DeMotivators

[green-lantern]

2 hours 45 minutes? christ, even as intrigued as i am, that's a TLDW for me.

Even if my ADD would let me sit through it I don't think I've had that long without anything to do for years. lol

[NickS VR4]

Those have been a ripoff from the beginning.

Those have been a ripoff from the beginning.

lol. made sense when all phones were $650+. Now I can get new phones for <$400. Just picked up a developer Moto X for $379 (Was $349 a day ago, just missed that). About the same price I paid for my GNex on contract ($300).

[sergechronos]

Those have been a ripoff from the beginning.

Cell phone industry survives around ripping people off. The insurance is just the tip of it. Text messages and data are another example of that. Text messages literally cost them nothing to send, but for years they charged extra for it because people didn't know any better. Once people started using texting more than talking, carriers started offering free texting as a business move. Made it look like they were giving something up, but cost them next to nothing.

You compare prices here to prices abroad, and it's a crazy difference. US carriers charge 30% (or more) for the same features as you get from the major carriers in Europe or Asia.

At the end of the day, that whole industry screws people at every chance they get, and most US Consumers have no idea what cell service is like is the rest of the first world.

[green-lantern]

Our entire economy survives by ripping people off.

Fixed

[sergechronos]

Fixed

Sorry, don't know how I missed that

[IPD]

i don't pay monthly fees on my phone. my account functions like a pre-paid debit card, and only deducts from my balance for minutes i use or texts i make. ~60 euro per year. fuck USA carriers.

[sergechronos]

i don't pay monthly fees on my phone. my account functions like a pre-paid debit card, and only deducts from my balance for minutes i use or texts i make. ~60 euro per year. fuck USA carriers.

Well, from folks I know abroad: 60 bucks for a smart phone with 3gb of data and unlimited data and texting that has service pretty much everywhere...Sounds sexy. There was a carrier I recall offered 20gb of data plus unlimited calling and texts on a Galaxy S4 with a 2 year contract for like 95 a month and the Galaxy would cost just 35...

Japan I think has a carrier that has voice only service for like 10 bucks a month for around 500 minutes.

[IPD]

part of the problem is population density. japan can offer crazy low prices on pretty much everything because a dozen cell towers practically covers the entire country (I jest...but you get the idea).

I would not be averse to seeing USA providers charge cellular prices commensurate with population density for the area the user lives in. If you live on a ranch the size of Rhode Island and want cell coverage, well...pony up more cash.

[VR-4 0wnz j00]

I know exactly what you mean. I had unlimited everything in Taiwan for ~30 a month but I did have to pay $150 for the phone. Now Im spending $150 for 2 phones and 2 GB of data shared.

[sergechronos]

part of the problem is population density. japan can offer crazy low prices on pretty much everything because a dozen cell towers practically covers the entire country (I jest...but you get the idea).

I would not be averse to seeing USA providers charge cellular prices commensurate with population density for the area the user lives in. If you live on a ranch the size of Rhode Island and want cell coverage, well...pony up more cash.

Something to bear in mind though is that each cell tower can only support so many people, so there is kind of a trade off there. You go someplace that only gets massive population spikes periodically (like say for a sporting event or something) and occasionally service becomes spotty because the infrastructure isn't there to support that many people making phone calls or using data. This was especially true when smart phones first exploded. Of course, IIRC all European carriers use the same band for their cell phones, so service is much better there anyhow than it is here and they all kind of share the costs of increasing infrastructure. Compare that to the US with CDMA and GSM coverage, it increases the costs since each group has to build their own shit. 4g theoretically may help there, but for now voice doesn't operate over 4g (because carriers don't want it to.)

I do agree that population per tower should be a factor in costs, but no matter how you slice it, the costs are jacked up over what they should be because of the lack of competition. The major carriers have effectively monopolized smaller areas because the cost for a competitor to build there are high for little chance of converting people over, and the major areas everyone has towers. This lets them charge whatever they want more or less, people in the monopolized areas don't have a choice, and people in the major areas don't see much of a difference due to the carriers costing roughly the same. You do have T-mobile, Cricket, Boost, etc. which offer cheaper rates, unsure of service quality or anything else, although I believe that they piggyback off of the major networks so shouldn't be too bad. In truth, I stick with Verizon because it got service at my folks place in NY, my sisters place in KY, my grandmothers in TN and at school. No other carrier had service at every location.

I know exactly what you mean. I had unlimited everything in Taiwan for ~30 a month but I did have to pay $150 for the phone. Now Im spending $150 for 2 phones and 2 GB of data shared.

Yeah, I honestly just stick with an old shitty basic phone. Unlimited texting and calls, runs me like 30-40 a month I think. But I have an iPod touch to get on the web or whatever whenever I'm on campus or out somewhere, and doesn't cost me a penny extra. Looked into going back to a Blackberry, but it's another 30 bucks just to have a smartphone. Fuck that.

US carriers can feel free to kiss the absolute fattest part of my ass.