75 times in land mass, but only about 6 times in population. So I don't think the math is quite linear. But anyways, it is the way it is, you pay for what you can afford, just have to be smart and manage your phone bill right.
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AT&T Announces Massive 30-50GB Mobile Shared Data Plans
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75 times in land mass, but only about 6 times in population. So I don't think the math is quite linear. But anyways, it is the way it is, you pay for what you can afford, just have to be smart and manage your phone bill right.
When I was In England I got a free phone on a 12 month contract at £40/month and every 3 months I got a cheque in the mail back for £120 so if I didnt use over my min I got a free contract with a free phone, a couple of other contracts I got 2 free ps3s and a free ipod touch.
Now im in Poland I pay about £5.50 a month and get 40 mins, unlimited free mins to same network and 1gb data.
BUT then I see the price of petrol here and everything else and overall its cheaper in the states...
Now im in Poland I pay about £5.50 a month and get 40 mins, unlimited free mins to same network and 1gb data.
BUT then I see the price of petrol here and everything else and overall its cheaper in the states...
That's an interesting conspiracy theory. Just don't say something like "we won WW2" or you'll really get a flame war on your hands. Huh? In what world is this a good deal? You still must pay $30 per line, in addition to the data plan costs. If you are a business and divide out the costs, it really makes NO sense at all.
Especially when you begin looking at competitors, such as Straight Talk, Virgin Mobile, etc.
Especially when you begin looking at competitors, such as Straight Talk, Virgin Mobile, etc.
Doesn't work that way. Many areas in the US are rural with a very very small population density and they still still supply coverage to them (i.e. the number of cell towers to supply service is exponentially higher (the population density is much higher in the UK so it has a much better tower to population ratio - Fewer towers needed to cover everyone)).
There was this little thing that happened in the states a few decades ago called deregulation. It was supposed to be good for "us." It turned out to be REALLY good for massive corporations, not so much for consumers. And when the government agencies that monitored those big corporations were gutted many years ago, businesses were free to do pretty much anything they wanted.
Over the past couple of years, those agencies have been slowly rebuilt. But it remains to be seen if regulation will resume. In any case, when a new administration gets anointed in a few years, we might all be back to square one again.
But who else pays?
How much do wireline callers pay to call you? In the US, it's free. In the UK, isn't it about 20 cents/minute?
How much do wireline callers pay to call you? In the US, it's free. In the UK, isn't it about 20 cents/minute?
I wish they had these data share plans without the unlimited talk and text. I have a nice 550 Minute Family Share plan on at&t, and often don't use 200 minutes in a month, over 3 phones. I would love to find a way to reduce my data cost, instead of paying $30 each for two iPhones. However, this sharing system, would raise my costs 25%, mainly because of the unlimited talk and text.
TEG
TEG
But it's for up to 30 devices for business. So it's $30 for a phone, $10 for a tablet... And they all share this pool. Of you are actually using it for BUSINESS (and not for sales people to stream pandora all day in their card) that's not a bad deal. Even cheap 4g seems to be pretty quick now... So home care staff, lawyers, web designers could reasonably work off this all day off site now... No more wifi leeching.
Aha! I assumed that AT&T meant "American Telephone & something", now I know that it must be "American Telephone & Tea"
Come on, these are really plans for small business owners, not individual customers.
If I had a small business, I think this would be a great option actually. Then again, I actually did the math here rather than just complain about it.
If you did 25 individual lines, that's $100/month ($70 for unlimited voice & text + 30 for the 3GB plan). That's $2500 per month. You are forced to do the 3GB plan because almost everyone will do more than 300MB and so you either have overages or excess.
The 50GB plan is $500 plus $30/line. If you have 25 lines (the max), it's $1250/month. That's 2GB average per employee. Some will use less, some more. Even if you did have massive overages, you could go over by 83 GB (@ 15/GB) and still come out cheaper.
Even at the low end it's pretty reasonable. 15 devices * $30 = $450 + 300 = 750/15 devices = $50/month per device for unlimited talk & text + 2GB of data.
If I had a small business, I think this would be a great option actually. Then again, I actually did the math here rather than just complain about it.
If you did 25 individual lines, that's $100/month ($70 for unlimited voice & text + 30 for the 3GB plan). That's $2500 per month. You are forced to do the 3GB plan because almost everyone will do more than 300MB and so you either have overages or excess.
The 50GB plan is $500 plus $30/line. If you have 25 lines (the max), it's $1250/month. That's 2GB average per employee. Some will use less, some more. Even if you did have massive overages, you could go over by 83 GB (@ 15/GB) and still come out cheaper.
Even at the low end it's pretty reasonable. 15 devices * $30 = $450 + 300 = 750/15 devices = $50/month per device for unlimited talk & text + 2GB of data.
There's no capitalism at work here.
It's a heavily regulated and restricted market, controlled by the government. State regulation of industry is the same thing as kings of yore, granting their favorite friends land and power. There's nothing capitalistic about the communications industry, if that were the case, options that were too expensive would fail to win money from consumers' wallets.
When the market is unfairly restricted and favors are granted by the government, prices can skyrocket without natural limits like those imposed by demand. The price you're seeing is the price paid to your political masters for babysitting, who call it 'protecting consumers'.
Because airwaves/bandwidth isn't unlimited.
£30 is worth $45.30 USD, which means, you pay much more than I do at $30 a month for unlimited on AT&T. Seems, I still pay less.
Regional carrier, and limited availability. Yes, sure, sounds fun when it comes time to move around.
Alos, these plans are business oriented as the number of max devices per plan is 25. This is not for the average consumer. However, if you need 30GB or more and can pony up, by all means, go for it.
I don't know where you live but I'm going to go on a limb and say I'm pretty sure there are things in your country that are a lot more expensive than in the U.S. I've traveled the world, and cars, electronics, & food are a lot less expensive in the U.S., even CA and NY! than almost anywhere else on earth - for the same item (not that those things are inexpensive here either).
Also the tax burden for most European countries is about 20% higher than in the U.S., so there is that.
So enjoy your cheap data rate because you are likely way overpaying for everything else.
There's no capitalism at work here.
It's a heavily regulated and restricted market, controlled by the government. State regulation of industry is the same thing as kings of yore, granting their favorite friends land and power. There's nothing capitalistic about the communications industry, if that were the case, options that were too expensive would fail to win money from consumers' wallets.
When the market is unfairly restricted and favors are granted by the government, prices can skyrocket without natural limits like those imposed by demand. The price you're seeing is the price paid to your political masters for babysitting, who call it 'protecting consumers'.
With no or little regulation, companies are free - among other things - to collude to fix prices. Companies will also divide up territory ("market division") and agree not to compete there. I.e., Verizon and AT&T agree that one gets California exclusively and the other gets New York. Then each can jack up prices as high as they want in their respective territories instead of having to compete in both places. All of this is illegal thanks to regulation. It does happen in a completely open market.
See, companies don't want what is best for consumers. Companies don't want competition, and without regulation they will do anything to eliminate it. They want what is best for the bottom line. Many bad companies that make bad products and have bad customer service have survived for years even in competitive markets because no one cracked down on them. Once a company has control of a market, it is very difficult for some startup to get in and compete with them. And it would be even more difficult if there were no regulations restricting what practices companies can engage in.