[gcb0]

Got in the US after growing up a decently regulated coutry.

Bought 750min plan.

Used phone first week to do a few conference calls to a 1-800 number.

next week i was already out of "plan minutes" because i had to 'pay' for the 1800 calls.

not to mention SMS costs, and data being billed up to 3x (actual data plan, smart phone plan ($30), tethering ($25-50), plus tax)

[thaumasiotes]

Try getting a different plan. T-mobile's unlimited data plan with limited monthly minutes is $30 / month. Their unlimited-everything plan is $50. They nominally charge extra for tethering, but tethering worked just fine for me without actually buying the "service". No idea what "smart phone plan" means.

Summary: the problems you're experiencing don't seem to have much to do with what country you're in, so much as your belief that buying a plan with a ton of bizarre extra costs makes sense.

[precisioncoder]

It does if you're used to paying $20 for a prepaid burner and having it last 3 months with normal use. Coming in the other direction I find it jaw dropping how little Europeans pay for cell usage.

[tripzilch]

Yeah I was kinda surprised in the US, I got a "burner" for about $20 (at Walgreens, IIRC), charged it with $10 (ok), and it barely last me 3 weeks with minimal usage. Minimal meaning most people calling me. But apparently that doesn't make any difference.

I did enjoy the fact that this simple dumbphone had a very easy-to-use "tip calculator", making it easier to adapt to the local customs :) (until I found out that apparently tip percentage are calculated before-taxes, not over the full bill?)

[thaumasiotes]

I don't dispute this; I have similar feelings wrt the price of cell service in China (it's cheap). But the parent comment was complaining about a situation that didn't make sense even in the US, and attributing it to the US.

[gcb0]

The smart phone plan was a requirement for buying subsidized non-feature phones from AT&T until last year. they dropped that in favor of the tethering scam. I'm still managing to avoid both. but it's a pain.

I'm actually only on AT&T because they scammed me via my employee. They advertise 30% discount. So you go there, sign up for 2yrs. It takes exactly 90 days for a bill to show up with the discount when you have a FAN id (corp discount). why? because after 90 days you can't cancel the 2yr contract anymore, and then you learn that the 30% only applies to voice, for the first line. so you get $6 instead of the $30/mo you were expecting.

i would have gone with t-mobile. and the 2yrs are ending now, so i might switch.

[OafTobark]

What carrier is this? Back in the day I recalled my old carrier stating 1-800 did not count against your minutes. Now I have unlimited so doesn't even matter

[gcb0]

It's AT&T.

the 700min is already too expensive. $60 + $30data + tax and ridiculous fees (like $4/mo for the ferederal universal access fee. like AT&T even uses that money to give phone access to everyone one...)

[benjaminwootton]

Its the same in the UK. I never go over my monthly allowance so the only billable calls I tend to have are the 'free' 0800 ones.