Europe, iPhone, Bill= not good

[Canuck4]

In reallity they think they got it cheap but if they start talking as much as we do they'll pay some Euro's up the a$$
I wouldnt want to pay a set amount per minute.
Thats why I got the free mobile to mobile so I can call anyone in AT&T's network for free any time. And if I want to call and stay on the phone for a while I wait till after 7PM that is free in my plan or on the weekends all day or during the day with my 650 anytime minutes.
This way I got a set bill every month with no surprises.
In some cases a cellphone bill/service is cheaper than having home phone service.

Yeah, I guess I do see the value in that. Although... assuming you pay for airtime regardless of time of day, let's take last month for me:

I pay $40/month (€30) for 1000 minutes during the day and evening / weekend time.

Last month, I used about 400 minutes of daytime access (which, granted is a lot less than the 1000 minutes I paid for) and 3300 minutes of evening/weekend access (long distance relationship....).

So I paid €30 for that access... if I understand correctly, I would pay:

€1 + 3700 x €0.069 = €256.30

For the same access in Europe? (When you use a small e, you mean Euros and not some fraction of Euro, right?) Even if I assumed that my (ex ) - girlfriend had made half the calls, so we each only had to pay for half of the minutes, that's still about €125, which is four times what I actually paid.

Anyway, I don't want to get into a random off-topic discussion about pricing... I don't think we have it best in the US, but I'm also not convinced that our plans are completely illogical from an American consumer's perspective.

 

[Evangelion]

Obviously, thats why you dont travel to other countrys and keep using data and expect to pay what you pay at home.

But you alluded that this is only about Europe, when in fact this is totally universal.

I personally think we got it good and Im happy with my plan.

You think you "got it good" because you do not know of anything better. Like I said, cell-phone usage is roughly twice as expensive over there, because you pay for incoming calls as well.

in the UK do you get free mobile to mobile unlimited if you use the same companys network or free night calls after 7PM and all your weekend calls free?

I have no idea what UK has since I'm not in UK. But I have seen plans in Finland where calls inside one operator are free. And fact remains that we still only pay for outgoing calls, incoming calls are 100% free.

Who cares anyway, if you multiply the currency exchange with the british pound or the Euro and what you pay you'll see the difference

What The fact that you are paying every time you receive a call, whereas we don't? That about half our calls are 100% free, whereas you pay every single time you call or receive a call?

 

[Evangelion]

In reallity they think they got it cheap but if they start talking as much as we do they'll pay some Euro's up the a$$
I wouldnt want to pay a set amount per minute.

And we do have those package-deals as well, where you get certain amount of minutes for certain amount of cash. And even there only outgoing calls are included, incoming calls are 100% free.

Please explain to me why you believe that paying for incoming and outgoing calls is cheaper than just paying for outgoing calls?

 

[Evangelion]

Yeah, I guess I do see the value in that. Although... assuming you pay for airtime regardless of time of day, let's take last month for me:

I pay $40/month (€30) for 1000 minutes during the day and evening / weekend time.

Last month, I used about 400 minutes of daytime access (which, granted is a lot less than the 1000 minutes I paid for) and 3300 minutes of evening/weekend access (long distance relationship....).

When you say "used", does that mean calls you made, or calls you made + calls you received? If it's the latter, then things get more complex, since incoming calls are free over here. If you made calls that lasted for 10 minutes, and rest of your calls were received calls, you still pay the fixed amount. Over here with a per-minute plan those same calls would have cost 0.69e.

(When you use a small e, you mean Euros and not some fraction of Euro, right?)

Yes. I find e to be faster to type than €.

Even if I assumed that my (ex ) - girlfriend had made half the calls, so we each only had to pay for half of the minutes, that's still about €125, which is four times what I actually paid.

Yep. If you are a heavy user, then those per-minute plans might not be ideal. But then again, we have those package-deals as well. And it seems to me that those package-deals are about as expensive as similar deals in USA, with the difference that in our case, only outgoing calls are included, whereas in USA it includes both outgoing and incoming calls.

 

[mkrishnan]

Yep. If you are a heavy user, then those per-minute plans might not be ideal. But then again, we have those package-deals as well. And it seems to me that those package-deals are about as expensive as similar deals in USA, with the difference that in our case, only outgoing calls are included, whereas in USA it includes both outgoing and incoming calls.

Thanks for the education. It does seem like the package deals work in my case, although admittedly not in everyone's. Overall, though, it doesn't seem like most of us are paying dramatically more for the same use than the average European. There are probably a few people who are paying far more than they need to here, such as someone who keeps a cellphone for "emergencies" and pays $20-30 a month to not use it.... But that's more of an exception.

 

[Canuck4]

I know it sucks paying for incoming minutes but we got no choice
But like I said with so many free minutes during peak and with good packages available thru AT&T my phone bill is manageable and well worth its price.

And we do have those package-deals as well, where you get certain amount of minutes for certain amount of cash. And even there only outgoing calls are included, incoming calls are 100% free.

Please explain to me why you believe that paying for incoming and outgoing calls is cheaper than just paying for outgoing calls?

 

[sbaaronson]

iphone bill outrage

Unless you have the phone in "airplane mode", it automatically checks email and is always on the internet according to Apple. I have a $12,000 phone bill I am contesting with AT&T. My son used his iphone to email his friends and as an ipod for our trip to Europe... Why isn't this stated somewhere in big red letters!

 

[Canuck4]

It is stated but not in Big bold red letters.
And it should be obvious, you know if you make calls while roaming outside of the country you'll pay out the a$s, what makes you think data/internet use is going to be free?

Why isn't this stated somewhere in big red letters!

 

[bousozoku]

Can we just create a separate forum for people who rack up phone bills and then blame it on the carriers?

They want to complain and they don't care who reads it, so no, that wouldn't work.

Besides, if these people think that the iPhone has some magic in that it won't incur unreasonable charges when used outside the U.S.A., why would anything else work for them?