And Japan gets better, faster, cooler stuff, but they pay a very high pricetag, which I'll get to in a minute.
I think the capping is bad, but not really unjustified. My family and I had a 30 GB or 40 GB monthly cap on our usage all the way back in 2000 or 2001 (if I remember correctly), possibly longer. I stopped paying attention. That was for $40 per month with Rogers. We had paid $40/month for years....maybe since 1997. Service and prices aren't better now, are they. The price on a technology that has not improved since 1997 should not cost more, since it probably costs them less to deliver it now. So you're right that in a way, it's criminal.
While the cost of the equipment used to deliver these services has probably been recouped by now, other costs have gone up. We all want wicked good mobile services, speedy internet, yadda yadda yadda, and we North Americans want to pay the lowest prices in the World for it.
Just like with other products, choosing to buy things strictly based on price, in order to save a few dollars, has gotten too far. Nobody buys based on the quality you get in return. That's why companies like Apple have included less "stuff" with their products, not more. Apple may not be a great example, because they make fracking huge margins, but that doesn't apply for every company, most of whom make measly small margins on products and pray that they make money off accessories. We used to get stuff for free. Apple stopped including a dock with their expensive iPods. Then it was the FW cable, even though the majority of Mac users would have still enjoyed it. No cables, no remote, no mini DVI to VGA adapters included with laptops......nothing. And that's just Apple. We've put companies in a bad position. Costs increase, but we're expecting even lower prices. Japanese people don't get cool stuff for nothing, and neither does Europe, or any of the countries Canadians and Americans compare themselves to. Everyone else pays more than the US and Canada. We get bragging rights for low prices, but we don't see what we've done to ourselves. The cost of having a mobile phone plan in Japan is something like $30-40 USD/month, and that doesn't include minutes or anything. You still have to add your phone, internet, and SMS charges.
That's what my friends paid 2 years ago. Nothing is free. I'm sure that if people in America were willing to pay the mobile and internet companies the amount of money they needed each month to (1) provide you with your mobile phone and internet service, and
(2) Slowly save money for research and development,
you'd all have the right to laugh in their face when they request that a tax be put on internet so that an entirely new infrastructure could be put up. Instead, your government probably has to consider it.
And I'm speaking as a Canadian. I'm sure my family had a great time paying $40/month for like 7 years. I'm sure we pay more now for internet (I'm not really sure of the cost right now), but I'm also certain that we're going to be behind in many ways.
