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In Finland the average amount of data transferred per SIM card is 17.3GB/month

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Re: In Finland the average amount of data transferred per SIM card is 17.3GB/month

#101

Post by notanotherycomb »

lucb1e wrote: post #47
CydeWeys wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you stream a lot of video or something? I can't figure out how people reach these figures. I mainly use my phone for Web browsing, podcasts (mostly downloaded at home), and chatting, and never remotely get close to these figures.

I never exceeded 1GB of mobile data, personal and work combined, literally ever. But I can totally understand how one reaches these figures without doing anything weird: video call meetings, video streaming while commuting or traveling, music streaming throughout the day, maybe also work via tethering when not in the office or at home... it's just that one can choose to not do these things. On the one hand, I feel li…

IG killed a gb for my cousin in about 2 days. How have you not done this? Streaming not required. We checked it before and after setting the save bandwidth option. It did 100mb in maybe 10mins of scrolling

Re: In Finland the average amount of data transferred per SIM card is 17.3GB/month

#102

Post by nitrogen »

mgkimsal wrote: post #69
ewams wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes that is how it used to work for sms. My first cell I had to convince people to not text me because I didn't pay the extra ~$35 a month for texting, which I think got you 500 monthly texts. Friends that didn't know or when it was "an emergency" would send a few texts and cost me extra couple bucks a month. For calls you used to get a pleasure with a set amount of minutes, such as 200, 500, and 1000 per month. Most…

> Though I remember cingular offering 7pm as the unlimited time if you paid an extra fee I also seem to remember that if you started a call at (for example) 6:59pm, and it lasted an hour, all 60 minutes were "premium" minutes, not 1 "premium" and 59 "free/unlimited".

If you started a call at 5:59 AM (or whenever it was) would the entire call be discounted?

Re: In Finland the average amount of data transferred per SIM card is 17.3GB/month

#103

Post by perryizgr8 »

devxpy wrote: post #4

> Over here, unlimited mobile data means unlimited mobile data. This. Although India has the cheapest data next to Finland, the ground reality is quite different. I tried using 4G as my primary internet connection after COVID, and I got frustrated by "hidden" limits and random throttling from the ISP - ended up getting a fiber line. The 4G modem was a complete waste of money.

I'm using my Jio hotspot as WFH occasionally. It works well, can't say I've hit any hidden limits. Just need to be careful not to blow through the 2GB daily limit by watching some Youtubes.

Re: In Finland the average amount of data transferred per SIM card is 17.3GB/month

#104

Post by perryizgr8 »

unnouinceput wrote: post #28
vaccinator wrote: post #2

I average 2gb because I restrict myself since the rates I get are outreageous here in the US... I use wifi whenever I can to limit mobile usage (which is of course not included in the 2gb figure).

Meanwhile, checked just out of curiosity, I used 640 GB in past 30 days. That's just my PC. Then there is wife's laptop and cell & kids laptops & cells. I suspect my household "eats" every month 1 TB of data. Not that we care anyway.

> Meanwhile, checked just out of curiosity, I used 640 GB in past 30 days. That's just my PC.

I am curious how you manage this? Are you torrenting 4k movies continuously?

Re: In Finland the average amount of data transferred per SIM card is 17.3GB/month

#105

Post by ksec »

rsynnott wrote: post #41
Waterluvian wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not throwing shade but I’m genuinely curious what the infrastructure cost per user is when comparing Europe and US and Canada. Surely it might be part of the problem.

Probably more down to limited competition in the US, honestly. Comparing costs across Western Europe, it’s hard to make the case that it’s an infrastructure cost problem; Germany (dense) is more expensive than Ireland (non-dense) which is more expensive than the UK (dense) which is more expensive than Finland (very non-dense).

Well there are multiple factor involve, so population density isn't always of the main concern. The main cost of infrastructure is actually the rent, of any land / property cost required for the Cell. In Countries where Mobile Network already owns the land for these Cell Site / Tower that were paid and amortised during the 2G / 3G / 4G era. They are now essentially free. In Cities, that depends on rent and property pricing, unless you have government mandate or directly involved like in China. It is also dependent on the fear level of radiation in the culture / nation. People will protest to get rid of Cell Site in their own area ( While at the same time demand their Mobile Phone to have perfect reception ). Which also drives up the cost of finding and setting up Cell Sites. ( Or they are willing to put up with the risk of radiation if you pay them more ).

Re: In Finland the average amount of data transferred per SIM card is 17.3GB/month

#106

Post by [deleted] »

TuringNYC wrote: post #51
torben-friis wrote: post #11

I've got unlimited mobile data for a great price in spain as well. Honestly, I hope the us catches up at some point because software still doesn't even consider it an option - I have to actively fight all my settings so I can get updates, backups, streaming at high quality and the like because the OS considers they should always be done on wifi. Sometimes, the situation has been so absurd that I've had to use the sha…

Just a decade ago, SMS messages in the US cost 10 to 25 cents per SMS . You also got charged for spam SMS. Prices were completely disjointed from the reality of underlying costs (zero for the telcos). My college CS professor gave senate testimony on this: https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/keshav_testim... (side rant: in the following ten years, the tech giants sweeped in, competed, provided a better serv…

[deleted]

Re: In Finland the average amount of data transferred per SIM card is 17.3GB/month

#107

Post by blueblisters »

What drives the high cellular prices in the United States? Is it regulation? Infrastructure cost? Lack of competition?

I don't buy the lack of competition argument honestly. Cellular data is a commodity. Cell towers are not exactly a utility to the extent that optical fiber/coax is. If there was margin to be exploited, capital would have flowed in to take advantage. But it's likely that the risk adjusted return in the cellular business is already too low to attract more players and drive down costs without a significant technology moat.

Re: In Finland the average amount of data transferred per SIM card is 17.3GB/month

#108

Post by marc3842h »

alex_young wrote: post #18

I’d love to see Switzerland’s avg usage. For $30 a month true unlimited where you just don’t even think about data transfer. Speeds in the 100 MB/s range most of the time and people seem to just take it for granted.

I'd like to know it as well. Considering Switzerland is generally an expensive country, we have very reasonable prices for mobile subscriptions, mostly due to the large competition in this area.

I personally average on about ~12GB per month. I pay Fr. 37.50 per month for unlimited calls and sms in Switzerland and unlimited data in Switzerland & the EU.

Re: In Finland the average amount of data transferred per SIM card is 17.3GB/month

#109

Post by gorgoiler »

jlokier wrote: post #57

UK here. I pay £20/month (USD $26) for unlimited data, voice and SMS. I have two such SIMs, one for the home router (because it's cheaper and faster than FTTC) and another for my phone. Usage varies, but on a busy month the home SIM will see 100-300 GB, mostly for Netflix. The phone SIM sees about 10-30 GB. Speed varies by time of day, but at peak it's 90 Mbit/s down, 20 Mbit/s up. At the slowest times of day it drop…

Who are your providers, and did you have to negotiate these tariffs or do they come as standard offerings?

Crucially: how long are you contractually tied to your cell provider?

Re: In Finland the average amount of data transferred per SIM card is 17.3GB/month

#110

Post by kristopolous »

MrMorden wrote: post #24
Waterluvian wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not throwing shade but I’m genuinely curious what the infrastructure cost per user is when comparing Europe and US and Canada. Surely it might be part of the problem.

The US does have higher labor costs than most of Europe, but lax regulation of special access service (backhaul) is probably more of a factor.

huh? What's your source?
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