What is it with carriers and contracts?

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

I'm on Three, UK as well

I don't really tether so much so I save ?10 by going for ?15 pay as you go

Did you know the Three, UK gives these low-end handsets as "replacements" for ?50 to all the contract customers? You don't need to be insured or anything!

One of my mates using Lumia 800 who lost the phone, not insured called Three to cancel contract and he was offered a refurbished Lumia 610 for ?49.99!

No, I wasn't aware, but my TITAN wasn't with the contract so I'm on a one-month rolling contract, so I believe I am exempt. Plus, I'd rather pay the extra ?10 (for a total excess of ?60) to get my current phone replaced on insurance Especially as I plan to get a WP8 next.

 

[cgk]

Thankfully, I can afford to buy my phones outright and then get very cheap contracts on a rolling monthly basis.

 

[Rich Edmonds]

Must admit I'm concerned when I heard stories of US residents paying $200+ for their monthly fee. I'm on a ?25 ($40ish) per-month contract with 3 UK for my primary SIM and it comes with 2,000 call minutes, unlimited SMS and unlimited data, which I'm sure my brothers would have to pay an arm and a leg for. It's funny how you take things for granted so easily.

 

[Coreldan]

Must admit I'm concerned when I heard stories of US residents paying $200+ for their monthly fee. I'm on a ?25 ($40ish) per-month contract with 3 UK for my primary SIM and it comes with 2,000 call minutes, unlimited SMS and unlimited data, which I'm sure my brothers would have to pay an arm and a leg for. It's funny how you take things for granted so easily.

Well, they do get their phones for ridicilously low prices at the same time, but surely we still end up cheaper in that "2 year cycle".

 

[BellaRed]

In some ways UK contract prices are moving towards the American model. It used to be that all phones were free with a contract, now on expensive models there tends to be an upfront payment towards the device with the price set depending on which contract you take out. A contract costing ?35 -?41 is roughly the norm.

We are lucky I guess in that we have competition between networks and Ofcom and the EU keep them in check. The EU has made considerable moves to lower roaming costs for example.

I have always bought sim free phones so far but as I tend to get a new phone every year I may one day have to consider a contract if they become too expensive to buy that way. Most of the time I will sell an older phone to get a new one which goes towards the cost.

 

[rockstarzzz]

But then in the US don't you get an advantage of adding consequent lines to your running $200 contract by paying say $20/$30 - extra per phone?

So in US a family of 4 can have 4 WP8 at the price of $290/month
In UK the same deal might cost about ?160/month with some up front cost like ?29 per handset, so ?120 for all 4 handsets?

I am really fascinated now subsequent lines are on discounted rate. That would do a trick for me when I own a WP7.8 and then can afford to add WP8 while still keeping old allowances and phone, paying a small extra fee each month!

 

[freestaterocker]

Good for you Rockstar, we here also have the option to just buy our phone and unlock it. But not everyone has that kind of income.

This is EXACTLY the mentality that gives North American carriers all they power they have.

Consumer: I NEED THAT HOT NEW SMARTPHONE!!! But I can't afford it...
Carrier: Sign a long term contract with us, and we'll give you a huge upfront discount. (and stab you in the back with the huge markup on our services-like $7/month for caller ID, which costs us nothing to provide and everybody needs so they don't waste their expensive minutes on wrong numbers and telemarketers)
Consumer: Well, I can't live without that new smartphone, so where do I sign?

If you can't afford it, don't buy it. I'm not judging anyone-I fell for it too. But NEVER AGAIN.

 

[TGBmark1234]

(and stab you in the back with the huge markup on our services-like $7/month for caller ID, which costs us nothing to provide and everybody needs so they don't waste their expensive minutes on wrong numbers and telemarketers)

Here are some differences between US and UK carriers. Over here they don't charge you for caller ID, and the caller covers all the cost of the call so the receiver doesn't waste minutes on wrong numbers of spam calls. The contract minutes are only used for calls actually made from the phone.

BTW, I'm paying ?21/month for 300 minutes (I use about 20!), 300 texts and 1Gb data (can be tethered) from T-Mobile. I had a ?70 upfront fee for my Omnia 7. My wife pays ?15/month for 100 minutes, but unlimited texts and includes the BB charge and data, and got her phone for free, also on T-Mobile.

 

[aubreyq]

Must admit I'm concerned when I heard stories of US residents paying $200+ for their monthly fee. I'm on a ?25 ($40ish) per-month contract with 3 UK for my primary SIM and it comes with 2,000 call minutes, unlimited SMS and unlimited data, which I'm sure my brothers would have to pay an arm and a leg for. It's funny how you take things for granted so easily.

Well I would hope those $200 cover 2-3 phone lines. Anyone paying $200/mo. for a single device here in the US is getting seriously ripped off.

 

[rockstarzzz]

Well I would hope those $200 cover 2-3 phone lines. Anyone paying $200/mo. for a single device here in the US is getting seriously ripped off.

If it's 2-3 phones lines for $200 - it looks like a better deal or similar to what UK offers!

In UK for a high end phone on contract you are looking at about ?35 on average per month, per phone. And there aren't any Black Fridays or $0.01 sale! So upfront costs are anything between ?30-?100 or more if you go for iPhones.

