[LINK] News: 'New mobile phones will double as credit cards'

Ivan Trundle ivan at itrundle.com
Sun Apr 29 19:51:09 AEST 2007


On 29/04/2007, at 6:01 PM, Kim Holburn wrote:

> On 2007/Apr/29, at 8:47 AM, Adam Todd wrote:
>> At 03:06 PM 29/04/2007, Kim Holburn wrote:
>>> See, I reckon $33 a month, which is way more than I have ever paid a
>>> phone company for a mobile phone is a rip-off.
>>
>> It's cheaper than my landline.  Landline $32.95 a month, plus call  
>> costs on top of that, rarely below $40.00 - that's not many calls!

Interesting: I thought that landlines cost less than $27 a month. If  
one considers the overall total communication spend in a household, I  
would have thought that this cost is trivial. And it's harder to have  
decent internet connectivity without a landline.

>
> I rarely paid more than $5 a month. many months not even that,  
> occasionally nothing at all.  I only pay for calls, a single rate  
> anywhere in Australia.
>
> When you've paid off your phone what happens then?  You keep paying  
> the same amount for nothing?  Or you upgrade your phone?
>

There are plenty of mobile phone plans that offer phones for 'free'  
in Australia, so long as the buyer commits to spending a certain  
amount per month over 24 months. At the lower levels (such as the $20- 
$30/month range), the phone IS free to the buyer, since the calls are  
generally higher to compensate. If you simply bought the $20-$30 plan  
without a phone, you'd pay the same per call, so the phone cost is  
being subsidised by all those who sign up to the 'low-value' plans.

As for what happens after you've paid off the phone (if indeed you  
think that you have), you can commit to other plans, or a month-by- 
month plan, or a lower plan with or without phone. It's a shame that  
telcos (NOT the phone manufacturers) don't encourage continued use of  
an existing handset. I doubt that the telco makes any money from  
providing new handsets.

Anyone have data on this? (for Australia: I know that the situation  
is different in places like the US, thanks to the cost breakdown and  
analysis of the iPhone).

iT



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