General Discussion

srican69

(1,426 posts) Wed Feb 13, 2013, 10:58 PM Feb 2013

We are being looted by the cellphone companies .... robbed ... [View all]

I am here in India on a vacation .... and as my own t-mobile's roaming charge for data is $10.00/ MB .. I bought an Indian SIM card for my phone here .. and I had the chance to do some comparisons ..

here incoming calls and sms messages are free .. FOR ALL carriers - apparently this rule was imposed by the government.
The monthly all inclusive plans ( voice data & text ) runs about $15...
The cost per minute for prepaid plans is about 35 paise (that is roughly 0.35 cents ) we pay about 50 -100 times that amount depending on the carrier.

USA cellular customer pay about $0.08/ MB .. while Indian customers pay about $0.0004/MB ...while they dont have 4G yet .. the speeds are not terrible .. DU page loads up ok )

Why are we getting so badly screwed? I thought it was just healthcare we were getting screwed over .. why the fuck do we tolerate this?

46 replies

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We are being looted by the cellphone companies .... robbed ... [View all] srican69 Feb 2013 OP

Maybe it isn't as expensive to do business in India Leslie Valley Feb 2013 #1

Blame the Telecommunications Act of 1996 starroute Feb 2013 #2

Here's one recent article -- there have been others starroute Feb 2013 #4

And here's an excellent segment from Bill Moyers' program starroute Feb 2013 #6

^^^^^^^This Blue_Tires Feb 2013 #31

Because here there is nothing to prevent them from gouging. libtodeath Feb 2013 #3

bingo. that would be government regulation. oh no! robinlynne Feb 2013 #7

you buy politicians, you can get some cheaper rates :-) nt msongs Feb 2013 #5

Last I heard texting was free in Eastern Europe and Russia as well. go west young man Feb 2013 #8

Capitalism is a failure. Fantastic Anarchist Feb 2013 #42

Partly ignorance nadinbrzezinski Feb 2013 #9

economies of scale, what does the average worker make in India? Demonaut Feb 2013 #10

If that is the case, perhaps you would like to explain Japan. n/t Egalitarian Thug Feb 2013 #18

japan? your point? Demonaut Feb 2013 #22

Higher standard of living, and better paid than us, similar prices to India. Egalitarian Thug Feb 2013 #34

For Pete's sake, it's called capitalism TexasBushwhacker Feb 2013 #11

No, it's called collusion and before reagan it was illegal. n/t Egalitarian Thug Feb 2013 #17

Exactly. nt redqueen Feb 2013 #32

vigorous competition is a prerequisite of genuine capitalism. unblock Feb 2013 #26

But there is certainly competition in the cell provider industry TexasBushwhacker Feb 2013 #36

but the communications industry has long found ways to rip people off. unblock Feb 2013 #38

Well, telecoms are publically held companies TexasBushwhacker Feb 2013 #40

the nature of the game is that individual companies to rotten, anti-competitive things unblock Feb 2013 #41

There is no economic anarchy here. Fantastic Anarchist Feb 2013 #43

sorry if i'm using the wrong terminology. what i mean is unblock Feb 2013 #44

I didn't mean to come off as harsh ... Fantastic Anarchist Feb 2013 #45

Nairobi is 10$ for 1.5gb of data JCMach1 Feb 2013 #12

$15 a month for unlimited in India seems expensive SmileyRose Feb 2013 #13

This is why I refuse to get more than a Tracfone to be used for Skidmore Feb 2013 #14

Same here.. I do not want to be trackable/phone-able 24/7 SoCalDem Feb 2013 #19

Trac fone here too .. littlewolf Feb 2013 #20

My Tracfone figures to way less than $.35/min rgbecker Feb 2013 #24

For many of us, the phone is our mobile computer system... JCMach1 Feb 2013 #25

I just have a landline jambo101 Feb 2013 #15

For a long time, I only had a land line, RebelOne Feb 2013 #46

William Jefferson Clinton in a series of bipartisan votes handed the nation over to the billionaires Egalitarian Thug Feb 2013 #16

The biggest killers of inovation and growth. The communication monopoly. Safetykitten Feb 2013 #21

we are exceptional----exceptionally screwed that is dembotoz Feb 2013 #23

Wasn't there a recent story about the US Government offering data service for low/no cost? tridim Feb 2013 #27

I generally agree, but ParkieDem Feb 2013 #28

Also, ParkieDem Feb 2013 #30

We got tired of the robbery from our cell phone provider.... Grammy23 Feb 2013 #29

Yes, we should pay workers here the same as those in India are paid! Motown_Johnny Feb 2013 #33

The wages are getting close to being the same. Bake Feb 2013 #35

When politicians are bought, it's money well spent. Autumn Feb 2013 #37

It's not just that..... Avalux Feb 2013 #39