Text 31834, 82 rader
Skriven 2009-04-27 08:29:02 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
  Kommentar till text 31819 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
Ärende: Cellphone prices
========================
Roy Witt wrote to Robert Bashe on Sunday April 26 2009 at 12:40:

WD>>>> Cellphone use in Belgium is the most expensive in the world. I
WD>>>> decline to use it when I don't have to.

RW>>> Over 20 cents each?

RB>> Twenty cents per what?

RW> Message! That's what he was discussing before you jumped to
RW> conclusions and wrote;

RB>>  Minute? And cents Euro or cents Dollar?

I read what you quoted, not what you didn't quote. And "cellphone use" is
definitely NOT restricted to SMS (text) messages. People generally talk on a
phone.

So as I now understand it, YOU are talking about SMS messages and not regular
phone calls.

RB>> After answering that, you have to dig deeper and ask "with a contract
RB>> or prepaid"?

RW> Both are the same price.

Maybe where you live. Not in Germany. As for Belgium, Ward would have to answer
that one.

RB>> And follow up, if prepaid, with "how old", since the rates for
RB>> prepaid SIMs in cellphones have been dropping precipitously in the
RB>> last few years, at least in Germany - BUT old SIMs still run at the
RB>> original rate, i.e. (much) higher than new ones.

RW> LOL! You guys sure have a screwed up system. Messaging here can go
RW> several ways. You can do a few messages per month for 20 cents each or
RW> you can sign up for unlimited text messaging for $4.99/month.

We have similar systems here in Germany, but pay much less for the SMS - the
present rate in prepaid SIMS runs EUR 0.09 or around $0.12 per SMS.

RW> I had a SIM that was issued to me by AT&T when I switched from Verizon
RW> in 2004. I carried the same phone number from carrier to carrier and
RW> it didn't cost a cent.

Different countries, different rules. Michiel already noted that porting of
numbers is free in the Netherlands.

RB>> The whole thing gets very complex when you also try to add the
RB>> non-GSM phones in the States and Canada plus the GSM phones whose
RB>> owners have a contract with the provider (rates different than
RB>> prepaid, but extra conditions) - very hard to make meaningful
RB>> comparisons.

RW> I'm glad I don't have to live with such a complex system.

Instead, you just pay (for SMS) around twice what we do in Germany. We used to
have that kind of system too, before the discounters got to work.

RW> I have one of AT&T's prepaid phones that I take along on trips in case
RW> of failures. That happened to me while visiting up north and had to
RW> buy it to replace my regular phone until I got home. Instead of buying
RW> prepaid minutes though, I just replaced that phones SIM with mine.

Now you're no longer talking about SMS messages, but voice transmissions. At
any rate, this is also the kind of thing we have here - assuming no SIM lock on
the (subsidized) phone to force you to use a specific provider, you can put any
SIM you like into a different phone and nothing (except possibly the menus)
will change.

Only one difference here: you don't buy "prepaid minutes" for a SIM, but "load"
it with a certain amount of money (EUR 10, 15, and 30 being common) using a
code you buy from a store or vending machine. Then the rate of your provider
for the specific SIM governs how long you can talk for that amount of money.
Older SIMs have, as I mentioned, higher rates than the newer ones. The only
thing preventing mass switchover to newer (cheaper) rates in Germany is the
cost and difficulty of porting a cellphone number to another provider.

Cheers, Bob

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