8 ms·

Cost of 3G data in the US among highest in the world.

26 points by ajg1977 16y ago

makmanalp 16y ago
Cost of any cellular related thing in the US is among the highest in the world. I don't know of any other place where you pay to receive calls and texts. Vendor lock-ins are rampant. I was going to buy a smartphone but then decided against it because I figured out that the cost of the plan alone would set me back $40-$60 whereas I pay 25 dollars for approx 1.5 months on my prepaid plan.
- elai 16y ago
  Canada! Do you get prepaid data?
  - makmanalp 16y ago
    I don't but only because I haven't had the chance to compare plans / prices. Anyone know of any good ones? Ideally I'd look for something where there is no contract lock in and I'd pay as I go.
- maw 16y ago
  Paying to receive calls is annoying at first blush, but it does have at least one benefit: you're far more callable. With other systems, low level employees at many businesses simply won't be able to. (I've seen this first hand in Australia and Mexico.) This is likely penny-wise, pound-foolish on the part of those businesses, but no less real for that. Having to pay to receive SMSes, on the other hand, is hard to justify. Just remember that complex systems emerge as often as they're created upfront, and you'll feel better about it all.
  - makmanalp 16y ago
    But the thing is, even with the receiver paying a fee, the caller portion of the price is still pretty high, which defeats the purpose of the idea.
ugh 16y ago
Sadly only data and no explanations. I would especially like to know why the price is so ridiculously high in France. From my very superficial knowledge about the French phone market I always assumed that it must be very similar to the German phone market (I’m from Germany) which has among the lowest prices. My hypothesis for the low prices in Germany? Fierce competition.
- Samuel_Michon 16y ago
  Also, the HN title is somewhat misleading, as the report is not just about 3G data, but about 3G data plans for notebooks and tablet computers. In many European countries, the 3G data plan one has in combination with a mobile voice subscription is a lot cheaper per gigabyte. For instance: in The Netherlands, the cheapest iPhone plan includes 150 nationwide minutes for outgoing calls (all incoming calls are free), sending 150 text messages (receiving messages is free), and unlimited 3G data at 2 Mbit/s --- for only Euro 30 ($40).
tmcw 16y ago
I think you mean _price_.
dkokelley 16y ago
At first I thought that it was because of the extra demand in the US (being more developed that most of the world), but the same data being offered for as little as ~$0.50 just confounds me. It's probably just the effects of a monopoly at work, although it would be interesting to see more data and analysis.
- Samuel_Michon 16y ago
  I would think that regions that have the most mobile phone users per square mile and that are the closest to major Internet hubs would have the best rates. So to me, it would make sense for 3G data to be more expensive in rural Alaska than in Queens, NY. Then again, it might have more to do with taxation and government subsidies, as is the case with the huge difference in the pricing of gasoline worldwide. In The Netherlands, you can expect to pay $7.52 for a gallon of gasoline, while in Venezuela it costs only $0.19. http://www.theoildrum.com/files/GasPrices.png http://www.theoildrum.com/files/GasPrices.png
  - jackowayed 16y ago
    I think you're onto something with the region idea. All the major carriers offer nationwide plans because people expect to be able to travel pretty much anywhere and still have their phones work. That means that we all foot the bill for putting towers all over our insanely-large country because one day we may run out of gas in the middle of Nebraska and need to make a call. The European nations, Japan, etc. are all much smaller and more densely populated, so the cost of covering the countries with towers is lower per person. If you're really just going to use your phone in Queens, NY (and other fairly populated areas), you can go with a discount carrier like Boost Mobile, but you'll curse your frugality when you do actually stray from cities because their coverage map looks like this: http://www.boostmobile.com/coverage/ http://www.boostmobile.com/coverage/ instead of this: http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/CoverageLocatorController?requesttype=NEWREQUEST http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/CoverageLocatorController... Also, as I said in another comment, that graphic makes the difference in cost look way bigger than it is.
    - 16y ago
gamble 16y ago
Before the iPhone 3G came out, it was impossible to find reasonable data plans here in Canada. The only options were $30/50MB plans intended for Blackberries. What a difference two years make. I picked up my iPhone 4 this morning - 32 GB, for $40 less than the same model in the US. (3 year plan, unfortunately, but eligible for full upgrades in < 2 years) The data plans provide 6 GB/month for $30, with tethering included free and a $10-20 option to share the quota with a 3G iPad. What changed between 2008 and today is that the iPhone is now available from all three major Canadian telcos, whereas Americans are still stuck with AT&T.
adolph 16y ago
But wait, I'm still on the AT&T unlimited plan. Does this mean my 3G cost is <DIVIDE BY ZERO ERROR>?
- relix 16y ago
  cost/data, so surely you mean a <DIVIDE BY NAN ERROR> because data would be infinite?
detst 16y ago
Anyone know if there will be true compatibility of LTE hardware on the US networks? This would finally bring real competition and put an end to this problem.
jackowayed 16y ago
This is pretty misleading. They assume that any unlimited plan = 30GB. It looks like most plans are still in the $20-$30 range, it's just that a lot of them are unlimited and counting as 30GB, or have an official cap so high that the carriers sell it knowing that on average <10% of the cap will be used. For example, Drei in Austria is $1.31/GB. Great! Let's replace AT&T's plan for $2.62! ... Oh, that's only if we get a 15GB plan for $19.59? That's a little better, but way less better than the graph makes it appear.
jacquesm 16y ago
Try 3G roaming in Europe if you want to see ridiculous rates. 3 euros / MB!
- hboon 16y ago
  Roaming charges are ridiculous. I was once at a sales presentation where someone borrowed my GSM modem and used it for less than an hour. He was just trying to load a web portal. Bill came up to $600. My carrier called me in the afternoon to make sure that was me.
  - noss 16y ago
    There must be some kind of business opportunity here. The concept of virtual operators that have no hardware of their own, just a brand, can they not make deals with operators all through Europe and offer sensible data-rates everywhere?
    - smiler 16y ago
      The EU are trying to bring in legislation to force the phone companies to charge reasonable roaming costs I believe
      - jacquesm 16y ago
        The phone operators are scared shitless that people will run VOIP over their smartphones and so get to a much lower effective rate per minute than what the operators charge at the moment. Typically a VOIP stream is between 2400 and 9600 baud, or 300 to 1200 bytes per second. At E0.25 cts per MB for instance that would make their voice tariffs look ridiculous and people would switch en-masse to VOIP. They can't really win this one, either people will not use their data networks and they end up in front of the anti-competitive agencies (OPTA etc) or they lose a pile of money on their voice side. Sucks to be them.
        noss 16y ago
        I have heard this presented as "telcom companies do not want to be reduced to be a bitpipe". It is a fear I find to be mistaken. Even though a bit is a bit any way it is transferred, things like latency, jitter, guaranteed throughput, those are things that do make a difference to applications. If I was a telcom company, I would start to write android applications that besides providing VOIP and streaming video, etc, also would set up these connections to use a QoS level that the subscriber would have as extra charge add-ons to their account. QoS might require lots of technology on the server side that isn't there yet. If I was an evil telecom company, I might even introduce jitter on non QoS and make VoIP completely crappy quality. Making people that pick this route sound like real cheapskates. Aren't you glad I am not a telecom company?

