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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

#81

Post by ineedasername »

Waterluvian wrote: post #20
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…

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.

Maybe it used to be? I don't know, but not anymore. Mint Mobile will get you unlimited talk/text and 3GB data for $15/month, no extra fees. They're an MVNO using T-Mobile's network. If T-Mobile can make money wholesaling their network to Mint, and Mint can make money selling plans at that price, there's no reason for a "normal" plan to run $70 before taxes and fees. Even Mint's unlimited plan is only $30, less than half of what TMobile has.

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

#82

Post by paranoidrobot »

viraptor wrote: post #58
paranoidrobot wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought it was well known that MVNOs are on lower QoS/prioritisation than the carrier's own main brand(s)? A mate works for Optus and had for a while a bunch of different iPhones of the same generation for testing. Each had the same OS version/etc. One on Optus Business, one on Retail Postpaid and one on a reseller (iirc Virgin). Speed tests side by side were pretty interesting. You could quite clearly see the busi…

Does it actually impact speed or just QoS? I'm on an Optus reseller network and basically can't see any problems - 1080p streaming and Duo video calls work without and with low latency. Even if I'm prioritised lower than business, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

It definitely affected throughput.

i.e take the phones out, and run all the speed tests at once - the business plan was guaranteed to run faster.

It wasn't like it was an issue with one particular phone just being better - you could swap the sim cards between phones and no matter what device the business sim was in, it got the best throughput.

How they actually implemented it I don't know, all we could go on was based on some testing from an end-user perspective.

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

#83

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

readams wrote: post #61

I have some hope that Amazon and SpaceX will force prices to go down for at least home internet by bypassing the ISP monopolies. Might be a while though if ever. Google Fiber has sadly fizzled out because of the anticompetitive practices of the local monopolies.

Starlink won't be usable in urban areas.

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

#84

Post by sushshshsh »

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".

That just sounds like lazy programming becoming a feature for the chief revenue officer ;)

Call call = new Call(timestamp);

String hour = call.getHour();

if (hour 6) call.setRate("Premium"); //military time

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

#85

Post by pathseeker »

dheera wrote: post #5
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 really wish the US could institute some legal framework against deceptive advertising. Unlimited should mean unlimited, not throttled. If you are offering a 20GB plan, just say you are offering a 20GB plan. I've tried to use a 4G hotspot to setup my laptop and do work in outdoor parks but the number of times I can do that per month is limited.

>Unlimited should mean unlimited, not throttled.

Throttled is still unlimited in the same way as any other connection. Your connection is always throttled, it's just a question if there are two different speeds with the latter triggering after a particular threshold.

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

#86

Post by viraptor »

paranoidrobot wrote: post #82
viraptor wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it actually impact speed or just QoS? I'm on an Optus reseller network and basically can't see any problems - 1080p streaming and Duo video calls work without and with low latency. Even if I'm prioritised lower than business, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

It definitely affected throughput. i.e take the phones out, and run all the speed tests at once - the business plan was guaranteed to run faster. It wasn't like it was an issue with one particular phone just being better - you could swap the sim cards between phones and no matter what device the business sim was in, it got the best throughput. How they actually implemented it I don't know, all we could go on was base…

I should've been more explicit. I meant, does it impact speed in a meaningful way? Once we can send+receive real time high quality video stream on a retail plan... Does it matter that is slower than the business one?

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

#87

Post by closeparen »

ineedasername wrote: post #81
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.

Maybe it used to be? I don't know, but not anymore. Mint Mobile will get you unlimited talk/text and 3GB data for $15/month, no extra fees. They're an MVNO using T-Mobile's network. If T-Mobile can make money wholesaling their network to Mint, and Mint can make money selling plans at that price, there's no reason for a "normal" plan to run $70 before taxes and fees. Even Mint's unlimited plan is only $30, less than h…

Typically the catch with MVNOs (and prepaid products under the main brand) is that they don't roam; you get only one operator's towers. In urban areas this is not a big deal but if you like road trips it can matter.

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

#88

Post by closeparen »

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.

>ended up getting a fiber line.

This seems like the market functioning correctly. People who can be hardwired should be hardwired, so that scarce RF spectrum is available for those who don't have an alternative.

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

#89

Post by pjc50 »

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…

The key word there is "competed".

Everyone is aware that it's not some benevolence of one company over another but actual market operation that brings down the prices. That's why Apple's ability to impose restrictions and take a 30% cut of unrelated transactions is concerning: there's no market for competing Apple stores.

(There have been telcos that tried to ban VOIP, but not in the West)

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

#90

Post by Causality1 »

ineedasername wrote: post #79
toast0 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My plan has unlimited text, but only 100 minutes of talk (which is almost always plenty). My Mom is still on a strict per minute plan, with a stored value plan though. I think she gets free incoming text, but has to pay for calls or texts she sends.

Checkout Mint Mobile: $15/month if you prepay for a year otherwise $20. You get unlimited talk and texts, 4GB data. https://www.mintmobile.com/

Good if you're single but if you have family something like Cricket's Unlimited Basic gets you unlimited (22GB before throttling) data and talk/text for $25/line for four lines is better.
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