Cell costs internationally

elenetxu

So I'm cheating on you guys, lurking on ML since I have the week off. I read a thread talking about how much people are paying for cell plans back in the US and I nearly had a heart attack. I used to complain about cell plan prices here, but at most DH and I pay 40 eur/month for the calls and texts we make. No internet- a conscious choice on my part. The last thing I need is to be constantly connected!

What are you all having to pay? I think if I went back to the US I'd have a cost of living panic attack. 

ooolalalolo

My work pays for my mobile, but I had a Blackberry with a lot of minutes and a data plan for ?35/month before that (first time I ever owned a Smartphone). I also have a US cell that I use when I'm there--it's $10/month though a family plan, and we keep it active as I come home a couple of times a year and my sister has used my upgrade before.

Stellina+Amour

It's insane, I'm telling you. INSANE! I'm with AT&T and pay over $100 almost every month no matter how hard I try to keep my messaging under control. Maybe now that Viber is around it'll get down a notch. 

Back in Italy I could manage with 50 euros for the whole month, although I didn't have internet. And I kept complaining about the stupid recharge cards that you had to scratch when you ran out of credit, but geez ONE HUNDRED blasted dollars makes me regret those! Plus I hate AT&T. HATE IT! When we were on HM I didn't use the phone at all and only texted my parents every other day or so, we got back and the bill was outrageous... come to find out, I was getting charged for the phone TO RING!!! Gosh I lost it so bad I got on the phone with customer service and almost swallowed the guy. They refunded me more than half of that stupid bill. I'm rambling on with rage, sorry. 

edited for typos 

elenetxu

Stellina+Amour:

...Gosh I lost it so bad I got on the phone with customer service and almost swallowed the guy. They refunded me more than half of that stupid bill. I'm rambling on with rage, sorry. 

 

Eeep! Sorry. 

I remember thinking my $60 US/Canada plan was out of control back in 2008 when I was living in Canada. WTF happened to let cell rates get so expensive? Even here in the land of taxes it manages to be cheaper. 

AmericanInOz

my bill is usually around $75/month

and after paying our home phone/internet bill last night i am NOT using our home phone again to make any calls - they charge me for a call even if the person doesn't answer - really adds up when it's 30 cents per time I try to call someone - annoying! and the rate to call is ridiculous

its much cheaper for me just to use my cell 100% of the time (or skype

allibally

We tag along onto my family's family plan. It's like $40 a month for H's iPhone. Mine is covered by my parent's as an incentive of being back at school. I don't want to know what the bill is for the whole plan. There are 5 iPhones on the plan now too. It's truly the best way to go together with others for a family plan.

wise_rita

I agree in the U.S. it's insane!

In Australia I'm on pay-as-you go at the moment, but will switch to a $40 per month plan when I have people besides DBF to communicate with, which includes all the voice/text/data I will ever need.  This is Amaysim, for those of you in the country, and I've been very happy with them so far.  Great price compared to Optus and Telstra, it seems.

In the UK I paid ?15 a month on O2 for all the voice/text/data I would need.

WhyTF is it so expensive in the US?!  And their lock-in contracts....dude.  And their lack of removable SIM cards that allow you to transfer your phone.  All around, WTF. 

ccip82

WTF is right...DH and I pay about $140/mo for our 2 cell phones with internet, texting, and 700 sharedMinutes...last month we were in the midst of Dh moving to Aberdeen so we both were using our phones more...Verizon just slammed me with a $370 phone bill! We went over our minutes and were charged some astronomical price per minute...I'm mad at myself for not catching our minute overage but with everything we had going on, selling house, cars, etc I was not paying attention To top it off I called Verizon to find out how to get out of my contract because of our international move and they told me I would have to break the contract for each line for a grand total of $510 ....bast*rds So yes, cell phone prices in the US are unf'ing believable Thanks for posting this so I could get this much needed vent out

ukyankee

My iPhone plan is ?40 per month with unlimited texts and calls and 2gb for Internet which I have never gone over as I tend to use wifi, which is free.

dpdw

It's so cheap in Hong Kong!  For just over US$40, I get unlimited texts, unlimited data (3G), unlimited local calls and a boat load of minutes for US-calls.  I forget the exact number of minutes because I've never gone over the threshold.

azure_azure

We have a bundle that is 78 Euros a month. It includes both our mobile phones with unlimited texts and data, our home phone which has free calls to 100 countries, internet and cable tv. I love it. 

