Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by wkat4242 1032 days ago
Ah but that is really really expensive :)

I can get a local SIM with 50GB data that is available with a 10 euro topup each month.

Don't forget the purchasing power in Europe is much lower than in the US (especially southern Europe). For this reason local carriers are a lot cheaper too.
1 comments
throwaway67743 1032 days ago
If argue that it's the opposite as there is competition and in civilised European countries there is working regulation etc, not like the US where carriers are able to lobby and cheat to maintain their monopolies - case in point I have unlimited everything (Inc 5g, except MMS) in country and 64G in the rest of Europe for about 30 EUR/mo
link
GreenVulpine 1032 days ago
And you can have the same for a similar price in the States. The US cellular market is quite good. Have a look at Canada if you want to see what a cartel looks like.
link
throwaway67743 1031 days ago
Last time I was in the US it was pretty bad, I'm not sure comparing to the worst is fair but compared to Europe it's not so great - at the time I had T-Mobile but they differentiated different states etc as they may need roaming domestically - you're just not allowed to do that here
link
flangola7 1032 days ago
What do you mean by except MMS? That's not even data
link
daveoc64 1032 days ago
While unlimited calls/SMS/data* is quite a common offering in Europe, MMS is often not included in such bundles and costs extra.

*Genuinely unlimited data - including tethering, no speed limits or soft caps where you get limited to 128kbps or anything like that after using 100GB.

link
throwaway67743 1031 days ago
Correct, advertising unlimited with caps is not allowed, unlike the US for example.

In my case they clearly have to say upfront on the cheaper unlimited, it's not rate limited until X but the caps have to be proportionate so it's still absolutely fine, they do have an "always on" thing for capped packages though, so you're never really cut off (data only which does not have such strict regulation as voice/SMS)

link
throwaway67743 1031 days ago
Technically it is data, but it's an archaic system that really should just go away and be replaced by something native to IMS/LTE+ but unfortunately legacy is hard to kill
link