Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 67 posts

Re: Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills

#21

Post by seszett »

kleiba wrote: post #16

Just curious, but is it possible to give the costs for comparable contracts in other countries, too?

I'm paying 20€/month in France, for unlimited calls (to France and a large part of the world) and texts as well as 3 GB data (20 GB over 4G, but my phone can't use that).

A phone isn't included in the contract (the contract can be stopped anytime) but my provider (Free) also sells phones on credit, say an iPhone 5s for 49€ one time payment and then 16€/month over 24 months.

That makes a close equivalent of the US contract, for 38€/month or about 50$/month.

 

Also, in reality I'm paying 4€/month for this contract for the first 12 months because of a promotion back in June.

Re: Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills

#22

Post by chrismeller »

abritishguy wrote: post #20
chrismeller wrote: post #19

I would think that one of the "several factors involved" may dwarf regulation: area. The UK operators have 94,000 square miles to cover while US operators have a little over 3.1 million, just in the lower 48. Obviously no single carrier is ever going to cover 100% of either country (and in the US in in particular they don't come even close), but the simple size of the problem in the US drives their infrastructure cos…

Well that doesn't explain why it is cheaper for me as a Brit to roam using my UK contract in the US than it is to take out a US contract. When I'm visiting America I am literally paying less than you folks for your stuff. I can go to US and use unlimited data for no extra charge.

No, it doesn't. Not knowing much about the UK market, I don't really have enough information to base an opinion on.

My first wild guess would again be regulatory: do they have to eat the extra costs involved so they provide you with the same price every month?

Re: Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills

#23

Post by maxxxxx »

chrismeller wrote: post #19

I would think that one of the "several factors involved" may dwarf regulation: area. The UK operators have 94,000 square miles to cover while US operators have a little over 3.1 million, just in the lower 48. Obviously no single carrier is ever going to cover 100% of either country (and in the US in in particular they don't come even close), but the simple size of the problem in the US drives their infrastructure cos…

If the area argument was true then areas like Los Angeles or NYC would see cheap prices and great coverage.

Re: Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills

#24

Post by chrismeller »

maxxxxx wrote: post #23
chrismeller wrote: post #19

I would think that one of the "several factors involved" may dwarf regulation: area. The UK operators have 94,000 square miles to cover while US operators have a little over 3.1 million, just in the lower 48. Obviously no single carrier is ever going to cover 100% of either country (and in the US in in particular they don't come even close), but the simple size of the problem in the US drives their infrastructure cos…

If the area argument was true then areas like Los Angeles or NYC would see cheap prices and great coverage.

No it wouldn't, because that's not the only area your plan covers. We all acknowledge that we are averse to limits of any kind (hence unlimited calling, even if we only ever use a couple hours a month!), and that includes area restrictions.

Imagine if your cell phone required that you pay some outrageous roaming fee or get a special temporary pre-paid package if you drove out of NYC into NJ.

Edit: Typo.

Re: Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills

#25

Post by foldr »

chrismeller wrote: post #22
abritishguy wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well that doesn't explain why it is cheaper for me as a Brit to roam using my UK contract in the US than it is to take out a US contract. When I'm visiting America I am literally paying less than you folks for your stuff. I can go to US and use unlimited data for no extra charge.

No, it doesn't. Not knowing much about the UK market, I don't really have enough information to base an opinion on. My first wild guess would again be regulatory: do they have to eat the extra costs involved so they provide you with the same price every month?

Three offer unlimited roaming data in the US. They're not under any regulatory obligation to do so, and they presumably must be paying the network providers. I live in Canada right now, which is even worse than the US in this respect, and it is infinitely cheaper for me to use my British SIM in the US than it is for me to use my Canadian one. That's kind of nuts.

Re: Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills

#26

Post by abritishguy »

chrismeller wrote: post #22
abritishguy wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well that doesn't explain why it is cheaper for me as a Brit to roam using my UK contract in the US than it is to take out a US contract. When I'm visiting America I am literally paying less than you folks for your stuff. I can go to US and use unlimited data for no extra charge.

No, it doesn't. Not knowing much about the UK market, I don't really have enough information to base an opinion on. My first wild guess would again be regulatory: do they have to eat the extra costs involved so they provide you with the same price every month?

>My first wild guess would again be regulatory: do they have to eat the extra costs involved so they provide you with the same price every month?

Nope, only one network does it (the same network in the article) and it is one of their many great features.

Re: Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills

#27

Post by IshKebab »

chrismeller wrote: post #22
abritishguy wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well that doesn't explain why it is cheaper for me as a Brit to roam using my UK contract in the US than it is to take out a US contract. When I'm visiting America I am literally paying less than you folks for your stuff. I can go to US and use unlimited data for no extra charge.

No, it doesn't. Not knowing much about the UK market, I don't really have enough information to base an opinion on. My first wild guess would again be regulatory: do they have to eat the extra costs involved so they provide you with the same price every month?

I'm pretty sure the regulatory thing is actually not even true. The article author was probably thinking of broadband.

Probably the real reason for the lower price is that all networks have pretty similar coverage, so the only thing to pick between them is price. Maybe there is also the fact that PAYG was very popular here in the past, so consumers just expect lower prices. Oh, and we don't have to pay the subsidy-tax for unlocked phones.

Re: Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills

#28

Post by potyl »

chrismeller wrote: post #19

I would think that one of the "several factors involved" may dwarf regulation: area. The UK operators have 94,000 square miles to cover while US operators have a little over 3.1 million, just in the lower 48. Obviously no single carrier is ever going to cover 100% of either country (and in the US in in particular they don't come even close), but the simple size of the problem in the US drives their infrastructure cos…

I doubt that area is a main factor. If that would be it then Russia would have higher prices and less subscribers, yet SIM card penetration approaches 170% (see http://www.budde.com.au/Research/Russia-Mobile-Market-Insigh...).

Re: Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills

#29

Post by sgift »

cperciva wrote: post #6
ksec wrote: post #2

Britain has forced companies to lease their networks to competitors at cost? So anyone could just enter the market?

So anyone could just enter the market? Better question, why would anyone ever build a network if they are prohibited from making a profit?

That kind of legislation usually is only relevant for the "incumbent" (because the rules usually state "if you have more than x% of the lines .."), i.e. the ex-monopoly provider who didn't build anything. It was build by tax payer money and then given to them.

Re: Two Countries, Two Vastly Different Phone Bills

#30

Post by sergiosgc »

kleiba wrote: post #16

Just curious, but is it possible to give the costs for comparable contracts in other countries, too?

I'm paying, in Portugal, ~100€/month for a plan that includes 100mbps fiber, land-line and service for four cellphones. National calls are unlimited. Data over fiber is unlimited. Data over cellphone is limited to 200MB per cellphone (add-ons to extend data usage exist). Cellphones themselves are not part of the plan.
Post reply on HN