Yet another cell phone ripoff.

[NickD 202]

The web, we got a postcard form our cell phone company for a family web plan, 50 bucks a month that also includes text messaging. Although I haven't the slightest idea why we should get either. Nice part of leaving your home is meeting real live people in person and even looking at a tree.

Can't convince my daughter of that. Told the reason why people have text messaging is they want to communicate but don't want to talk to each other, but paying 35 bucks a month for her web service plus another 20 bucks a month for text messaging with a family plan, wife started using it, I hate it, and just leave a voice message. If they don't have their damn phone turned on, still have to wait for a reply. But for an extra five bucks a month we all can have the net with text messaging, hell, you can even send an e-mail.

But here is the catch, this is a reduced plan that was explained to me by the dealer, while it does permit us to keep our phones on 27/7 if your battery last that long tying up three cell phone channels, but does not give full access to the net. Since our daughter has a Blackberry, another complete ripoff in my opinion, she needs the premium plan and would have to turn her Blackberry in if we switched to this plan.

For those that do not know, the internet is free, what we are paying for is the connectivity to the internet, via cable, landline, or recently, the cell phone. So what difference does it make to the cell phone company if you are tying up three channels with either the premium or reduced service. You, in either case are tying up this channels which translates into the cell phone company having to add more channels.

The only difference in terms of the cost to the cell phone companies is that to use some extra features, you have to pay a small fortune to buy a phone that has those features, than pay an extra 20 bucks a month to use those features, that is a ripoff.

Telecommunications was always that way in this country, had to pay an extra ten bucks a month to get touchtone, even though the phone companies were saving billions with that system. Cable company is the same way by charging you a bundle to receive more commercial loaded programs.

All of us our getting screwed royally, and most of us don't even know we are.

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

agreed. no texting, no email on my phone. and it's usually turned off, so leave a message

[thepizzadude 26]

Actually we all know we are getting stuck up the *** but we also know that there is nothing that we can do about it....

We all know while the government had their noses up Microsofts a** trying to save us from the dreaded monopolization of our puters...they paid no attention while 3 or 4 major cable companies, 3 or 4 news corporations and 6 or 7 banks monopolized all of our communication and financial lives.

Edited October 1, 2009 by thepizzadude

[Niels Bohr 72]

wholly #######!

I want those huge pizzas!

[BishopMnA 0]

wholly #######!

I want those huge pizzas!

Ya...I'm with Charles...leave a message. I work in I.T...and I'm on the computer all day (with VJ )...last think I want after work is more computer...

...and I seriously want that huge Pizza also. Q: If I order a MeatLoversDeluxe in that size...how long does it take to cook...can you still make the 30 minute delv or its free ? ? ?

[alienlovechild 75]

I get tired of extra data charges of about $11/month from Verizon. Neither me of the my wife use that option but get charged periodically and I have to call and complain about it til they drop the charges and tell me they have blocked those features.

[sara..... 371]

we have t-mobile we have to have five lines because of my younger sisters and brother that have sports all seem to get back after games at a different time on the buses we dont live close to the schools so they call us when they are about ten minutes from town so we can be there to pick them up

we pay i think like 79 dollars for 1000 shared minutes and nine dollars something a month for each line, then mom has blackberry so there is the added INTERNET, i have a behold........INTERNET again have to have it because of business and school......

we were lucky and got into the nine something a month family plan for unlimited text messages

anyway before its all over its like 150.00 a month........then we have a co-op phone company u have PAY for all long distance mmm that means anything not in our town........and u have to have a phone to get dsl or cable so that bill is about 160.00 a month

im ready to go back over seas or move to a larger area where INTERNET is cheap, and u dont have to have a land line

oh yeah forgot the federal taxes on land line and cell phones we could be making a house payment for what we spend

sara

[Niels Bohr 72]

Sorry, no offense. Just laughing.

[Heracles 417]

Carriers here subsidize substandard (cheap) handsets and then rip you off on the plan and on various other shifty costs. Carriers overseas offer a better range of handsets, which you pay more for, yet have much better value plans. Another thing is that in various countries a plan must include all fees and taxes in the price. A $49.95 plan means you pay $49.95. Furthermore, such plans usually indicate a minimum usage commitment and can be used on anything. Rather than just minutes, with everything else on top.

