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The cost of 1GB of mobile data in 228 countries (Feb 2020)

cable.co.uk

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Re: The cost of 1GB of mobile data in 228 countries (Feb 2020)

#111

Post by Scoundreller »

amingilani wrote: post #47

Not all Internet experiences are equal though. 1 GB of internet in Pakistan ($0.69) ≠ 1 GB of internet in Canada ($12.55). I would gladly trade my Pakistani internet plan for my Canadian internet plan. Last month, when I was in Pakistan, my experience was: + highly censored to the point where even services like Cloudflare's edge-node's within the country were being MiTM-ed by the censors [0]; + I couldn't use "any mo…

Doesn't all of that censorship make .pk internet access more expensive than it would be?

Firewalls and maintaining them aren't free. Cheaper to let it all pass through, especially when it isn't harmful to the network itself.

Re: The cost of 1GB of mobile data in 228 countries (Feb 2020)

#112

Post by takeda »

inglor wrote: post #69

Israeli here, pay 7$ for 200GB of data (well I pay 14$ for 400GB and use one as home internet backup because it is cheap). It used to be quite expensive here at around $100/mo for 10GB but the government broke up the monopoly and forced competition into the market by making existing players share infrastructure. We went up from main 3 providers to around 10 and prices dropped sharply. My government screws up quite a…

> by making existing players share infrastructure.

This is exactly what US needs to do to bring back competition. Sadly even Wheeler who reclassified Internet to Title II, excluded that part of it.

Back in late 90s and early 2000, we had huge competition, exactly because of Title II (DSL, which ruled the net back then, because was under telecos automatically was under Title II, so your phone lines could be leased to other companies). In 2003 Internet was officially classified under Title I which ended this (including net neutrality) and here we are now.

Re: The cost of 1GB of mobile data in 228 countries (Feb 2020)

#113

Post by Gibbon1 »

inetknght wrote: post #53
Gibbon1 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US Jevons paradox is in play with debt and rents. Baumol's cost disease also means debt and rents are slowly snuffing out other types of economic activity.

You've got a bunch of buzzwords to describe why telcos in America fleece customers. Make it simpler for the rest of us, would you? Rent isn't a good thing here.

It's exceeding obvious, capital is cheap. The means the finance industry uses more of it. They use it for rent seeking shenanigans that wouldn't make a return if it were higher priced. The problem is increased rent extraction reduces the return on economic activities that require real investment. Because the cost of labor and rents are too high to compete with aforementioned shenanigans.

Simple simple simple.

Re: The cost of 1GB of mobile data in 228 countries (Feb 2020)

#114

Post by martinmunk »

I’m in Denmark. I have “3” as a phone provider and have essentially an unlimited plan for 30usd, with free roaming in most of the world. My home internet is served as an IOT plan with a “300MB” plan that in practice the network owned by the old national provider don’t cap, so I hit 1TB on 4G with a monthly fee of ~4.7USD. I know many people who does the same. The US really seem like in need of some good old competition.

Re: The cost of 1GB of mobile data in 228 countries (Feb 2020)

#115

Post by fellellor »

rvp-x wrote: post #104
notRobot wrote: post #3

I don't understand, why is it that it costs less than $1 in countries in Asia for a GB of mobile data but costs ~$15 for the same in the United States? Can someone with knowledge of the industry please explain the reasons for this discrepancy to me?

Israel managed to significantly lower the rates with the introduction of the following changes: - Ban on SIM-locking of phones to one provider - Allowing users to change providers without losing their phone number - Ban on "exit penalties" for customers leaving a contract - Forcing existing infrastructure providers to share their infrastructure with virtual or not-yet-fully-deployed new providers

The same points hold for India as well. We’ve never had SIM locking and exit penalties and have had number portability for quite a long time. Cellular infrastructure though was handled by “non public facing” companies, owned by consortiums of telecom companies. With the entry of Reliance Jio, these companies joined hands to lock Jio out of their networks. For quite some time, cross network calls would be of very poor quality or almost impossible. Things have improved a lot since then.

However, it’s great the Israel has made it possible for infrastructure to be shared as a utility, allowing new players an easier entry. That will keep things competitive for a long time.

