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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