My plan in Aus:

• $4.95 monthly access fee
• 6.5 cents (per minute) - outgoing calls,
• 11 cents per message,
• Free anything incoming - calls, messages, etc
• 20 cents per minute two-way video calls (not available by any US carrier)

I could easily swap carriers by simply switching sim cards.

Nokia is the best selling manufacturer in the world yet how many carriers carry it here? What models do they carry?

Edited October 2, 2009 by Booyah!

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Carriers here subsidize substandard (cheap) handsets and then rip you off on the plan and on various other shifty costs. Carriers overseas offer a better range of handsets, which you pay more for, yet have much better value plans. Another thing is that in various countries a plan must include all fees and taxes in the price. A $49.95 plan means you pay $49.95. Furthermore, such plans usually indicate a minimum usage commitment and can be used on anything. Rather than just minutes, with everything else on top.

My plan in Aus:

• $4.95 monthly access fee
• 6.5 cents (per minute) - outgoing calls,
• 11 cents per message,
• Free anything incoming - calls, messages, etc
• 20 cents per minute two-way video calls (not available by any US carrier)

I could easily swap carriers by simply switching sim cards.

Nokia is the best selling manufacturer in the world yet how many carriers carry it here? What models do they carry?

So take your Nokia and go back to Australia, problem solved.

[AlHayatZween 2]

Me, too... i hate cell phones, but they are a necessary evil for us for the time being.

Yeah, we just moved here and have gotten a Cox cable bundle. It absolutely sucks, and is the same price i was paying in Brooklyn, only with less channels and less features. i don't think there are any other providers here that we could use while living in this particular apartment complex.

[NickD 202]

We have a government cable committee in town that deals with any complaints you may have against the one and only cable company. Except programming and rates, when told that, could only ask, what else is there to complain about.

Love that cell phone TV commercial about how to use your cell phone to run a business, can just visualize that with text messages.

"Are you working?"

"if you call playing with this damn cell phone working replying to your text messages, the answer is yes"

"While you are here, how about a raise"

"Would love to give you a raise, but after I pay my cell phone bill, don't have any money left"

What we can do is cancel all of our cell phone contracts, but this would take a common effort.

[Niels Bohr 72]

You get your point faster just by talking. Whereas, if you text message, it takes more time to write down your thought. It's a slower communication. Why would someone want that?

[SMR 368]

One thing to realize is that you don't usually have a dedicated "line" on your cellphone, just a number. That is, if everybody tried to call at once, the cell phone tower literally doesn't have the bandwidth. Even when you are talking, the line isn't dedicated to you. The line is shared in terms of time. Your cell phone is only on for a fraction of the conversation. It just turns on and off fast enough that you don't recognize it (usually). That is, even if you only hear one millisecond in ten of the conversation (for example), you can comprehend it without much trouble. This system is really necessary. Otherwise cell phone usage would be prohibitively expensive and there simply wouldn't be enough bandwidth for everyone.

Thus, internet costs more. You are using much more bandwidth to transfer data. It does seem to me that texting charges are gouging since the amount of data is so small and the priority is so low (they can wait 10 seconds or more for a lull to transfer the couple hundred byte text message that you are sending). However, if you are using your blackberry to browse the internet, consider how much more bandwidth you could be using than if you were just talking to a friend. You could be downloading movies, pictures, programs, etc. Of course, it all depends on what bit-rate your connection has.

On a practical note, I agree that text messages are typically useless and dumb. Leave a voice message or call.

[SMR 368]

Carriers here subsidize substandard (cheap) handsets and then rip you off on the plan and on various other shifty costs. Carriers overseas offer a better range of handsets, which you pay more for, yet have much better value plans. Another thing is that in various countries a plan must include all fees and taxes in the price. A $49.95 plan means you pay $49.95. Furthermore, such plans usually indicate a minimum usage commitment and can be used on anything. Rather than just minutes, with everything else on top.

My plan in Aus:

• $4.95 monthly access fee
• 6.5 cents (per minute) - outgoing calls,
• 11 cents per message,
• Free anything incoming - calls, messages, etc
• 20 cents per minute two-way video calls (not available by any US carrier)

I could easily swap carriers by simply switching sim cards.

Nokia is the best selling manufacturer in the world yet how many carriers carry it here? What models do they carry?

I don't know about Nokia being the best, but they are good. It's true that American cell phone companies are ripping people off. They just have gotten people used to cheap cell phones. No one wants to pay full sticker price for a good cell phone.