Living Without a Cellphone • Hacker News Board

Re: Living Without a Cellphone

#21

Post by maxerickson » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 1:25 PM UTC

X4lldux wrote: post #7

$65 a month?! shit,that's high! For 1GB od full speed internet, and after that unlimited lowspeed, with morze then enough calls, I pay $7.34 in Poland.

Median income in the US is higher than Poland (which just means you might expect people to spend more on similar things), and cell phone company marketing has been very successful selling higher cost plans (which helps them avoid competing on price).

The last 12 months has seen more price competition ($40 a month on T Mobile is the data equivalent of your plan, with unlimited voice (that's the no contract plan)).

An example of how successful the marketing has been, people regularly talk about the subsidy they get from the phone company to buy their phone. It's really a contract where they end up paying more than the price of the phone (plus interest), but it still gets called a subsidy.

Re: Living Without a Cellphone

#22

Post by junto » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 1:53 PM UTC

German resident here. I have pre-pay with a Vodafone subsidiary with a €10 data flat rate as an additional add-on.

My wife just has pre-pay and we have free calls between each other. Our total monthly bill is ~€20 per month.

The idea of paying $65 per month, per person is crazy. Is that a standard average cost?

Re: Living Without a Cellphone

#23

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 2:00 PM UTC

ilaksh wrote: post #9

I have been paying like $99 for a plan with a bunch of data and minutes I don't use. I changed the plan and its down to I think $60. I should have cancelled and found something cheaper than a regular Verizon contract. Only reason I didn't was because it would take some work to find the right alternative. I know I am still getting screwed though.

[deleted]

Re: Living Without a Cellphone

#24

Post by joshuapants » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 2:08 PM UTC

junto wrote: post #22

German resident here. I have pre-pay with a Vodafone subsidiary with a €10 data flat rate as an additional add-on. My wife just has pre-pay and we have free calls between each other. Our total monthly bill is ~€20 per month. The idea of paying $65 per month, per person is crazy. Is that a standard average cost?

Prices for many are inflated. Typically the really expensive bills are for 2-year contracts with the price of the phone subsidized. US carriers really like to chisel you on data plans as well.

Personally, I pay $30 a month to T-Mobile, no contract, I bring my own phone and I get unlimited data (5GB at LTE, speed throttled thereafter) and unlimited SMS with 100 minutes. It's possible to go cheaper if you're willing to give up data entirely through a number of MVNOs.

Re: Living Without a Cellphone

#25

Post by tkdc926 » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 3:06 PM UTC

I recently switched to ConsumerCellular. My wife and I share 750 minutes, 1500 texts and 150 mb of data. All for $40 per month. Plus we can call each other for free. Data might seem low, but our data usage away from home is extremely low. At home we use our WiFi. And best of all, no contract required.

Re: Living Without a Cellphone

#26

Post by ericfontaine » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 3:10 PM UTC

It is possible to get by with a mobile device without cell service. Just need occasional email checks at open wireless spots. All the more reason to setup a router with EFF's open wireless. https://openwireless.org/

Re: Living Without a Cellphone

#27

Post by lottin » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 3:39 PM UTC

It's not a big deal living without a cell phone. I have been living without a cell phone and have only bought one recently because I grew tired of having to justify myself every time someone asked why I didn't have a bloody phone. For me the reason for buying a phone is 100% social pressure, it does not make my life easier or more pleasant in any way, au contraire.

Re: Living Without a Cellphone

#28

Post by cssmoo » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 3:55 PM UTC

junto wrote: post #22

German resident here. I have pre-pay with a Vodafone subsidiary with a €10 data flat rate as an additional add-on. My wife just has pre-pay and we have free calls between each other. Our total monthly bill is ~€20 per month. The idea of paying $65 per month, per person is crazy. Is that a standard average cost?

Similar in UK. I clock £15/month on giffgaff ($22) and get 5Gb data, 500 mins calls to anywhere, free giffgaff/giffgaff and never pay for an SMS to anyone. Never even use half of it up even when my cruddy ISP goes down and I have to use it for tethering.

Paid £130 for a Moto G handset.

Re: Living Without a Cellphone

#29

Post by jagira » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 4:36 PM UTC

junto wrote: post #22

German resident here. I have pre-pay with a Vodafone subsidiary with a €10 data flat rate as an additional add-on. My wife just has pre-pay and we have free calls between each other. Our total monthly bill is ~€20 per month. The idea of paying $65 per month, per person is crazy. Is that a standard average cost?

In India, pre-pay call rates are like 1.5 cents per minute and 2-3 USD for 1 GB of data. Data gets cheaper with volume. Nearly all of texting happens via WhatsApp.

My and most of my friends' monthly costs do not exceed 500 INR (~8 USD).

Re: Living Without a Cellphone

#30

Post by MrRadar » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 4:44 PM UTC

X4lldux wrote: post #7

$65 a month?! shit,that's high! For 1GB od full speed internet, and after that unlimited lowspeed, with morze then enough calls, I pay $7.34 in Poland.

Don't forget that pays for coverage of a land area roughly twice as big as the entire EU[0] with no roaming charges. Also, this article is from 2012 and has outdated prices. If you go prepaid you can get 2.5 GB for $35 with unlimited voice and text[1] or 5 GB for $30 with 100 minutes voice and unlimited text[2]. Or pay-what-you-use for voice, text, and data[3] (great for people who need a phone but hardly use it or with highly-variable use). Of course you can also pay a lot more for worse plans, but savvy shoppers have decent options available to them these days.

[0] http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%28land+area+of+the+us+... (I excluded Alaska because most of that state doesn't have cellular coverage and the parts that do make up for the parts of the mainland that don't.)

[1] https://www.cricketwireless.com/cell-phone-plans

[2] http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans#other-month...

[3] https://ting.com/rates