Are American mobile phone companies really this evil?

In the June 2012 issue of Scientific American, David Pogue writes about the need for a mobile phone owners' Bill of Rights, specifying things that the companies can and can't do.

Most of it is entirely sensible, but two items stand out:

I would say it's actually a good thing to have instructions - after all, everybody is going to use voice mail for the first time at some point, and with young children getting their first mobiles, there are always going to be people who haven't used it yet.

But on to the evil. First off, do American carriers reallycharge people to listen to their voice mail? In 2012?

Secondly, even if they do charge you, is there any reason people have to listen to the entire instructions? Why not just press the button as soon as it starts and skip the message entirely? That's what happens here in Ireland, and no company here would even consider charging to listen to voice mail, because if they did every one of their customers would immediately move to a competitor.

OK, let me get this straight. Let's say that, hypothetically, I have a mobile plan that charges me 1c per minute, and you have one that charges 2c per minute. I call you up and we talk for 10 minutes. I, naturally enough, pay 10c for that. You also pay 20c.

This happens? And they get away with it? How? The way phone billing works is that the caller, who initiates the conversation, pays; the recipient, who did not choose to talk at that particular time, does not pay. This can be reversed, but only if they caller specifically asks and the recipient agrees.

OK, please tell me I'm wrong on these counts, because that's just immoral and predatory.

Yes, it is how it works. Yes, they really are this evil.

That is quite outrageous.

Surely there has to be some company out there that's in a position to offer a better way of doing things and, therefore, undercutting all the competition in one swoop? Wouldn't that be, like, an ubersmart businessy thing to do?

edited 21st May '12 10:00:56 AM by TheBatPencil

As a practical matter, the sheer scale of the problem of (a) getting spectrum suitable for wireless (rare and expensive) and (b) getting the funding to build out a wireless infrastructure in such a huge country means that the current incumbents are the only wireless companies there are going to be.

There's also the fact that even changing the number of minutes you're paying for, for all those companies, means you have to re-sign a 2-year commitment with hefty penalties for cancellation. This is their way of making sure it's always going to cost you several hundred dollars per line to change to another carrier.

Being nice does not satisfy one's shareholders.

And now you know why I don't do contracts with these people.

Shit, they do this to you guys?

How much does a contract that offers you unlimited data, calls, and texts cost you?

Here (on T-Mobile) it will cost you £30/month for 18 months.

Yes.

Oh, wait. I should actually read the topic.

*reads*

Just an FYI, I don't believe they charge you to listen to your voicemail (that'd be insane and inane), but it makes sense that they still charge when you leave a voicemail. You're still placing a call.

Of course, my family and I have an unlimited plan, so that doesn't matter to me

@Hopely: From the Verizon Plans page, Unlimited texts, data and minutes costs $20, $80, $70, respectively.

But there is no unlimited data plan. The maximum amount of data you can get is 10GB. So if you use your phone for everything, you're getting charged $170 per month, and that's if you don't go over at all. Overage for data is $10 per 1GB.

So you decide not to go for the dataplan? Well, you can't if you're using a droid phone, so you're forced into buying $30 per month of plan, which nets you a piddly 2GB of data.

Pay as you go for texts is 20 cents per message.

-jaw drops-

What.

20 cents a text?

Dear god.

A text on the most expensive network is about 10 pence (16 cents).

And this is the company I get my phone from. -3-

That's not THAT much more. It's not like 4 cents really adds up much.

@ Odd. Four cents adds up over time.

@ Wenku. Huh. I better not tell you about the EU regulations which cap the prices of texts and calls...

Anytime the question is, "is X company really that evil?", the answer is almost always "yes."

Watching classmates shooting around texts constantly throughout most of college, I can think of several classes where that 4 cents would've netted an extra $50-$100 daily for that hour alone.

Oh, and you want to know the worst part about double-charging for texts? Over half of the texts I've ever received are spam ads.

Let me repeat that.

They make you pay to be spammed.

edited 21st May '12 1:21:25 PM by Pykrete

So... you get charged for receiving and making texts?

Aren't there any regulations set down in statute law? Do your phone companies have literally free rein over their service? It is a quasi-oligopoly?

There's a fair amount of regulation of the traditional telephone network in the US, but rather less of the cellphone side of things. Plus, phone companies, as rich corporations, have a lot of power in the US political system and manage to get things the way they want most of the time. The only thing I can think of that they've been told they can't do is merge at this point — AT&T's proposed buyout of T-Mobile (the US cellular portion only) was blocked.

There's a fair amount of Regulation of the mobile phone market in the EU — including Roaming Charges (charges for using a mobile in a different EU State), and there's even a joint Agency.

Obviously, the Regulations have to be abided to since the Government can remove them from the airwaves, by removing their Licence.

edited 21st May '12 2:09:56 PM by Greenmantle

Indeed. I suppose the mobile phone networks here are a lot more fearful of regulatory powers.

Wait, isn't AT&T the second- or first-largest?

Isn't that a blatant violation of monopoly regulations? Of course, you don't seem to have any such regulations.

It's not violating any monopoly laws, because there's also Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile, along with a handful of other smaller companies that do the prepay or pay-as-you-go phones.

A few pennies a text really adds up when you start dating someone who gets a thousand free texts per month.

Just saying. It was the topic of our first awkward discussion.

20 cents vs 16 cents is 20%. That definitely has an effect.

@ DG. No, I mean, a merger of AT&T with T-Mobile America seems like it could break monopoly laws (at least, EU monopoly laws).

Yeah, four cents really adds up. 20%... is a lot. Considering that's probably the most expensive tariff.

Oh, that. Yeah, that's why it didn't happen.

And as for texting costs, that's why you go for an unlimited texting plan, which is usually around $20/month.

edited 21st May '12 2:44:12 PM by DrunkGirlfriend