4 ms·

How come mobile services are so expensive in the US? I'm in Europe and I pay 15€ for unlimited data (like really unlimited, no slow down after X GBs) + 2 hours

How come mobile services are so expensive in the US? I'm in Europe and I pay 15€ for unlimited data (like really unlimited, no slow down after X GBs) + 2 hours of talk each month. More than enough for me but just by seeing US ads it seems way more expensive there.

jethro_tell 4y ago
One Technical reason is that there is a lot of land to cover in order to provide service nation wide. There's a 25 square mile area where my parents are located that is covered by a single 4g/5g tower. There are 15 houses in that area, probably not all of them are customers of the company that owns the tower. I'm sure there is other anti-competitive stuff going on as well but infra in most of the EU and US can't really be compared in the same way.
rootusrootus 4y ago
> How come mobile services are so expensive in the US? A lot more land to cover with towers with less people to pay for it. An unlimited prepaid plan here is $30/mo.
ars 4y ago
Because in Europe the caller of a mobile pays, while in the United States the receiver pays. So plans are much more expensive because the owner of the mobile has to pay for all usage. I do wonder how much the actual real bill is at the end for a typical mobile user in Europe with all the charges they have to pay when calling other people.
- tacker2000 4y ago
  What do you mean the receiver pays? You mean roaming? Also: most plans in Europe include like 3000 free minutes/sms per month so nobody really pays for calls anymore here. The big bucks are in data.
  - ars 4y ago
    Such a cultural difference that you are not even aware the alternative option exists! In the US, if I call you, you pay for the call, not me! And no, I don't mean roaming. i.e. incoming calls count against your minutes. Here's an article with some nuances: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2008/03/report-europeans-be-forced-to-pay-for-incoming-cell-calls/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2008/03/report-europeans-be-...
tacker2000 4y ago
Europe has denser population and much more competition.

jethro_tell 4y ago

One Technical reason is that there is a lot of land to cover in order to provide service nation wide. There's a 25 square mile area where my parents are located that is covered by a single 4g/5g tower. There are 15 houses in that area, probably not all of them are customers of the company that owns the tower. I'm sure there is other anti-competitive stuff going on as well but infra in most of the EU and US can't really be compared in the same way.

rootusrootus 4y ago

> How come mobile services are so expensive in the US? A lot more land to cover with towers with less people to pay for it. An unlimited prepaid plan here is $30/mo.

ars 4y ago

Because in Europe the caller of a mobile pays, while in the United States the receiver pays. So plans are much more expensive because the owner of the mobile has to pay for all usage. I do wonder how much the actual real bill is at the end for a typical mobile user in Europe with all the charges they have to pay when calling other people.

tacker2000 4y ago
What do you mean the receiver pays? You mean roaming? Also: most plans in Europe include like 3000 free minutes/sms per month so nobody really pays for calls anymore here. The big bucks are in data.
- ars 4y ago
  Such a cultural difference that you are not even aware the alternative option exists! In the US, if I call you, you pay for the call, not me! And no, I don't mean roaming. i.e. incoming calls count against your minutes. Here's an article with some nuances: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2008/03/report-europeans-be-forced-to-pay-for-incoming-cell-calls/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2008/03/report-europeans-be-...

tacker2000 4y ago

Europe has denser population and much more competition.