I still can't believe that people in North America have to pay when they receive a phone call on their mobile! 

ktkl09

Swiss cell phone prices are insane. I have a bundle that costs around 80chf a month but we end up usually paying around 115-200chf/month on my phone and the same on DHs. We are charged .20chf text message, etc. Switzerland sucks, the US has cheaper planes than us :0.

Violet's Mommy

I was so shocked to learn that in the UK I could have no credit to use for calls but still be able to receive them...also that it wouldn't start charging me til the person answered if I did call. I think it should be more like that in the US lol especially as far as sim cards go. Right now DH is on Tesco mobile for ?12.50 per month. I can't remeber full details but he has 300 or more mins and then has texting and about 1/2 gb data. I just yse pay as go for O2 because I don't have anyone to talk or text aside from Dh or MIL. And other family of DH but I hardly talk to them. I get ?10 a month then everytime I top up I get data usage as well as free texts. Just need to find more ppl to text hahaha then I also use wifi if I'm at home. If/when we go back to US I'm going to be disapointed with phones...

The Irish Gal

I pay around ?43 a month for mine.  The plan is ?38 but invariably I send an international text or two each month and they aren't included, nor are non geographic phone numbers (like a lo-call phone number for the bank or something).  And that's for my iPhone.

About to change carrier though (signal not great where I live) and looking at various plans around the ?45 mark per month for an iPhone 4S (cost of the phone ?49), my favourite has 200 mins, 200 texts and 5gb...

PittPurple

We do pay as you go since my usage is so variable. If I top up like ?10 a month I get 300 texts and (mostly) unlimited internet. We have a package on our home phone for international calling so I really only use my phone for texting and internet.

wise_rita

I must say I'm surprised at the number of people who have home phones.

I haven't had one since a college apartment in 2004, which was needed for free dial-up through the university. 

The Irish Gal

We don't have one... had one in our apartment for a number of years but it was only for the alarm.  The only person who rang me on it was my dad for some reason! We always jumped when it rang cos we weren't expecting it!! Finally the alarm company got technology to do the link via mobile technology so got rid of the land line.

elenetxu

ccip82:

WTF is right...DH and I pay about $140/mo for our 2 cell phones with internet, texting, and 700 sharedMinutes...last month we were in the midst of Dh moving to Aberdeen so we both were using our phones more...Verizon just slammed me with a $370 phone bill! We went over our minutes and were charged some astronomical price per minute...I'm mad at myself for not catching our minute overage but with everything we had going on, selling house, cars, etc I was not paying attention To top it off I called Verizon to find out how to get out of my contract because of our international move and they told me I would have to break the contract for each line for a grand total of $510 ....bast*rds So yes, cell phone prices in the US are unf'ing believable Thanks for posting this so I could get this much needed vent out

 

That's a new policy since 2008. I was going to say "THAT'S A LIE, THEY'RE BIG LIARS!" but I looked it up on their forums. Good lord. You could always try saying that you know that in the past if someone sent in their international contract they waived the ETF.

elenetxu

wise_rita:

I must say I'm surprised at the number of people who have home phones.

I haven't had one since a college apartment in 2004, which was needed for free dial-up through the university. 

 

They won't let us have internet without having a landline. (42 eur/mo. landline and internet)

GilliC

I have a prepaid cell plan, and I buy around $15/month of credit. But I don't use it overseas.

