4 ms·
One benefit of an unlocked phone is being able to use a local SIM card when you travel internationally. This could be a big savings over paying roaming charges.
by cicero 12y ago
One benefit of an unlocked phone is being able to use a local SIM card when you travel internationally. This could be a big savings over paying roaming charges.
- jwr 12y agoTrue. And those US prices seem insane to me. As an example of what you can expect with prepaid operators, here's what Virgin Mobile in Poland charges: $5.1/month buys 2GB, unlimited sms, 100 minutes $7.8/month buys 2GB, unlimited sms, unlimited talk time $16/month buys 10GB, unlimited sms, unlimited talk time.
- adventured 12y agoThat $16 is about $56 when you adjust for the median household income difference between Poland and the US. I wouldn't expect my house, utilities, food etc to cost what the median prices are for those things in Poland either. The US is a vast country to try to build 99% LTE coverage across population wise, which the US carriers managed to do. It cost a lot of money to pull that off. Labor costs, spectrum rights (thanks FCC), et al. are far more expensive in the US than Poland. Check out what a plan costs on Swisscom, you're talking $80+ to get started. That makes sense because Switzerland has a high median household income. Nobody expects a $7 all-in phone plan in Switzerland.
- maxerickson 12y agoTheir customers also don't seem to care. AT&T and Verizon have a combined 220 million wireless subscriber lines (or so). This is pretty good evidence that they don't particularly need to lower prices, regardless of whether they can or not. I'm not sure spectrum auctions are that big a deal, the companies are paying months of revenues for decades of license.
- selectodude 12y agoVerizon LTE phones are factory unlocked, which is spectacular. Sent from my iPhone on Turkcell