26 points by ajg1977 16y ago

Cost of any cellular related thing in the US is among the highest in the world. I don't know of any other place where you pay to receive calls and texts. Vendor lock-ins are rampant. I was going to buy a smartphone but then decided against it because I figured out that the cost of the plan alone would set me back $40-$60 whereas I pay 25 dollars for approx 1.5 months on my prepaid plan.

elai 16y ago
Canada! Do you get prepaid data?
- makmanalp 16y ago
  I don't but only because I haven't had the chance to compare plans / prices. Anyone know of any good ones? Ideally I'd look for something where there is no contract lock in and I'd pay as I go.
maw 16y ago
Paying to receive calls is annoying at first blush, but it does have at least one benefit: you're far more callable. With other systems, low level employees at many businesses simply won't be able to. (I've seen this first hand in Australia and Mexico.) This is likely penny-wise, pound-foolish on the part of those businesses, but no less real for that. Having to pay to receive SMSes, on the other hand, is hard to justify. Just remember that complex systems emerge as often as they're created upfront, and you'll feel better about it all.
- makmanalp 16y ago
  But the thing is, even with the receiver paying a fee, the caller portion of the price is still pretty high, which defeats the purpose of the idea.

ugh 16y ago

Sadly only data and no explanations. I would especially like to know why the price is so ridiculously high in France. From my very superficial knowledge about the French phone market I always assumed that it must be very similar to the German phone market (I’m from Germany) which has among the lowest prices. My hypothesis for the low prices in Germany? Fierce competition.

Samuel_Michon 16y ago
Also, the HN title is somewhat misleading, as the report is not just about 3G data, but about 3G data plans for notebooks and tablet computers. In many European countries, the 3G data plan one has in combination with a mobile voice subscription is a lot cheaper per gigabyte. For instance: in The Netherlands, the cheapest iPhone plan includes 150 nationwide minutes for outgoing calls (all incoming calls are free), sending 150 text messages (receiving messages is free), and unlimited 3G data at 2 Mbit/s --- for only Euro 30 ($40).

tmcw 16y ago

I think you mean _price_.

dkokelley 16y ago

At first I thought that it was because of the extra demand in the US (being more developed that most of the world), but the same data being offered for as little as ~$0.50 just confounds me. It's probably just the effects of a monopoly at work, although it would be interesting to see more data and analysis.

