Comment on Anon lives on a budget
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 21 hours ago
$115 a month phone/internet? Are US prices really that insane? My phone is £4 a month for unlimited calls/SMS and got an unlimited data SIM for a 4G router that costs £24/month.
papertowels@mander.xyz 20 hours ago
WoodScientist@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
You can get home Internet for $40-$50/month.
That’s more like $100/month once the temporary pricing ends and the bullshit fees are applied.
papertowels@mander.xyz 11 hours ago
So the $40/month at mint isn’t a promotional rate, and the $50/month price at Xfinity says it’s good for 5 years.
I mean you can pick alternatives that do describe exactly what you’re talking about, but I feel the examples I provided are valid, sustainable prices for Internet.
ricecake@sh.itjust.works 18 hours ago
Limited-time offer available to new MINTernet customers who purchase the 3- or 12-month MINTernet plan with any Mint Premium voice plan. MINTernet plan requires upfront payment of $75 for 3-month or $300 for 12-month plans (each equiv. to $25/mo) & AutoRenewal enrollment. Mint Premium voice plan requires upfront payment of $45 for 3-month, $90 for 6-month or $180 for 12-month plan (each equiv. to $15/mo). Combined equivalent is $40/mo. After introductory rate, standard rates apply. Taxes & fees extra. Fixed wireless gateway provided on loan; return of equipment required upon cancellation or subject to fee. Service delivered via cellular network; speeds vary & may be reduced during congestion after 1TB/mo for MINTernet. MINTernet service limited to registered address at time of enrollment & cannot be relocated. Premium “Unlimited” data may be slowed during congestion after 50GB/mo; video streams at 480p. Includes 20GB/mo. mobile hotspot. Not combinable with certain other offers. Terms subject to change; additional terms & conditions apply. See terms for details.
It’s not actually as cheap as they say, and what you’re getting isn’t really worth the price.
Regardless, when the thing being said is “wages are crap, things are expensive, people are trapped and can’t afford a future” it sorta misses the point to say that they could get substantially worse service for roughly half the price.
papertowels@mander.xyz 16 hours ago
I appreciate you quoting all of the fine print, what is the actual gotcha you’re taking away from it?
Regardless, when the thing being said is “wages are crap, things are expensive, people are trapped and can’t afford a future”
I understand that’s the point of the overall post, but I’m answering a question asking if internet and cell service is really that expensive in the US.
It’s doing a disservice to pretend like it is when there are much more affordable alternatives. Not only is the typical market price cheaper than what is mentioned in the post, but if you’re on many government aid programs, you qualify for subsidized phone and internet. Pairing the two seemingly adds up to $25/month.
ricecake@sh.itjust.works 11 hours ago
My “gotcha” was the bit I said right after the fine print: not as cheap as advertised in the long run and not a good value.
The existence of a lower price for some people in some circumstances in some parts of the country doesn’t do much to address actual measurable statistics on us internet costs: Monthly Internet Cost: www.forbes.com/…/internet-cost-per-month/
My Internet is about $80 a month, and my phone is roughly $30 per line per month, $120 total because of regulatory fees and such. Looking at what mint typically delivers for internet they wouldn’t work for my requirements, purely for work and not considering I like my streaming to be good quality.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 20 hours ago
Why would you pay $30 for unlimited data and then pay another $50 a month on top of that for a second unlimited data? Unless you are running a bunch of servers for people outside of your LAN, what is the point?
papertowels@mander.xyz 7 hours ago
I’m laying out what I think are reasonable options that folks would want. Unlimited cell phone data for $30 paired with a steady, low latency cable line for $50 seems to be a combination that most folks could use.
It’s definitely not optimized for saving money. You could save a lot of money if you wanted to focus on that. Helium mobile has a free 3gb/month plan, no credit card needed. For home Internet you’d be at the mercy of your local ISPs, but I’m sure there are more affordable plans that could be picked.
zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 20 hours ago
The $30 is for mobile service, the $50 is for home Internet service.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 15 hours ago
4G can be home internet too, stick a regular SIM card into a 4G router. Probably 5G now but my setup is a few years old.
Alaknar@sopuli.xyz 19 hours ago
Don’t know about US, but where I live, the “unlimited mobile Internet” is always “fast connection up to X GBs used, then you slow down to a crawl where loading a text-only website takes three minutes, but you’re still technically not limited and can access the Internet” kind of deal.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 15 hours ago
Not sure exactly what they go with but it’s never been a problem even downloading several big games from steam. I suppose if you want TBs a month you may want to look into the fine print.
chefdano3@lemmy.zip 19 hours ago
That’s about correct, idk what everyone else is on about, but my phone costs me $70 a month, and my Internet costs $60, and those were the cheapest plans I could get. Not to mention that the reason my phone bill isn’t higher is because I had to buy my phone outright at $600.
Shits expensive here, for no reason other than corporate greed.
piccolo@sh.itjust.works 19 hours ago
Phone service is only expensive because your paying for the privilege of priority. Go with MVNOs and its reasonable, just the service is slower in congested areas.
papertowels@mander.xyz 7 hours ago
To add onto this, there are MVNOs for basically every carrier.
Visible uses verizon, and their cheapest plan is $25/month, taxes and fees included. There’s currently a promo that brings it down to $19/month for 26 months.
Mint and metro uses tmobile. Metro offers unlimited at $25.
Cricket uses at&t, they also have unlimited phone plans in the $25-35 range.
GhostedIC@sh.itjust.works 17 hours ago
Anecdotally: I’ve lived in the sort of place he’s describing and the internet was an overpriced monopoly. Farmers and people in larger cities both paid much better prices for better service. But the ISP had some deal where they had exclusive rights to run equipment on the power poles (or other companies needed their technicians present first or some bullshit which they would delay to the point of impracticality).
At $115 he probably didn’t get the lowest speed and could have done like $60 for internet and $40 for phone but yeah, I can believe it.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 15 hours ago
4/5G, fuck their monopoly. If people leave they will have to actually compete. It’s fine for gaming too, been using 4G for years without an issue. At some point I should upgrade my router to 5G though.
ICastFist@programming.dev 9 hours ago
If people leave they will have to actually compete
Assuming people even have the option for a speedy, uncapped 4G/5G, or one with a very high cap. USA is known for abusive pricing on bandwidth, like “every GB used over 50GB will be charged 10 dollars”
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 5 hours ago
Regional mobile companies sound crazy
TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
that’s cheap. i oftne pay well over $150 a month for basic interent and phone plan for single person.
papertowels@mander.xyz 16 hours ago
Oh wow, what companies do you use?
Wolfram@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
Most ISPs and cellular plans charge out the ass for arbitrary data limits and faster speeds in the U.S. Some areas have decent ISPs not trying to nickel and dime you but not super common.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 14 hours ago
Can you only get regional 4/5G plans?
twack@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
Yes, in fact that’s on the cheap side for unlimited with decent speeds for both services.