 

[jonathan sink]

Cablevision, Verizon, and Time Warner all require the signing of a contract...so I am not really sure what you are talking about. Just because you have it bundled with internet/cable, doesn't mean it's not under contract. You can cancel that particular service anytime, but you still require a CONTRACT to get that service with those providers. If you didn't have the other services, you would be require to sign a contract just for the land line.

I can't speak for the rest but here in NC twc does not do contracts. They use to maybe 2 years ago, however now I can come and go when I want with no termination fee because there is no termed commitment.

 

[power5]

and the caller covers all the cost of the call so the receiver doesn't waste minutes on wrong numbers of spam calls. The contract minutes are only used for calls actually made from the phone.

I am pretty sure this is wrong. I remember when I was on sprint many many many years ago they specifically mentioned that incoming calls did not count against my time. This was back when 200 minute plans were pretty expensive. So my deal was to call the other person and then tell them to call me back. That way I only spent 1 minute then could talk as long as I wanted when they called back. I am 99.9% sure that today any minute your phone is using a cell tower its costing you minutes if your plan is not unlimited.


I got my phone for $0.01 for a 2 year contract. So use that to figure out your cost analysis of buying a phone outright vs using a contract. I have never seen any unsubsidized plan costs on any of the websites. Pay as you go, but those are always more than the contract monthly cost.

 

[brmiller1976]

I lived in the UK through 2007, and the market for phones evolved very differently there.

In addition, the UK benefits from a much denser distribution of population, which helps keep costs much lower in terms of service provision. The Big Four here have to light up a lot of corn fields and desert with 3G and 4G as a condition of spectrum access. If the "USA" consisted of only states ranging from Maryland north to Maine, prices would be a LOT lower, since the coverage would be clustered around DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, NY, Boston, Hartford, Pittsburgh and Buffalo (the big cities), and the "empty" parts would be a lot smaller.

Meanwhile, poor US carriers have to light up huge swathes of farmland. A T-Mobile tower in Manhattan might service thousands of subscribers, but a similar tower in downstate Illinois or central Nebraska might service only a dozen or so. That cost gets passed on.

That dynamic also impacted which technologies were deployed. While dense and geographically small Europe could get away with smaller GSM cells, the big empty parts of the USA were better suited for CDMA (which has greater range of the two 2G technologies). That's why a majority of US users are still on CDMA... it was easier and cheaper to cover a large, empty area with one or two CDMA towers than six or more GSM towers. But it meant that handsets on CDMA are locked and don't have the economies of scale necessary to deliver much lower handset costs.

Of course, now in 2012, CDMA is more an albatross than a benefit thanks to HSPA+ WCDMA (which has the same benefits of CDMA but works on GSM SIM principles/handsets).

 

[tomatoes11]

You get raped in Canada. In order to get a discount on the phone you need to sign up for a 3 year term worth at least $50 a month. Considering my current bill is $30 a month, I have to buy outright.

 

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

I am pretty sure this is wrong. I remember when I was on sprint many many many years ago they specifically mentioned that incoming calls did not count against my time. This was back when 200 minute plans were pretty expensive. So my deal was to call the other person and then tell them to call me back. That way I only spent 1 minute then could talk as long as I wanted when they called back. I am 99.9% sure that today any minute your phone is using a cell tower its costing you minutes if your plan is not unlimited.


I got my phone for $0.01 for a 2 year contract. So use that to figure out your cost analysis of buying a phone outright vs using a contract. I have never seen any unsubsidized plan costs on any of the websites. Pay as you go, but those are always more than the contract monthly cost.

In the UK, to which he is referring to, it IS the case that you only pay for OUTGOING calls. Incoming calls are dealt with by the person making the call. You don't pay to receive a call over here.

 

[rockstarzzz]

I am pretty sure this is wrong. I remember when I was on sprint many many many years ago they specifically mentioned that incoming calls did not count against my time. This was back when 200 minute plans were pretty expensive. So my deal was to call the other person and then tell them to call me back. That way I only spent 1 minute then could talk as long as I wanted when they called back. I am 99.9% sure that today any minute your phone is using a cell tower its costing you minutes if your plan is not unlimited.


I got my phone for $0.01 for a 2 year contract. So use that to figure out your cost analysis of buying a phone outright vs using a contract. I have never seen any unsubsidized plan costs on any of the websites. Pay as you go, but those are always more than the contract monthly cost.

But then what is your plan costing you currently? How much would you end up paying if you were to use this 2 year contract?

 

[freestaterocker]

Here are some differences between US and UK carriers. Over here they don't charge you for caller ID, and the caller covers all the cost of the call so the receiver doesn't waste minutes on wrong numbers of spam calls. The contract minutes are only used for calls actually made from the phone.

BTW, I'm paying ?21/month for 300 minutes (I use about 20!), 300 texts and 1Gb data (can be tethered) from T-Mobile. I had a ?70 upfront fee for my Omnia 7. My wife pays ?15/month for 100 minutes, but unlimited texts and includes the BB charge and data, and got her phone for free, also on T-Mobile.

Yet more reasons why the UK/EU system is VASTLY superior to the North American one. If I lived over there I would consider a contract again... Otherwise, not a chance.