Samuel_Michon 16y ago
I would think that regions that have the most mobile phone users per square mile and that are the closest to major Internet hubs would have the best rates. So to me, it would make sense for 3G data to be more expensive in rural Alaska than in Queens, NY. Then again, it might have more to do with taxation and government subsidies, as is the case with the huge difference in the pricing of gasoline worldwide. In The Netherlands, you can expect to pay $7.52 for a gallon of gasoline, while in Venezuela it costs only $0.19. http://www.theoildrum.com/files/GasPrices.png http://www.theoildrum.com/files/GasPrices.png
- jackowayed 16y ago
  I think you're onto something with the region idea. All the major carriers offer nationwide plans because people expect to be able to travel pretty much anywhere and still have their phones work. That means that we all foot the bill for putting towers all over our insanely-large country because one day we may run out of gas in the middle of Nebraska and need to make a call. The European nations, Japan, etc. are all much smaller and more densely populated, so the cost of covering the countries with towers is lower per person. If you're really just going to use your phone in Queens, NY (and other fairly populated areas), you can go with a discount carrier like Boost Mobile, but you'll curse your frugality when you do actually stray from cities because their coverage map looks like this: http://www.boostmobile.com/coverage/ http://www.boostmobile.com/coverage/ instead of this: http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/CoverageLocatorController?requesttype=NEWREQUEST http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/CoverageLocatorController... Also, as I said in another comment, that graphic makes the difference in cost look way bigger than it is.
  - 16y ago

gamble 16y ago

Before the iPhone 3G came out, it was impossible to find reasonable data plans here in Canada. The only options were $30/50MB plans intended for Blackberries. What a difference two years make. I picked up my iPhone 4 this morning - 32 GB, for $40 less than the same model in the US. (3 year plan, unfortunately, but eligible for full upgrades in < 2 years) The data plans provide 6 GB/month for $30, with tethering included free and a $10-20 option to share the quota with a 3G iPad. What changed between 2008 and today is that the iPhone is now available from all three major Canadian telcos, whereas Americans are still stuck with AT&T.

adolph 16y ago

But wait, I'm still on the AT&T unlimited plan. Does this mean my 3G cost is <DIVIDE BY ZERO ERROR>?

relix 16y ago
cost/data, so surely you mean a <DIVIDE BY NAN ERROR> because data would be infinite?

detst 16y ago

Anyone know if there will be true compatibility of LTE hardware on the US networks? This would finally bring real competition and put an end to this problem.

jackowayed 16y ago

This is pretty misleading. They assume that any unlimited plan = 30GB. It looks like most plans are still in the $20-$30 range, it's just that a lot of them are unlimited and counting as 30GB, or have an official cap so high that the carriers sell it knowing that on average <10% of the cap will be used. For example, Drei in Austria is $1.31/GB. Great! Let's replace AT&T's plan for $2.62! ... Oh, that's only if we get a 15GB plan for $19.59? That's a little better, but way less better than the graph makes it appear.

jacquesm 16y ago

Try 3G roaming in Europe if you want to see ridiculous rates. 3 euros / MB!

hboon 16y ago
Roaming charges are ridiculous. I was once at a sales presentation where someone borrowed my GSM modem and used it for less than an hour. He was just trying to load a web portal. Bill came up to $600. My carrier called me in the afternoon to make sure that was me.
- noss 16y ago
  There must be some kind of business opportunity here. The concept of virtual operators that have no hardware of their own, just a brand, can they not make deals with operators all through Europe and offer sensible data-rates everywhere?
  - smiler 16y ago
    The EU are trying to bring in legislation to force the phone companies to charge reasonable roaming costs I believe
    - jacquesm 16y ago
      The phone operators are scared shitless that people will run VOIP over their smartphones and so get to a much lower effective rate per minute than what the operators charge at the moment. Typically a VOIP stream is between 2400 and 9600 baud, or 300 to 1200 bytes per second. At E0.25 cts per MB for instance that would make their voice tariffs look ridiculous and people would switch en-masse to VOIP. They can't really win this one, either people will not use their data networks and they end up in front of the anti-competitive agencies (OPTA etc) or they lose a pile of money on their voice side. Sucks to be them.
      - noss 16y ago
        I have heard this presented as "telcom companies do not want to be reduced to be a bitpipe". It is a fear I find to be mistaken. Even though a bit is a bit any way it is transferred, things like latency, jitter, guaranteed throughput, those are things that do make a difference to applications. If I was a telcom company, I would start to write android applications that besides providing VOIP and streaming video, etc, also would set up these connections to use a QoS level that the subscriber would have as extra charge add-ons to their account. QoS might require lots of technology on the server side that isn't there yet. If I was an evil telecom company, I might even introduce jitter on non QoS and make VoIP completely crappy quality. Making people that pick this route sound like real cheapskates. Aren't you glad I am not a telecom company?