I am seriously thinking about purchasing a IPhone in the near future. This will be my first "smart" phone and was curious on what the average phone bill cost for the IPhone.
I can't believe you guys pay that much... really... the US is a scary place.
Having lived in Europe and had a local phone I don't feel that $71 for my 450 minutes, 200 SMS, and data and email is a bad deal. I admit not as great as Orange with 600 munutes and 500 SMS with data for 35 GBP, but that $71 include taxes and fees and I would be the 35 GBP doesn't.
Edit: but yes the US is a scary place, just not b/c of the phone tariffs.....
Edit 2: So Voda HK 2G plans (GSM/Edge) (my bro in law was born in and lives/works there now) estimate about 298 $ HK for the minutes, 50 or so HK$ for SMS, and around 198 HK$ for the internet... total, 546 $HK or about $70 US based in the Blackberry he has for business use. if you wanted to use POP email you could subtract a little. Didn't ask it that inlcudes taxes...
Having lived in Europe and had a local phone I don't feel that $71 for my 450 minutes, 200 SMS, and data and email is a bad deal. I admit not as great as Orange with 600 munutes and 500 SMS with data for 35 GBP, but that $71 include taxes and fees and I would be the 35 GBP doesn't.
Edit: but yes the US is a scary place, just not b/c of the phone tariffs.....
Edit 2: So Voda HK 2G plans (GSM/Edge) (my bro in law was born in and lives/works there now) estimate about 298 $ HK for the minutes, 50 or so HK$ for SMS, and around 198 HK$ for the internet... total, 546 $HK or about $70 US based in the Blackberry he has for business use. if you wanted to use POP email you could subtract a little. Didn't ask it that inlcudes taxes...
That's ridiculous. No one pays $298 for minutes!
I've just checked with my provider, PCCW, and the current 3G plan is $198 for 2000 minutes plus 200 Video call minutes plus 200 MMS messages. Unlimited 2G data is $168. 3G is more expensive. $198 gets you 30MB.
Personally, I pay HK$400 (US$50), and for that I get:
900 regular minutes - Package ($108)
700 intra-network minutes - Package
Unlimited carry-over (I currently have over 10000 minutes carried over) - Package
300 inter-network MMS per month - ($38)
Unlimited intra-network MMS - Package
Dual line service (2 incoming and outgoing lines with separate numbers) - ($18)
Call waiting, call forwarding and voicemail - Package
Secretarial paging (a real person answers the calls then sends the message to my phone via SMS, translating from Chinese to English if necessary) - ($58)
News and weather via sms ($8)
20MB EDGE internet usage ($98)
Unlimited wi-fi access at thousands of locations around town (every Starbucks, shopping malls, airport, even pay phone booths) ($58)
Yes a lot of what I get is cheaper for me than the advertised price because I've been a loyal customer for six years. But even at the advertised price all that above would be less than HK$550 (US$70) or so. If I didn't need all the bells and whistles I could easily pare down my monthly bill to HK$200. Almost all of my friends pay less than that.
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I can't believe you guys pay that much... really... the US is a scary place.
I can't believe you guys pay that much... really... the US is a scary place.
Having lived in Europe and had a local phone I don't feel that $71 for my 450 minutes, 200 SMS, and data and email is a bad deal. I admit not as great as Orange with 600 munutes and 500 SMS with data for 35 GBP, but that $71 include taxes and fees and I would be the 35 GBP doesn't.
Edit: but yes the US is a scary place, just not b/c of the phone tariffs.....
Edit 2: So Voda HK 2G plans (GSM/Edge) (my bro in law was born in and lives/works there now) estimate about 298 $ HK for the minutes, 50 or so HK$ for SMS, and around 198 HK$ for the internet... total, 546 $HK or about $70 US based in the Blackberry he has for business use. if you wanted to use POP email you could subtract a little. Didn't ask it that inlcudes taxes...
Having lived in Europe and had a local phone I don't feel that $71 for my 450 minutes, 200 SMS, and data and email is a bad deal. I admit not as great as Orange with 600 munutes and 500 SMS with data for 35 GBP, but that $71 include taxes and fees and I would be the 35 GBP doesn't.
Edit: but yes the US is a scary place, just not b/c of the phone tariffs.....
Edit 2: So Voda HK 2G plans (GSM/Edge) (my bro in law was born in and lives/works there now) estimate about 298 $ HK for the minutes, 50 or so HK$ for SMS, and around 198 HK$ for the internet... total, 546 $HK or about $70 US based in the Blackberry he has for business use. if you wanted to use POP email you could subtract a little. Didn't ask it that inlcudes taxes...
That's ridiculous. No one pays $298 for minutes!
I've just checked with my provider, PCCW, and the current 3G plan is $198 for 2000 minutes plus 200 Video call minutes plus 200 MMS messages. Unlimited 2G data is $168. 3G is more expensive. $198 gets you 30MB.
Personally, I pay HK$400 (US$50), and for that I get:
900 regular minutes - Package ($108)
700 intra-network minutes - Package
Unlimited carry-over (I currently have over 10000 minutes carried over) - Package
300 inter-network MMS per month - ($38)
Unlimited intra-network MMS - Package
Dual line service (2 incoming and outgoing lines with separate numbers) - ($18)
Call waiting, call forwarding and voicemail - Package
Secretarial paging (a real person answers the calls then sends the message to my phone via SMS, translating from Chinese to English if necessary) - ($58)
News and weather via sms ($8)
20MB EDGE internet usage ($98)
Unlimited wi-fi access at thousands of locations around town (every Starbucks, shopping malls, airport, even pay phone booths) ($58)
Yes a lot of what I get is cheaper for me than the advertised price because I've been a loyal customer for six years. But even at the advertised price all that above would be less than HK$550 (US$70) or so. If I didn't need all the bells and whistles I could easily pare down my monthly bill to HK$200. Almost all of my friends pay less than that.
600 mins, 500 texts,
Visual Voicemail,
Unlimited Edge,
WiFi Hot Spots, £35
Unlimited Texts £7.50
and iPhone insurrance. £7.50
I think i've done pretty well, all with tax etc