[krazd]

Hi, this is my first time posting on the General Discussion Forum.


What can be done to 'fight' the ripoff of American (seems like Canada too) cell phone companies? These big companies seem to have an oligopoly to rake in big bucks..

Not only do we pay much more than other countries, you are NOT charged for incoming texts/calls. Verizon (along with other carriers) charges for incoming calls / texts. My parents are on a family plan with Verizon, and they have been charged a few bucks every month from spam texts. How can you be charged for something that you have no control over??

I guess it's all of our faults for signing these BS contracts. Is our only choice to switch to MetroPCS or BoostMobile and have limited availability?


I was going write a letter to Verizon, but I doubt that will do anything. I wish Google would start their own cell phone service to break the oligopoly that exists in mainstream telecommunication today.


What do you guys think?

[pkcable]

I don't disagree with you.

[alleycat0124]

The "authority" here is the FCC.

As with any other consumer based service, cable, POTS line, etc... there is the choice to seek alternatives, petition the government via your congressman or representatives for more regulation, or do without.

Here in the United States we have a greater number of choices in service providers than in many other countries, so I consider myself fortunate.

I agree the charges do seem excessive, but I believe that is more or less the case with all things these days.

[Motorcycle Mama]

Last time I checked, no company has ever forced anyone to purchase a phone or enter into a cell phone contract.

[Carroty]

Dude, I may sound like I'm crazy, but I love my blackberry, and I'll pay anything I have to a month. (335$ at the moment :3) Then again, I have money. Haha.

[Heresy]

We have options. If you dont want to pay the price at one place go to another. But there also comes in play the whole price and demand thing. If your in an area where one compay is cheap but doesnt work well and you dont care about service, then go with the cheap one. If you want it to work then your just gonna have to pay for it. Thats the American dream.....make as much as you can ripping each other until your company is big enough to make an economical impact and either get split up by the government or get bail out money and get some jets. Or...we can go back to the tin cans and a string.

[Bajanbastard]

You guys get charged for inbound texts and calls?! That's madness! I thought you guys were getting raped for data but wow.

[Heresy]

Yes but you can get unlimited text plans unlimited minute plans now. It basically depends on what you use. I have 4 blackberry's and my bill is well under 200 a month.

[Mamaluka]

Last time I checked, no company has ever forced anyone to purchase a phone or enter into a cell phone contract.

Yup, and in 1989 in NY, no one ever "forced" the owners of the World Trade Center to sign a 1 Million dollar per month contract to have their trash taken away. 30-50% of which was high grade office paper and cardboard worth money which was charged to take away with zero rebate to the client. FYI: when the mob was forced out of their stranglehold on the sanitation business in NY in 1994, the WTC's trash bill dropped from 1 million a month to about a hundred thousand per month. So when ya say nobody forced us, fuggetaboutit.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[ilovemileyyy]

Dude, I may sound like I'm crazy, but I love my blackberry, and I'll pay anything I have to a month. (335$ at the moment :3) Then again, I have money. Haha.

what the **** type of plan do you have?

[Xopher]

You have to look at the different carriers and choose what is the best option for you. Maybe the unlimited plans are best for some, maybe you don't use certain features and can save a bit of money.

One of the reasons we've stayed with USCC and not gone to one of the bigger names is things like no charge for incoming calls/texts/MMSs. One of my good friends is a Verizon dealer. He keeps showing off his Storm and tries to get me to switch over. As much as I like the idea of the Storm, I can't see switching over to a service where not only will I be charged for incoming calls/texts, I will loose GPS functionality.

It helped bAck when we were looking at carriers, there weren't any smartphone options. It was more about calling features and such. I can feel the lure to move on (Storm/Bold) but in the end, it comes to be about wqhat the carriers offer along with the hardware.

[Xopher]

Dude, I may sound like I'm crazy, but I love my blackberry, and I'll pay anything I have to a month. (335$ at the moment :3) Then again, I have money. Haha.

I'm curious about this too. that just seems way over-priced, especially when there are unlimited plans that should cost you half of that.

[ilovemileyyy]

I'm curious about this too. that just seems way over-priced, especially when there are unlimited plans that should cost you half of that.

Yeah, My Mom used to have Simply Everything on Sprint for 99.99 a month (before i switched) now we have Simply Everything Data Family 1500 for 129.99 for two of us. How can this persons bill be over 300 dollars?

[wnm]

I think the reason that our cell plans are the way they are is because of the large land line investment/system/operation created before cell service started taking off. Anyone remember when there was only 1 phone company, and you could only get a phone from that company, and you had to pay a monthly rental fee?

Even with the breakup of Ma Bell and the creation of local companies, long distance carriers, VOiP and the grow of independent cell carriers, we (collectively) still use the the old traditional land line model and we (individually) don't do anything about it.

Most foreign carriers were not locked into this old model, thus there are cheaper and more flexible plans.

[LondoJowo]

Yeah, My Mom used to have Simply Everything on Sprint for 99.99 a month (before i switched) now we have Simply Everything Data Family 1500 for 129.99 for two of us. How can this persons bill be over 300 dollars?

Didn't notice the location eh? Antarctica

[Crackberrykills]

Yes but you can get unlimited text plans unlimited minute plans now. It basically depends on what you use. I have 4 blackberry's and my bill is well under 200 a month.

Damn, that is a good deal. Would you like to add a fifth to that?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Heresy]

LOL yea it is. Funny you say that because I did have a fifth on the account at one point. What I have is 2 curves unlimited data, the 8700 and 7290 have unlimited email feature. No data on them. 400 texts on the 8700 and 7290 unlimited on the curves. Now just waiting to get a couple bolds to replace the older backup devices.

[dchiarav]

It's not any better in Italy. Trust me - I've experienced both worlds. Telecoms have an oligopoly and can therefore charge accordingly.

[krazd]

anyone have experience with cell phone plans in Asia?

I heard in Korea, they don't pay for set plans (like in the US) for XX minutes but pay for each minute/text at a very reasonable rate (a text is charged at a fraction of a cent)

I guess in the U.S. you need to cover a much larger area with your networks, but I still bet its a few thousand % markup.

Like some of you guys said earlier, I am not forced to pay and sign these contracts, but I feel I have no choice because MetroPCS and BoostMobile may not work in other areas outside of where we reside (I plan on attending school elsewhere, dad does business outside of our area).

I think it's like if Automakers in the US only provided 5 total makes of a legitimate cars at a huge markup with the only other choice being a 1* safety rating car at a much cheaper rate.