5 ms·

Comparing dollar prices in isolation makes almost no sense. You need to at least look at average/median monthly income and compare via some normalized metric, l

Comparing dollar prices in isolation makes almost no sense. You need to at least look at average/median monthly income and compare via some normalized metric, like a variant of Purchasing Power Parity [1] . Even if you do this, comparisons are hard. Completely different economies, market structures and target groups, subsidies, taxation, regulation, etc can all have a big effect. Looking at India, it has a GDP per Capita that's 1/8 of the US, and an average monthly income of 150$! That should give you a measure for how 10$ in India are very different from 10$ in the US. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchasing_power_parity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchasing_power_parity

bildung 7y ago
Absolutely correct to note his, but e.g. Germany is above the USA in that PPP list, but for €8 I get 3GB of data and unlimited phone calls and sms.
hailk 7y ago
Theoretically this might be true, but Jio revolution is real in India. Even extremely poor blue collar workers have good internet data.
Dylan16807 7y ago
If things are competitive, it makes more sense to look at cost than PPP-adjusted price. PPP is an overall metric that doesn't always apply to specific items; it's not like the price of an iPhone is any different in India. And GP gives a pretty fair list of things that influence cost.
belltaco 7y ago
>Looking at India, it has a GDP per Capita that's 1/8 of the US Okay, then lets multiply Indian prices by 8. Someone up the thread quoted this: >For 6 dollars 50 cents, you get 1.5 GB/day for 91 days. Where in the US can I get 1.5GB/day for 91 days for $52 ? Before someone talks about congestion, this is India, with 1.3 Billion people and "third world" infrastructure. If that kind of bandwidth can be provided to that many folks where people are routinely using it to watch TV channels (see Jio TV), why can't we do it here? I think congestion and data caps are just excuses to wring more money.
- uep 7y ago
  Not to be contrary, but that is almost exactly what I pay to T-Mobile (in the US) for unlimited data. I also have great coverage in rural parts of the country. Strictly multiplying by 8 isn't really a good comparison, as the cost of supporting such a network in India isn't going to cost 1/8th as much as the US. I'm sure there's a lot of room for the US cellular carriers to be more efficient.
  - ska 7y ago
    You pay $18/month for unlimited?
    - saltcured 7y ago
      There is a pre-paid T-Mobile MVNO called Mint who will give you 3 to 12GB/month LTE for $15 to $25/month, with unlimited at slower speeds when you go over your limit. To get those prices, you buy in bulk, prepaying 12 months at a time. If you need to buy extra LTE capacity in one month, they charge $20 for 3GB increments. In reality though, I think many US users here probably get the majority of their bandwidth over WiFi and do not really use that much LTE data. But, if I wanted to replace my $70/month cable Internet with just a Mint subscription, i.e. the $25/month plus 2x $20 refills, that would buy 18 GB/month of LTE.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - uep 7y ago
      Absolutely not. Thanks for pointing that out. I definitely misread the grandparent's post to be monthly (which means I'm paying 3x). I think ~$2.16/month is so cheap that it didn't register as possible. I do, however, have truly unlimited, which means I can tether without hesitation. T-Mobile does have unlimited plans at $35/line a month for 55 or older, but that is still twice the $18/month price. As the sibling post states, there are competitive plans like Mint, or FreedomPop, which offer extremely cheap plans, but nowhere near 1.5GiB of data a day. So I guess we are much further away than I thought we were.

bildung 7y ago

Absolutely correct to note his, but e.g. Germany is above the USA in that PPP list, but for €8 I get 3GB of data and unlimited phone calls and sms.

hailk 7y ago

Theoretically this might be true, but Jio revolution is real in India. Even extremely poor blue collar workers have good internet data.

Dylan16807 7y ago

If things are competitive, it makes more sense to look at cost than PPP-adjusted price. PPP is an overall metric that doesn't always apply to specific items; it's not like the price of an iPhone is any different in India. And GP gives a pretty fair list of things that influence cost.

belltaco 7y ago

>Looking at India, it has a GDP per Capita that's 1/8 of the US Okay, then lets multiply Indian prices by 8. Someone up the thread quoted this: >For 6 dollars 50 cents, you get 1.5 GB/day for 91 days. Where in the US can I get 1.5GB/day for 91 days for $52 ? Before someone talks about congestion, this is India, with 1.3 Billion people and "third world" infrastructure. If that kind of bandwidth can be provided to that many folks where people are routinely using it to watch TV channels (see Jio TV), why can't we do it here? I think congestion and data caps are just excuses to wring more money.

uep 7y ago
Not to be contrary, but that is almost exactly what I pay to T-Mobile (in the US) for unlimited data. I also have great coverage in rural parts of the country. Strictly multiplying by 8 isn't really a good comparison, as the cost of supporting such a network in India isn't going to cost 1/8th as much as the US. I'm sure there's a lot of room for the US cellular carriers to be more efficient.
- ska 7y ago
  You pay $18/month for unlimited?
  - saltcured 7y ago
    There is a pre-paid T-Mobile MVNO called Mint who will give you 3 to 12GB/month LTE for $15 to $25/month, with unlimited at slower speeds when you go over your limit. To get those prices, you buy in bulk, prepaying 12 months at a time. If you need to buy extra LTE capacity in one month, they charge $20 for 3GB increments. In reality though, I think many US users here probably get the majority of their bandwidth over WiFi and do not really use that much LTE data. But, if I wanted to replace my $70/month cable Internet with just a Mint subscription, i.e. the $25/month plus 2x $20 refills, that would buy 18 GB/month of LTE.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - uep 7y ago
    Absolutely not. Thanks for pointing that out. I definitely misread the grandparent's post to be monthly (which means I'm paying 3x). I think ~$2.16/month is so cheap that it didn't register as possible. I do, however, have truly unlimited, which means I can tether without hesitation. T-Mobile does have unlimited plans at $35/line a month for 55 or older, but that is still twice the $18/month price. As the sibling post states, there are competitive plans like Mint, or FreedomPop, which offer extremely cheap plans, but nowhere near 1.5GiB of data a day. So I guess we are much further away than I thought we were.