hear what he's getting - it sounded like he got a good deal though.

Good girl but bad  -- Proud sister of the amazing, blackberry-sweet Violet Girl

Sometimes bound and cuntrolled, sometimes free and easy 

"I'm a pretty good cook, I'm sitting on my groceries.
Come up to my kitchen, I'll show you my best recipes"

Kythia

I'm getting unlimited for *checks* £13.99 a month.  That's a business contract though so I dunno how typical it is.
242037

Vekseid

Quote from: Kythia on October 07, 2013, 04:57:50 PM
http://gizmodo.com/the-price-of-500mb-of-mobile-data-across-the-world-1442047579

I'm amazed.  How on earth is it costing so much in the US?  What's going on there?

It is well-known fact that US mobile providers are engaging in price fixing. There's just no 'proof'.

Callie Del Noire

Quote from: Vekseid on October 09, 2013, 04:11:23 AM
It is well-known fact that US mobile providers are engaging in price fixing. There's just no 'proof'.

I'm waiting fora MASSIVE network failure on behalf of one of the providers to shake up thing to where they can't go on like this. Losing say a chunk of New York City or LA county sound like just the sort of thing to show JUST how much of the infrastructure support has been going on.

Chris Brady

In the U.S. there's only one major company that owns the network infrastructure.  Up here in Canada, in Ontario, there's two.  No matter which company you pay through, they're owned by Ma Bell for you Americans.  Up here, we have Rogers and Bell fighting for space, but every little wireless service pays them and are in fact, own by them.
My O&Os Peruse at your doom.

So I make a A&A thread but do I put it here?  No.  Of course not.

Also, I now come with Kung-Fu Blog action.  Here:  Where I talk about comics and all sorts of gaming

Aiden

It's basically what is going on with cable companies, there is no competition for them and because of that, they get to bend us over a barrel.

I am waiting for google to expand, I hear that cable companies in the east are actually lowering prices and doing what they need to do to hold onto their customers.

Iniquitous

As someone who works for a cable company in the east I can tell you this is not true. Prices remain about the same though the one I work for is rolling out a new platform for their video service that makes it better.
Bow to the Queen; I'm the Alpha, the Omega, everything in between.


Kythia

Is there no body like our Competition Commission who can investigate and tell all involved to knock it off?
242037

Scribbles

Quote from: Kythia on October 09, 2013, 12:55:00 PM
Is there no body like our Competition Commission who can investigate and tell all involved to knock it off?

Unless something has changed, I think America has antitrust laws to encourage fair competition but are they even enforced anymore?
AA and OO
Current Games: Stretched Thin, Very Little Time

Oniya

I'm not entirely sure what department this should fall under:  The Federal Trade Commission (for the price-fixing/monopoly) or the Federal Communications Commission (for the maintenance of the communications infrastructure.)
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Vekseid

Quote from: Chris Brady on October 09, 2013, 11:14:04 AM
In the U.S. there's only one major company that owns the network infrastructure.  Up here in Canada, in Ontario, there's two.  No matter which company you pay through, they're owned by Ma Bell for you Americans.  Up here, we have Rogers and Bell fighting for space, but every little wireless service pays them and are in fact, own by them.

...the hell? This hasn't been true for three decades.

There are four wireless carriers in the US, each with their own network. Virtual operators operate off of these:
AT&T Wireless/Cingular/whatevertheycallthemselvesnow
T-Mobile
Sprint-Nextel
Verizon

Callie Del Noire

Quote from: Vekseid on October 10, 2013, 10:33:46 AM
...the hell? This hasn't been true for three decades.

There are four wireless carriers in the US, each with their own network. Virtual operators operate off of these:
AT&T Wireless/Cingular/whatevertheycallthemselvesnow
T-Mobile
Sprint-Nextel
Verizon

Yeah..definitely way out of date.. Ma Bell was broke up.. but only a small portion of the switching hardware of the old network is relevant to Cell Networks anyway. The 'gateways' mostly if I understand it. The actual towers are 'relatively' new if I understand folks right

kylie

     Now if you want to talk about a monopoly and expensive "overage" costs on data or time use, come to parts of China...  On the service I have now, it's like $1/hr. after 200 hours in a month.  And 15 gb package or you get charged for more, too.

And with that, I should probably be sitting on a cheaper connection right now...  But in fact, I is lazy and likes my high speed picture loading, though it may end up very expensive here.

::)
     

Valthazar

Even now there are some pretty sweet deals.

Virgin Mobile (subsidiary of Sprint) offers 300 anytime minutes, unlimited messaging, and unlimited mobile data for $35 a month.  Pretty nice deal if you ask me, but not sure how good the quality of speed is.

Caeli

Quote from: ValthazarElite on October 10, 2013, 06:07:17 PM
Even now there are some pretty sweet deals.

Virgin Mobile (subsidiary of Sprint) offers 300 anytime minutes, unlimited messaging, and unlimited mobile data for $35 a month.  Pretty nice deal if you ask me, but not sure how good the quality of speed is.