The 3G data plan for my iPad is around $40/month, and it's unlimited (though if I go over 2GB in a single month, they throttle back my download speed for the rest of the month).

I hate cell plans in the US. I hate it that I never know if someone got my SMS, because they have to choose whether or not they want to pay to receive the message. WTF! And the fact that you can buy a phone, pay for an expensive plan, fulfill a 2-3 year contract, and then when you start over, shelling out tons more money for a new plan and a new phone, you can't have the old phone unlocked to use with another company's SIM? WTF! I hate to see how many usable phones are going into landfills because you can barely do anything with them.

When I'm in the US, I use a prepaid SIM, and I think if I move back, I might consider staying with prepaid if I didn't want a data plan. For $30 I can get enough credit to last me through a month of normal use.

I once read an article (profiling a first-generation American artist) that commented on how US immigrants so often have prepaid plans. It implied that it was linked to economic uncertainty and low income, but I kind of wonder if doesn't have more to do with the fact that US cell phone policies seem ludicrous when you're coming from another country.

PittPurple

elenetxu:

wise_rita:

I must say I'm surprised at the number of people who have home phones.

I haven't had one since a college apartment in 2004, which was needed for free dial-up through the university. 

 

They won't let us have internet without having a landline. (42 eur/mo. landline and internet)

Me too. But it's totally worth it for us since for ?5 a month we get unlimited international calls to a bunch of countries (including the US which is usually the only relevent one). We have a bundle deal for phone, cable and internet and it's not super expensive.

Stellina+Amour

elenetxu:

ccip82:

WTF is right...DH and I pay about $140/mo for our 2 cell phones with internet, texting, and 700 sharedMinutes...last month we were in the midst of Dh moving to Aberdeen so we both were using our phones more...Verizon just slammed me with a $370 phone bill! We went over our minutes and were charged some astronomical price per minute...I'm mad at myself for not catching our minute overage but with everything we had going on, selling house, cars, etc I was not paying attention To top it off I called Verizon to find out how to get out of my contract because of our international move and they told me I would have to break the contract for each line for a grand total of $510 ....bast*rds So yes, cell phone prices in the US are unf'ing believable Thanks for posting this so I could get this much needed vent out

 

That's a new policy since 2008. I was going to say "THAT'S A LIE, THEY'RE BIG LIARS!" but I looked it up on their forums. Good lord. You could always try saying that you know that in the past if someone sent in their international contract they waived the ETF.

Or you could harass the crap out of them like I do when I have issues, after I ask to speak to the supervisor for 100 times they're so tired of hearing me complain they do what I asked. It's a pain and it's not like I enjoy arguing over the phone but come on, $500 to get out of a contract would drive anyone up the wall.

Another option would be to disconnect the phone without cancelling the line until the contract is up. I did this with AT&T once when I had to spend ten months in Italy. I was only paying $20 flat; the phone (iPhone) didn't work but I could still use Wi-Fi where there was any. You could do this until you reach the contract's end date instead of giving them all that money.

eta - I don't how many months of contract you still have though... of course it would depend 

ooolalalolo

Stellina+Amour:

elenetxu:

ccip82:

WTF is right...DH and I pay about $140/mo for our 2 cell phones with internet, texting, and 700 sharedMinutes...last month we were in the midst of Dh moving to Aberdeen so we both were using our phones more...Verizon just slammed me with a $370 phone bill! We went over our minutes and were charged some astronomical price per minute...I'm mad at myself for not catching our minute overage but with everything we had going on, selling house, cars, etc I was not paying attention To top it off I called Verizon to find out how to get out of my contract because of our international move and they told me I would have to break the contract for each line for a grand total of $510 ....bast*rds So yes, cell phone prices in the US are unf'ing believable Thanks for posting this so I could get this much needed vent out

 

That's a new policy since 2008. I was going to say "THAT'S A LIE, THEY'RE BIG LIARS!" but I looked it up on their forums. Good lord. You could always try saying that you know that in the past if someone sent in their international contract they waived the ETF.

