Wireless Phone Service Prices Skyrocket - According to a study from California consumer advocates...

[furrbear]

Greg Lazarus of the Los Angeles Times points to a new study that claims the average cellphone user actually pays about $3 per minute for wireless service. That's according to a new study by the Utility Consumers' Action Network, who came to that number by comparing the average number of minutes charged in more than 700 San Diego consumers' telecom bills and dividing by the average number of actual minutes used. That number is seriously skewed by consumers paying for much more service than they use, though the study also notes the price of call waiting has jumped 86% since 2004, the cost of an unlisted number is up 346%, and the cost of directory assistance has increased 1,630%.

Comments

[winstonthriller.livejournal.com]

Our Family contract with Verizon Wireless ends today, and we'll be going month-to-month until the summer, when the new iPhones are due to be released for AT&T. We may switch, we may go to something like TracFone (jedibear just wants something to make and receive calls). We have 700 monthly minutes on Verizon that we don't come close to using.

I read that study from UCAN, but think their methodology is flawed...a mathematician here looked at it an said it is suspect.

[furrbear.livejournal.com]

a mathematician here looked at it an said it is suspect.

Wouldn't be the first time. I also suspect they might have a bit of an agenda.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

That's why I jumped ship from a post-paid to a pre-paid plan; I was paying for far more service than I needed - and I was on their cheapest monthly plan. I honestly can't see why $30-$40/month is the LOWEST monthly tier for many companies, when they're obviously also making money on people like me who spend $100/year on a prepaid plan. If they'd had a $9.95/month plan with unlimited texting, 60 "anytime" minutes a month and non-insane pricing for minutes beyond that - I'd have gone for it. (Of course, unlimited texting should be free, period, full stop on all plans because it doesn't cost them anything, but of course charging people to breathe is a favorite of greedy corporations.)

Do I need to say that I'm a BIG fan of the idea of regulating utilities, including cell phone service?

Pre/post-paid

[ursine1.livejournal.com]

For four years I had a prepaid account with Movistar. Last month I switched to Simyo as a postpaid, contract client. I pay only what I consume, no monthly minimum. This month's bill: 0.17 € ($0.20 USD).

Chuck, and they still make money at that rate

[cubziz.livejournal.com]

10 years ago, I got my first cell phone. It was a cheap Ericsson phone and my plan from AT&T was a whopping $30/month with no contract. I didn't have an SMS plan as I didn't plan on using it.

I remember in November of 1999, I racked up a $180 phone bill. AT&T Wireless was charging me per minute, but rounding up to the three minute mark on each and every call. So my 120 minutes were only 40 calls.

I ended up dumping that contract a year later and piggybacked on Hunter's plan for an extra $5/month for the next 9 years.

Last year we upgraded phones and the cost is roughly $180/month for the two of us.

It is getting crazy.