The LA Times brings up an interesting point. You may think you are getting each cellphone minute for about $0.10… but are you really? Or are you paying for more minutes than you use?
The Times says that a new report shows that the average cellphone customer pays more than $3 per minute.
Researchers arrived at the average $3.02-per-minute charge by comparing the average number of minutes charged in more than 700 San Diego consumers’ telecom bills and dividing by the average number of actual minutes used.
“We knew it was a myth that wireless costs were going down,” said Michael Shames, UCAN’s executive director. “But we were blown away by the actual costs.”
The results are skewed by the small amount of people who pay for a large amount of minutes and only use a few — but even with those people removed the average is from $0.50 to $1 per minute. Of course, you also have to keep in mind that the study seems to only have included “any time” minutes and not the free night and weekend or in-network calling minutes that many cellphone customers get with their plans. Still, it sounds like a lot of minutes may be going unused.
The organization behind the study is pushing for less complicated cellphone bills and simplified taxes so that customers are better able to understand their usage and choose the plan that fits them best.
Talk isn’t cheap? For cellphone users, not talking is costly too [LA Times]
(Photo:hellochris)
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Even if I talk 10% of the time I am paying a mere .11 cents a minute. This is figuring that I have 1000 anytime minutes, and if I talk 100 of those minutes. The nights and weekends should be included as they are a significant value. Despite the fact that they are “free” you wouldn’t get them without paying for the plan. Duh.
I guess I technically pay $7 a minute, since I do almost all of my calling during the night, and mainly use my phone for texting.
Gaah!
I’m even more confused!
I think it was Net10 someone was telling me about at the tire shop one day…he said it was insanely cheap and reliable and he loved it. I wish I could remember if that was it!
I use TracFone (prepaid). I pay $20 for 60-minute cards, and my phone doubles the airtime, so I pay $20 for 120 minutes. That’s about 17 cents per minute.
I rarely use my phone, though. I just get another card every three months to make sure my service doesn’t expire.
I pay about 22c a minute for anytime minute. Just my bill cost (45) divided by minutes used (200). Nowhere near what this suggests. But my plan includes unlimited data, text, mobile 2 mobile, nights and weekends, and insurance (which for somone that has a habit of destroying expensive things is worth the 7$ a month). SERO
@MooseOfReason: I see you’ve got a “Double Minutes for Life” Tracfone. I hope you’re aware of the bonus codes program that Tracfone has. If you activate a new card online at the Tracfone website and type in a special code, you’ll be awarded bonus minutes (depending on the code and the amount of time you’re buying).
Just in case you didn’t know about it, this ongoing FatWallet thread will get you up to speed:
[www.fatwallet.com]
@BlazerUnit: Yeah. I have used promo codes before. Crazy amounts of units.
Thanks for the link. Usually I search by Google, but that looks much more organized and updated.
I’d say on average I pay about 35 cents per minute. I’d pay less if they had a smaller plan. I’m considering skipping down to a pay-as-you-go plan, but the amounts are too even for me at the moment for it to be worth the bother of switching.