Or you could harass the crap out of them like I do when I have issues, after I ask to speak to the supervisor for 100 times they're so tired of hearing me complain they do what I asked. It's a pain and it's not like I enjoy arguing over the phone but come on, $500 to get out of a contract would drive anyone up the wall.

Another option would be to disconnect the phone without cancelling the line until the contract is up. I did this with AT&T once when I had to spend ten months in Italy. I was only paying $20 flat; the phone (iPhone) didn't work but I could still use Wi-Fi where there was any. You could do this until you reach the contract's end date instead of giving them all that money.

eta - I don't how many months of contract you still have though... of course it would depend 

A final option is to ask Verizon to put your phone on vacation with them. You still pay a small percentage of your phone plan, but it's small compared to what you'd otherwise be paying. We did that with my cell phone a few times while living abroad (with Verizon).

ccip82

ooolalalolo:

Stellina+Amour:

elenetxu:

ccip82:

WTF is right...DH and I pay about $140/mo for our 2 cell phones with internet, texting, and 700 sharedMinutes...last month we were in the midst of Dh moving to Aberdeen so we both were using our phones more...Verizon just slammed me with a $370 phone bill! We went over our minutes and were charged some astronomical price per minute...I'm mad at myself for not catching our minute overage but with everything we had going on, selling house, cars, etc I was not paying attention To top it off I called Verizon to find out how to get out of my contract because of our international move and they told me I would have to break the contract for each line for a grand total of $510 ....bast*rds So yes, cell phone prices in the US are unf'ing believable Thanks for posting this so I could get this much needed vent out

 

That's a new policy since 2008. I was going to say "THAT'S A LIE, THEY'RE BIG LIARS!" but I looked it up on their forums. Good lord. You could always try saying that you know that in the past if someone sent in their international contract they waived the ETF.

Or you could harass the crap out of them like I do when I have issues, after I ask to speak to the supervisor for 100 times they're so tired of hearing me complain they do what I asked. It's a pain and it's not like I enjoy arguing over the phone but come on, $500 to get out of a contract would drive anyone up the wall.

Another option would be to disconnect the phone without cancelling the line until the contract is up. I did this with AT&T once when I had to spend ten months in Italy. I was only paying $20 flat; the phone (iPhone) didn't work but I could still use Wi-Fi where there was any. You could do this until you reach the contract's end date instead of giving them all that money.

eta - I don't how many months of contract you still have though... of course it would depend 

A final option is to ask Verizon to put your phone on vacation with them. You still pay a small percentage of your phone plan, but it's small compared to what you'd otherwise be paying. We did that with my cell phone a few times while living abroad (with Verizon).

 I spoke with verizon again today and they said I could suspend our phones up to three years and that they usually will only do this for military families.   DH prefers this option because we can then keep our numbers.  Our only issue is that our assignment is anywhere from 3-4 years.  We also will most likely put in for another international assignment after Aberdeen, so it might be a while before we return to the states.

I am still in the states for another month so for now I am keeping our phone plan and my goal is to keep calling verizon and annoying them so that they will drop the contract termination fee (I was quite annoying this morning, but I think I can do better  Emma started crying so I had to hang up quickly)

Thanks for the help and advice ladies...

fernane

I bought a basic phone ie calls and texts, for about $20ish, then put $25 worth of minutes on it..I did all this in October and still havent run out of minutes!! We are in Vietnam and going to have heart attacks when we go back to the states and pay a minimum of $60 a month probably. I didnt pay that much to have a phone for SIX months! 

RyansBelovedBride

Ryan says he pays the equiv. of US $15-$20 a month. I'm not sure the specs, but he's got a good plan. You can get buy for a lot cheaper in India, but he's a techie.

 My parents pay, I think $120 for two phones? Unlimited internet, a reasonable amount of minutes, no texts, phone as wifi hotspot (the internet I'm on now.)

 I am unemployed and don't have a cell right now.