I've been looking into Virgin Mobile after my contract finishes with Verizon. I'm getting gouged every month for the cost of my data plan, but I barely use half of it as it is.
ʙᴜᴛᴛᴇʀғʟɪᴇs ᴀʀᴇ ɢᴏᴅ's ᴘʀᴏᴏғ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴇ ᴄᴀɴ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ᴄʜᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴀᴛ ʟɪғᴇ
ᴠᴇʀʏ sᴇʟᴇᴄᴛɪᴠᴇʟʏ ᴀᴠᴀɪʟᴀʙʟᴇ ғᴏʀ ɴᴇᴡ ʀᴏʟᴇᴘʟᴀʏs

ᴄʜᴇᴄᴋ ❋ ғᴏʀ ɪᴅᴇᴀs; 'ø' ғᴏʀ ᴏɴs&ᴏғғs, ᴏʀ ᴘᴍ ᴍᴇ.
{ø 𝕨 
  𝕒 }
»  ᴇʟʟɪᴡʀɪᴍᴏ
»  ᴄʜᴏᴏsᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴏᴡɴ ᴀᴅᴠᴇɴᴛᴜʀᴇ: ᴛʜᴇ ғɪғᴛʜ sᴄʜᴏʟᴀʀʟʏ ᴀʀᴛ
»  ひらひらと舞い散る桜に 手を伸ばすよ
»  ᴘʟᴏᴛ ʙᴜɴɴɪᴇs × sᴛᴏʀʏ sᴇᴇᴅs × ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ ɪɴsᴘɪʀᴀᴛɪᴏɴs

Retribution

I loath Verizon and will not bore you all with all the times they have given me the shaft or that things have turned into a protracted battle. Thing is where I live they have coverage, they also have relatively good service in the areas I visit family and so on. Being in an extremely rural area my family is all cellular for phone and internet. We dumped Hughes Net for internet because they were pricey and their service was spotty at best and most others I know describe their service as sub par as well. So on unlimited minutes and text share everything Verizon really gets in my pocket on data. And like I said I hate their lack of customer service as well as price.

The thing is about anyone around here will tell you that if you want reliable coverage then you are stuck with Verizon. The other carriers are so spotty that it really does not make sense to use them. Even though the prices are nice it does not do you much good if you cannot get out. So what that all pans out to is a monopoly if not in actuality, in theory. So Verizon continues to screw you and one has to pretty much smile and take it.

Valthazar

Quote from: Caeli on October 10, 2013, 06:56:40 PM
I've been looking into Virgin Mobile after my contract finishes with Verizon. I'm getting gouged every month for the cost of my data plan, but I barely use half of it as it is.

I'm in the exact same boat as you.  I'll probably switch sometime next year.

Callie Del Noire

The MAIN reason (aside from my backdated data plan) I can't change is I use an iPhone and it is kind of a one service phone for the model I have.. ie.. there is 'one model' for ATT and one for Verizon. If I switch it will be after I completely and totally wear out my phone.

Chris Brady

Quote from: Vekseid on October 10, 2013, 10:33:46 AM
...the hell? This hasn't been true for three decades.

There are four wireless carriers in the US, each with their own network. Virtual operators operate off of these:
AT&T Wireless/Cingular/whatevertheycallthemselvesnow
T-Mobile
Sprint-Nextel
Verizon
All of which are owned by Bell, up here.  At least up here in Canada, they have to pay Bell for the use of their bandwidth.
My O&Os Peruse at your doom.

So I make a A&A thread but do I put it here?  No.  Of course not.

Also, I now come with Kung-Fu Blog action.  Here:  Where I talk about comics and all sorts of gaming

alextaylor

Might not even be price fixing. Telecommunications is absurdly expensive to get into so there are rarely any new competitors. The existing competitors can just charge an absurd price for a new product (like data). They know better than to engage in a price war as all of them would lose out. It's often only the new guys who crack and give in a much lower price than the others.

Malaysia's seen similar... but hey, most of us are willing to pay triple our present phone bill costs for mobile internet. There's no price fixing here, but the last time they competed on prices, text messaging costs went down to about $0.002/SMS. They've learned their lesson and won't be undercutting their competitors anytime soon.
O/O

Vekseid

Quote from: Chris Brady on October 11, 2013, 06:19:05 PM
All of which are owned by Bell, up here.  At least up here in Canada, they have to pay Bell for the use of their bandwidth.

Paying for using someone elses network does not mean owned by.

dragonsen

Quote from: ValthazarElite on October 11, 2013, 01:00:33 PM
I'm in the exact same boat as you.  I'll probably switch sometime next year.

My wife and I were with Spring for 8 years. When we decided to finally buckle and get smart phones, Sprint wanted to charge us an arm and a leg. We looked around and chose T-Mobile for our service. We pay about $140 a month for two phones. That gives us 1000 shared min and unlimited text and data.
Knowledge is the gathering of useless information - Arthvr Dragonsen
Discord: arthvrdragonsen
My Ons & Offs - My Plot Requests - My E AppKnown Absences - Story Lottery Profile - Stories

Caela

Quote from: Aiden on October 09, 2013, 11:41:00 AM
It's basically what is going on with cable companies, there is no competition for them and because of that, they get to bend us over a barrel.

I am waiting for google to expand, I hear that cable companies in the east are actually lowering prices and doing what they need to do to hold onto their customers.

I got sick of cable a long time ago. Haven't bothered buying that product in years. Before things like Netflix and Hulu got as big as they are, I'd just wait for shows or movies to come out on DVD and rent them from the video store or library. Meant I was always behind, but I wasn't getting bent over with no lube!

Even now, I pay roughly 16$ a month total for my Hulu and Netflix subscriptions and skip the cable companies entirely.

As for my phone...I got tired of all their crap too and a few weeks ago I got rid of the cell phone and went back to just a house phone. I thought this would be a travesty but I keep a pre-paid in the car for emergencies only and don't actually miss my smart phone at all.

In the end they can only charge you what you're willing to tolerate.

Valthazar

If you have Verizon's family shared mobile plan and only one person is planning to switch to Virgin Mobile, it not much of a savings then.  I think it is about $40 per line on Verizon, and $35 on Virgin Mobile.