The Irksome Cellphone Industry, article by David Pogue.
I didn't know that in the US, the recipient of a cell phone call pays for it too! Geez.
And twenty cents per text message? Raised to that price about concurrently by all four major carriers?! I can send an email per minute, 16 hours a day, and it doesn't cost me a cent more than my basic subscription price.
Basically the world runs on "what can I get away with".
4 comments:
I didn't know that in the US, the recipient of a cell phone call pays for it too! Geez.
And twenty cents per text message? Raised to that price about concurrently by all four major carriers?! I can send an email per minute, 16 hours a day, and it doesn't cost me a cent more than my basic subscription price.
That's news to me. I live in the U.S. and it doesn't work that way for me. I have had the same plan for many years, just keep renewing, so maybe that's why. Maybe there is more competition in Europe, so greater savings.
Hmm, my plan counts "outside system" minutes, there are so many built in, but they are air time minutes, for in and out. I currently have 600 minutes out of network shared over two numbers.
I don't text, so don't pay the monthly fee, but do pay (last bill) 10c per text in or out.
I pay $10 per month for data (other than text), this include the GPS navigation (with live traffic data). The GPS can be bought for $3 per day, or $10 pcm. I figured just using it at daily when needed I can use my cell phone for a long time before I meet the cost of the cheapest TomTom.
The cellphone bill is very hard to read, but childs play next to a medical invoice set for a hospital visit.
In the UK consumers have true free banking, Medical is all "taken care of", phone bills were simple and cell phones are pay per use with pre-paid SIMs. Here in the USofA we like to be involved in our lives, and line by line billing, and only paying for what you use is all the fun of being here.
I have Virgin Mobile's "$49.99 plan" with unlimited minutes anytime, and an extra $10 plan for unlimited text messages. It's probably the cheapest cell phone service I have ever had, and reliable, too. Of course, government extortion adds almost $10 more to the cost per month, but those thieves have their hand in every pocket now.
'Basically the world runs on "what can I get away with".'
That has become so true, in recent times. Used to be, we had some checks & balances. Or the numbers of those sorts of people were less because it wasn't so profitable and technology didn't aid & abet.
To participate in modern society, it's gotten so complicated to keep up. Used to be "read the fine print"; now it's all fine print. Cell phones, credit cards, health insurance plans, etc.
Thanks for noting Pogue's piece.
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