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"What choice do you have?" Move to Europe. On a more serious note - I think this is probably one of the main reasons that the Scandinavian countries are ahead

by mixmax 19y ago

"What choice do you have?" Move to Europe. On a more serious note - I think this is probably one of the main reasons that the Scandinavian countries are ahead in the mobile game. You can get cheap plans that include an unlimited amount of text messaging, most people don't have landlines anymore, and quite a few use their phone as their only means of hooking up to the Internet - you can get 7 mbit and free traffic pretty cheaply with your 3G phone. I noticed a few of the startups mentioned here that did wireless stuff that we've seen years ago over here - there has even been a story of a startup that did a wireless location service, and was touted as super-smart and innovative. A friend of mine did the exact same thing over here back in 2003. Unfortunately we have a small home market, a broken investment system for startups, and are terrible at selling ourselves. So we don't do well on the international scene.

gustaf 19y ago
"I think this is probably one of the main reasons that the Scandinavian countries are ahead in the mobile game. You can get cheap plans that include an unlimited amount of text messaging" I'm from Scandinavia and this isn't really the case. Data is more expensive in Sweden than in US. The US market has done a lot to make it easy for people to use data on their mobile phones. Sure, we have advanced phones in Sweden but that's about it. Some countries with cheap data-plans for mobile: http://gammalife.blogspot.com/2008/02/pricing.html http://gammalife.blogspot.com/2008/02/pricing.html
- mixmax 19y ago
  Interesting - there might be differences across the waters. I'm from Denmark.
dbreunig 19y ago
I agree with you on all counts. But there is a curious business model that is opened up by the US's draconian SMS arrangements, and that's free digital integration. Companies like Swaggle, 3Jam, Twitter, and Dodgeball all get full cooperation from carriers because they encourage MORE received texts. If carriers didn't charge for received texts, these services would be creating situations where the users save and the carriers lose. (At least at first. You can probably successfully argue that Dodgeball and Twitter eventually encourage the users to send more texts once they're naturalized.) But as it stands, cheap SMS integration into web apps is a boon for startups with a mobile twist. (That being said, carriers are still running a cartel in the US...)
mattmaroon 19y ago
Yes, moving to Europe is a sensible alternative to paying 15 cents per incoming text message.
- lutorm 19y ago
  Moving to Europe is a sensible alternative period. ;-)
maximilian 19y ago
I've lived in Europe and Cell phones weren't that much cheaper. In fact, I spent much more on my cell phone bill. Granted I lived in germany, but their voice plans all really sucked, way worse than in the states. Most plans were like .25 cents to call a mobile line and .10 cents to call a landline. And in germany it costs 20 cents to call a mobile phone from a landline - that really sucks. I don't have any experience outside of germany, but it sure wasn't any better there. Just different - better in some ways and worse in other.

by mixmax 19y ago

gustaf 19y ago

"I think this is probably one of the main reasons that the Scandinavian countries are ahead in the mobile game. You can get cheap plans that include an unlimited amount of text messaging" I'm from Scandinavia and this isn't really the case. Data is more expensive in Sweden than in US. The US market has done a lot to make it easy for people to use data on their mobile phones. Sure, we have advanced phones in Sweden but that's about it. Some countries with cheap data-plans for mobile: http://gammalife.blogspot.com/2008/02/pricing.html http://gammalife.blogspot.com/2008/02/pricing.html

mixmax 19y ago
Interesting - there might be differences across the waters. I'm from Denmark.

dbreunig 19y ago

I agree with you on all counts. But there is a curious business model that is opened up by the US's draconian SMS arrangements, and that's free digital integration. Companies like Swaggle, 3Jam, Twitter, and Dodgeball all get full cooperation from carriers because they encourage MORE received texts. If carriers didn't charge for received texts, these services would be creating situations where the users save and the carriers lose. (At least at first. You can probably successfully argue that Dodgeball and Twitter eventually encourage the users to send more texts once they're naturalized.) But as it stands, cheap SMS integration into web apps is a boon for startups with a mobile twist. (That being said, carriers are still running a cartel in the US...)

mattmaroon 19y ago

Yes, moving to Europe is a sensible alternative to paying 15 cents per incoming text message.

lutorm 19y ago
Moving to Europe is a sensible alternative period. ;-)

maximilian 19y ago

I've lived in Europe and Cell phones weren't that much cheaper. In fact, I spent much more on my cell phone bill. Granted I lived in germany, but their voice plans all really sucked, way worse than in the states. Most plans were like .25 cents to call a mobile line and .10 cents to call a landline. And in germany it costs 20 cents to call a mobile phone from a landline - that really sucks. I don't have any experience outside of germany, but it sure wasn't any better there. Just different - better in some ways and worse in other.