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YoDude is offline YoDude
2009-08-30 , 12:28
Posts: 2,869 | Thanked: 1,784 times | Joined on Feb 2007 @ Po' Bo'. PA
#21
Originally Posted by jsa View Post
I don't know about UK, but I can give you a couple of examples from Finland which has 115% penetration according to the graph...

<snip>

...Subscriptions are also not exclusively used for calling people. We have a cottage in Lapland, 1000 kilometers away. It has electricity, but it isn't heated around the year. The cottage has a device with a SIM card that can turn the heating on when a SMS is sent to it. In winter it's nice to be able to turn it on remotely so the cottage is warm when we arrive there...

Thanks again jsa. I forgot about that^ bit. I suppose ATM's and other remote devices also contribute to "penetration".

Which leaves a classic chicken or egg question:
Would customers adopt more of the available remote technologies if the cost of subscription is less?

Does this logic apply in the UK?
 
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Lord Raiden is offline Lord Raiden
2009-08-30 , 13:27
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#22
Originally Posted by TrueJournals View Post
Actually... SMS data (text messages) is not the the same as voice and web data. Text messages sneak into the channel used to set up calls. So, if the tower is flooded with text messages, then calls can't go through to the user/can't be made. This is one way the carriers can justify charging outrageous amounts for texts...
That's actually been proved to be a lie. To reduce traffic on their network, cell providers have found ways to tuck those tiny little SMS messages into already existing packets for other things, such as maintenance signals and the like. The only reason they charge what they do is because they can and because people allow them to. If there was a real uproar about cellular prices in the US, the practice of screwing people like that would die, or at the very least be brought under control. The problem is, not enough people actually give a **** about the rapage that's being inflicted on them, and so the carriers just merrily go on about their business of rob, pillage and plunder.
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lpotter is offline lpotter
2009-08-30 , 18:27
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#23
One other reason US mobile phone users get fleeced, is that they also pay for incoming calls and messages as well.

I believe most other parts of the only pay for outgoing voice, sms and mms.
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allnameswereout is offline allnameswereout
2009-08-30 , 20:12
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#24
Originally Posted by lpotter View Post
One other reason US mobile phone users get fleeced, is that they also pay for incoming calls and messages as well.

I believe most other parts of the only pay for outgoing voice, sms and mms.
Yes, except if you reside in different country than sender. But then I get SMS about the costs.

(Which in my case wasn't accurate for Serbia, but Serbia is special case; not part of EU or Vodafone Passport.)
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fixerdave is offline fixerdave
2009-08-30 , 20:50
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#25
Originally Posted by krisse View Post
... Apologies for repeating myself from other threads but this is how it is done (I really really hope this happens in the US and Canada):

-Make phone locking illegal....
-All networks must accept...
Once you have competition...
Ah, it must be nice to have a government that is in the business of protecting the people from excessive corporate greed. Around here, the job of government is to protect corporate profits. We pay for this privilege every day, day after day, until we die, and then some more.

My very favourite was the "system access fee" which started out as a Department of Communications licensing fee. But, when it was dropped, the cellphone providers just kept charging for it, still calling it the "mandatory system access fee," even though it wasn't. Last I heard, there was a class-action lawsuit working it's way through the system; I'm not holding my breath though.

Still, I can think of worse places to live.

David... (from Canada)
 

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2009-08-30 , 22:46
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#26
as a norwegian i find this interesting, as the terrain and population density should really make the cost pr subscriber nasty, yet we are fairly close to our neighbors in the statistics. Hell it seems telenor (former national phone company) is the 4th largest carrier (must be because they are pushing heavily in eastern europe and similar).

as for the sms thing, just about every phone i have had since gprs got deployed, have been able to use that as a sms transport, rather then the gsm control channel.

thing is this, all operators in norway use GSM/UMTS (ok, there is one that deployed CMDA/EVDO as a data connection after the old NMT450 system got shut down).

we have number portability (i think i still have the same number as when i first got a phone).

and while a carrier can lock a phone to their network, its only for a year and you can pay to break said lock at any time and get a unlock code. Also, there is (usually, darn it apple) no phone exclusivity, and the same phones are usually sold with options for all major carriers or unlocked in the store.
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FRZ is offline FRZ
2009-08-31 , 00:01
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#27
I need to move to finland.
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Lord Raiden is offline Lord Raiden
2009-08-31 , 00:25
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#28
Gawds. We need to get a few Fins over here to the US to show us the right way to do a cellular network. Sheesh. >.<
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verumgero is offline verumgero
2009-08-31 , 00:32
Posts: 221 | Thanked: 43 times | Joined on Oct 2007 @ Sendai, Japan
#29
Originally Posted by lpotter View Post
One other reason US mobile phone users get fleeced, is that they also pay for incoming calls and messages as well.

I believe most other parts of the only pay for outgoing voice, sms and mms.
Seriously, even prepaid phones have free incoming in Japan.
 
k4r1m is offline k4r1m
2009-08-31 , 01:30
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#30
Yeah i think canada is probably the most expensive by far....
the average user with an iphone here pays about 90$ a month with only 512mb of data... i personally pay around 95$ for my htc magic but i get 6gb of data... thats probably the only advantage we have up here 6gb=30$ with no tethering restrictions oh and btw we also have something called "system access fee" basically 6$ a month for 911 service thats how bad we getting ripped...
 
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