The iPhone has now Time Machine. With the iPhone in Germany you are able to talk at rates we had here about 5-6 years ago. That is awesome!!!
That is pretty awesome.The iPhone has now Time Machine. With the iPhone in Germany you are able to talk at rates we had here about 5-6 years ago. That is awesome!!!
Actually, in the US, both the person who sends the message and the one who receives the message pays. Thus each text message sent is in a sense, double paid.FYI, in europe the reason incoming calls and texts are free is because whoever sent them pays money for them to be delivered, ie. the network operator makes money every time you receive a call or text message [edit for clarity - unlike the US where it is you who is receiving the call/text message who the network makes money off, it is the person who has sent the call/text message who the network makes the money off, since part of their phone bill gets paid to your network as an 'interconnect fee' or whatever they call it]. in the UK the network three even pays you to recieve calls/texts, as they are simply passing some of this money they make back onto you.
So, actually getting free incoming calls is *not* actually worth €15 a month, if anything it's worth a discount off your line rental since your carrier makes money off the caller every time someone calls you.
I disagree. These rates are good. Think about it... these include VAT which is 19%, and incoming calls and incoming SMSs from anywhere are free, on top of the free Wifi zones!
In the US, we pay through the nose for those for these services. Do the math... let's pick the middle plan at 69 Euros:
1. Remove the cost of wifi zones which in Germany equates to 30 Euros/month, i.e. 69 - 30 = 39 Euros.
2. Let's remove the cost of incoming calls and SMS messages, say another 15 Euros (pulled this out of the air, but to me it seems reasonable) i.e. 39 - 15 = 24 Euros.
3. Remove 19% VAT (cause in the US, the rate plans are advertised without taxes) i.e. 24 Euros * 0.81 = 19.4 Euros. This equates to roughly $25 per month.
Now in the US... $25/month for 200 minutes (incoming and outgoing), 150 SMSs (incoming and outgoing) and unlimited data is not good? iPhone data plan itself is $20/month! So really, $5 you are getting 200 mins of talk time and 150 SMSs.
I am sorry I disagree, but these rates are excellent!!!
Your analysis is quite arbitrary and doesn't seem to be based on any hard numbers. I believe a German poster told us that the hotspot cost is 15 Euros, and that incoming calls are not truly free.
It'll be interesting to see how many people buy the phones and just unlock them.
I'm utterly damned if I'm paying these rates - it doesn't matter which ones you pick; US, UK, DE, they all suck like a Dyson. But unlike a Dyson, they keep on sucking for a year or more.
Unlocking's worth risking an iBrick to have a decent iPod, browser and phone but with a low-cost SIM card.
Otherwise simply wait for iPhone 2.0 -- February? With 3G, new OS and better applications.
Wow with ATT for 79.99 US we get:
900 min.
unlimited data
visual voicemail
200 sms
rollover
free m2m
free nights weekends
Your analysis is quite arbitrary and doesn't seem to be based on any hard numbers. I believe a German poster told us that the hotspot cost is 15 Euros, and that incoming calls are not truly free.
These plans are terrible and T-Mobile should be embarrassed with this offer.
Let's do the math again. From the consumer side, pre-tax prices are irrelevant, your bank account only sees the after-tax cost (from a company point of view, it is the other way around). Typical sales tax in the U.S., according to Wikipedia, is 8.5%. That will make the $60 plan cost you $65, that includes 450 min. Assuming half of them incoming minutes that roughly compares to the Complete L plan with 200 min for outgoing calls in Germany, which is 69 Euro. Taking the PPP implied by the Big Mac Index of 1.1 this translates into $76.
But no free Wi-fi hotspots. And that free m2m is so deceiving, since it's only to AT&T customers, not all cell phones.
And to the poster who said wikipedia said the average US sales tax is 8.5%, that seems high to me. Maybe in some places but not many, even NYC is less than that.
Ah ok, but even with this, the plan is a bad deal.Incoming calls are free as long you stay within Germany (or more general, in the country where your contract is based). That is the general rule in Europe. There might be exceptions, but I don't know of any specific ones.
I just returned from Germany 2 weeks ago and I had the 15 Euro plan that I had from T-Mobile was a 24-hour usage plan over 30 days, i.e. you only have a total of 1440 minutes worth of time you can be online total within the 30 day period. Once you go over this time limit OR 30 days, the plan expires. This was the rate without having any additional T-Mobile cell phone or land line service. I got the rate of unlimited usage of $39.99/month from the T-Mobile US website which equals about 30 Euros (my initial estimate)... https://selfcare.hotspot.t-mobile.com/services_plans.do
Just an offline correction - the Dyson KEEPS on sucking due to its special design (no, I am not affiliated or have any interest in Dyson other than that I own one).
This is a theme.
Some Country gets the iPhone. Everyone's excited.
Then they release the prices. Everyone's Shocked.
then some token Canadian comes on here and talks about 'well at least you have the iPhone!".......oh wait that's me....
ya,
i'm jealous...
so will apple and tmobile ever team up for the iphone in the usa?
or will it always be just att?
...And to the poster who said wikipedia said the average US sales tax is 8.5%, that seems high to me. Maybe in some places but not many, even NYC is less than that.
Sorry, but I'm still missing where Visual voicemail is a 'feature'.
I'd almost feel sorry for your euro prices, except that we Americans have crappy healthcare and are involved in futile wars across the globe![]()