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US cell carriers charge a crazy amount of money when compared to the UK


G+_Bruce B
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US cell carriers charge a crazy amount of money when compared to the UK. Twig, Twit and AAA often mention $100 per month contracts with some pretty crappy restrictions.

 

In the last all about Android there was discussion about data caps which got me thinking.

 

I pay £10 a month for 1200 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data inc tethering. The unlimited data allows 3Gb a day before the carrier turns down the speed. I should admit that this is a 30 day rolling contract with Virgin (using Orange and T mobile's networks) which I use on my S3 which I purchased outright from Amazon. I also negotiated the price down to £10 from £17.

 

Do these SIM only deals exist in the US? If so why does everyone put up with crazy pricing?

 

PS I don't work for Virgin mobile

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Nope. Cheapest we get here is Tmobile prepaid. $30 a month, 100mins,unlimited text, unlimited data. But their network isn't that great. And I think they throttle after 5gigs/month. Other networks will offer unlimited everything but their data is slowed down the whole month $50. Plus 2 of our top 4 networks are cdma, which i don't think they have in the UK. So they lock us in under contract and it is not that easy to switch as if it was gsm. Also they recently made it illegal to keep the same phone and switch to a different network without your carriers permission. This is for newly purchased phones under contract. If u buy a used phone or an unlocked world phone u can still switch legally.

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Deals ca be found out there. I'm on Tmobile and we pay $85 per month for 3 lines. We share 1000 minutes, my wife's line is unlimited text and data (no tethering), my line is unlimited text with 5GB with tethering and my son's line is talk text only.

Between committing to two years, loyalty discounts and workplace discounts the deal was pretty good. Of course, we have to buy our own devices but that's what all the cool kids are doing.

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The biggest problem in my area is coverage. Verizon has excellent coverage through my state, but is overpriced. Tmobile and AT&T only have coverage in the 2 largest cities. There is another small carrier (Viaero) who is state wide with good coverage and decent prices, but they are running an edge network.

 

Basically, I can have cheap slow service or overpriced, restricted, but fast service. I think most people in the USA outside of major metropolitan areas have similar problems.

 

As an aside, we barely have an Sprint coverage here, so they aren't really even an option.

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The prices in the States seems crazy. I pay £12 a month for unlimited data,250 minutes (which I never use). I do tethering to my tables, laptops etc...even though I am not suppose to. On average.....I use about 4 to 5 gigs. One I made the mistake..and choose a 1gig plan for a month. Boy...I felt like I was in prison. After awhile..if I wanted to check out a YouTube bideo...or download whatsapp video..or even listen to google music (from the cloud)...I had to wait until I was in a wifi area.

 

I have not tried a 4g network yet. However I consider I don t need nor want it on a mobile phone... As I don't really download...but mainly stream

 

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There are is one solid CDMA MVNO option (for now) that uses Verizon if you don't have another option. Page plus is pretty good, but you're stuck with 3G coverage. You can flash some LTE phones to work them and a lot of sprint phones (sprint GS3 works really well). Unlimited talk and text is $40 add 2GBs it goes to$55, 5GBs goes to $70. It's worth a look if you want cheap, but your only network option is Verizon.

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Unfortunate to be sure. Hopefully soon the providers will learn and offer better Internet packages and lower text and minutes packages. The only reason I pay my (what I consider excessive) fee is because I want unlimited Internet with tethering so I can use my tablet when I'm out

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