CoolFrost
1382
29
2
Just for fun, I looked into mobile plan prices since there was a recent post in Danish media about how some things are surprisingly more expensive in the U.S. than here in Denmark. One of the main points was phone plan prices, so I collected and plotted prices as a function of data (GB) included in each plan—and, yikes, the U.S. really doesn’t compare well!
For reference, my plan costs $23 per month and includes 120 GB with unlimited everything else. It even works in the U.S., though with a 30 GB data cap. Correct me if my numbers are off, but it looks like this is what real market competition achieves! ?
marthafarquar
Scotland here , I'm with Tesco that uses the O2 network and its £14 / $18 for unlimited minutes & texts plus 100GB data.
Grebnegnal
Visible by Verizon costs $25 per month everything unlimited.
wargames
those are correct us get fucked on every level.
seregsarn
These numbers seem low for the USA. I have a plan that they don't offer anymore because it's too generous and they charge me $160ish a month for 5gb.
Leaps
Uh you might want to go price shopping to see what is out there if you are paying that much for 5GB.
NotADutchman
Capitalism left unchecked will result in corporate greed.
FckleberryFarms
I think our phones (wife and I) have 4 GB, going over is like $10 per GB over and it costs $15/mo. She deals with them though so don't quote me. Verizon.
FckleberryFarms
The bill is ~$120/mo total for both lines. Her phone is very old, mine isn't new but not as old as hers and is carrier unlocked.
8bitRosie
Now include Canada. I have a feeling the US will come out looking pretty great in comparison.
Hurro
*cries in Canadian while paying Telus*
ClassicSean
Now compare to every first world country and see what happens
0570
Dutch here, I pay €6 for unlimited call/texts and another €2 for 12Gb data. Don't need much more than 12Gb as theres usually WiFi around.
trekkiedane
Strange, In Denmark it has come to the point where we would get a better (and much cheaper) service if we forgot all about landlines and went full mobile... My sister has been doing so for some time now, and uses her phone for all her internet needs; tv-streaming, internet, messaging, and 'phoning' (whoever talks on the phone any more?)
And, as my current provider has announced a hike in price per first of Jan '25, so will I!
0570
I've used my phone as a hotspot on more than a few occasions, the speed of 5G transfer (1000+ mbps) is significantly faster than my land-line based speed of 100 mbps. Fiber is not yet a thing in the village I moved to last year.
BrickShakes
Seems about right. I pay 180 dkk (26 usd) for unlimited calls, messages and around 100 GB EU data a month.
Aslatra
I only have 2GB of data, but I work from home so I really only need that much and I only spend $15.
mikeymikec
Bad, wicked, naughty numbers!
CoolFrost
Leaps
Welcome America, which in the last 30 years has become the land of monopolies and regulatory capture! We have three main cell carriers in the U.S. and amazingly the pricing for all three is pretty much the same. Crazy right? And they made $36 BILLION in profit last year. Yay America!
squishybaker
UK ain't much better but at least most carriers offer unlimited data.
AntiProtonBoy
Now do Australia
Ghostwish
The culprit here is mostly AT&T.
Micro2112
Don't forget T-Mobile who decided the lifetime price lock was actually 8 years
Sechran
We need to break them up again.
Then again, if we started going down the list of companies that need to be picked apart, AT&T would probably be pretty far down...
ElbowDeepInAllTheThings
I'd like to introduce you to Verizon and a game they like to play called "Guess How Much Your Monthly Bill Will Be! Ooh, Sorry, You're Wrong!"
Cabreza
In the US there are premium plans, like AT&T, that are hideously expensive but there are also second tier plans, like Mint Mobile, which are much more reasonable.
FckleberryFarms
"second tier" are MVNOs using someone else's network and so your traffic is deprioritized.
Newitt
Does the Danish government subsidize the costs or price fix in any way?
trekkiedane
Nope, they privatized all that shit in the eighties/nineties.
BrickShakes
No. there's no specific price regulations but nothing targeting phone plan pricing to my knowledge.
BrickShakes
None specific*
4b6e6f747779726b696e
It takes something like six cell towers to cover all of Denmark? Just kidding - Denmark has about 4000 cellphone towers, while the US has 140,000 (with 424,000 smaller nodes). If you haven't been to the US you won't be able to fathom the size of coverage needed. Also need to compare government subsidies in the two countries.
LisaSimps0nsDr3aM
That’s roughly 1,500 customers per cell tower in DK versus 2,200 customers per tower in US.
trekkiedane
And a few million more people (subscribers) to pay for those many more towers, right?
dunkum09
using the above numbers, that comes out to very very roughly twice as many people per tower in the US vs Denmark - meaning we would expect 1/2 the cost in US vs Denmark BUT that calculation does not include the smaller nodes number. if we just count those as towers, then it flips and there are 2-3x as many people per tower in denmark vs US meaning 2-3x the cost in US. but it isn't clear that is how the cost structure actually works and even so, it wouldn't account or the 4x cost at the extremes
BenjyX55
Won't be able to fathom? Do you think other countries don't have maps or know about geography?
CoolFrost
From my research it seems that operators in the US, get more subsidies compared to in denmark/EU. In order to operate as a network in denmak you need to guarantee 98% coverage. there are 3 independent networks in denmark with maybe 100 companies using the networks and providing the product to the end customers.
Elkku
By that logic, everything that needs any infrastructure (just about everything) should be way more expensive? Scaling advances usually go other way around
alt86er
Now show Germany as well. It always feels like we are the butt of the joke, when it comes to that area. Services are often meh, prices are high. You can travel from here to Budapest and back and you will always know when you crossed the Border from/to Germany. Service in DE is worse.
DidIleavemynobelprizehere
Didn't know they even do digital communications im Germany. Always feels like going back to the '80's when crossing the border: cash only, no mobile service, businesses without digital presence.
alt86er
Cash only was probably 2 decades ago. Even at the bakery you can now pay with cashless. No mobile services depends on which net you have. Some are crap. But none of them are *really* good. Businesses without digital presence... maybe. Very often a very lazy variant on facebook. Like I want to look up your restaurant's menu on facebook, put behind some login.
DidIleavemynobelprizehere
Cash only is still rampant. Try to by a beer on the central square in Trier, try to by an icecream, everywhere cash only. Yes, shops are getting better, but often still with a minimum spend.
alt86er
I mean, considering, that the banks running these services take a lot of money for those services, I don't blame them. Same as with the mobile services: As long as you get away charging huge amounts for basically nothing, why should they stop?
DidIleavemynobelprizehere
Which is strange, as the costs of cash transactions are much higher (€0,53 per transaction in the Netherlands, as opposed to nearly zero for digital transactions)