Re: The cost of 1GB of mobile data in 228 countries (Feb 2020)

#116

Post by onemiketwelve »

martinmunk wrote: post #114

I’m in Denmark. I have “3” as a phone provider and have essentially an unlimited plan for 30usd, with free roaming in most of the world. My home internet is served as an IOT plan with a “300MB” plan that in practice the network owned by the old national provider don’t cap, so I hit 1TB on 4G with a monthly fee of ~4.7USD. I know many people who does the same. The US really seem like in need of some good old competiti…

Could a random person show up in Denmark and buy this plan? That sounds amazing

Re: The cost of 1GB of mobile data in 228 countries (Feb 2020)

#117

Post by grecy »

sgt wrote: post #23
grecy wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was always my dream to complete the loop, but the situation just didn't allow it. It is impossible to get a visa for Libya, and with the ongoing civil war the safety situation is B.A.D. Even if I got a visa, the Egyptian military wouldn't let me get anywhere NEAR the border. They're extremely protective of tourists and won't let them go anywhere "dangerous". They also wouldn't let me drive the Sinai over to Isreal…

Have you watched Motonomad? I guess Adam Riemann was lucky with the timing being allowed into Sinai.

A motorbike is usually OK on the Sinai.

Funny enough, for the Sinai they don't care about me being kidnapped, they care about my Jeep being kidnapped and used by ISIS against them. So a good vehicle like my Jeep is not allowed across the Sinai, but they don't care too much (or at least you can talk your way through) on a motorbike.

Re: The cost of 1GB of mobile data in 228 countries (Feb 2020)

#118

Post by Scoundreller »

jzwinck wrote: post #15
notRobot wrote: post #3

I don't understand, why is it that it costs less than $1 in countries in Asia for a GB of mobile data but costs ~$15 for the same in the United States? Can someone with knowledge of the industry please explain the reasons for this discrepancy to me?

Cellular service clearly can be delivered more cheaply in poor countries. Telenor for example is Noweigian (very wealthy country) but offers service at lower prices in Myanmar. One reason is labor costs. Imagine how much it costs to build and maintain one tower in Norway with its high standard of living for everyone vs in Myanmar where people will work for much less, and with lower safety standards. And obviously pro…

> And obviously providers will charge more if they can, less if they have to.

When prices are based on ability-to-pay rather than cost of provision, then that means there's a competition problem.

While Norway may have more expensive labour, I'm sure they farm out as much as they can offshore.

I wonder if Ericsson or Nokia charge lower prices for the same equipment in poorer countries.

Re: The cost of 1GB of mobile data in 228 countries (Feb 2020)

#119

Post by takeda »

rsynnott wrote: post #24
notRobot wrote: post #3

I don't understand, why is it that it costs less than $1 in countries in Asia for a GB of mobile data but costs ~$15 for the same in the United States? Can someone with knowledge of the industry please explain the reasons for this discrepancy to me?

Beyond the usual arguments about "the US is big", poor competition is probably a big part of it. US telcos have a lot of lockin, with very long contract lengths, poor acceptance of prepaid plans, and "family plans" being common. All of this makes it less likely that people will move network, so there's less incentive for telcos to actually compete on price. EDIT: On the "US is big" point, it's notable that pricing do…

The lack of competition is the actual reason. When Google was entering markets with their Internet service suddenly incumbents got capacity to provide competitive speed at slightly lower price. Essentially causing Google to give up with that initiative. If a company with "unlimited" amount of money like Google can't enter to compete, no one can.

And if there is no competition, you no longer charge competitive prices, you charge what people are willing to pay. The whole promotional plans they offer are used to figure out how much you are likely to pay. Once the promotion expires and you don't call to get it extended, you are basically saying that you're ok with increase. Once enough people don't do that, the price will go up.

Re: The cost of 1GB of mobile data in 228 countries (Feb 2020)

#120

Post by gorgoiler »

martinmunk wrote: post #114

I’m in Denmark. I have “3” as a phone provider and have essentially an unlimited plan for 30usd, with free roaming in most of the world. My home internet is served as an IOT plan with a “300MB” plan that in practice the network owned by the old national provider don’t cap, so I hit 1TB on 4G with a monthly fee of ~4.7USD. I know many people who does the same. The US really seem like in need of some good old competiti…

Ironically, for “competition” you might well have said “free market capitalism”.

Except that provision of basic mono-utilities such as drinking water, roads, and The Internet is probably best provided by the state. At least the cell phone tower part, leaving the internet exchange part upwards to private companies.

(This pre supposes a level of benevolence / lack of malevolence from the state, or a faith in protocols further up the stack to have end to end security. At least one of these exists.)

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