Why are mobile data plans so expensive?

So I’ve been seeing Verizon’s ads for the Q.  They enthusiastically say, “Get the Motorola Q today for the value price of $79.99″.

Yeah…mmmhmm.  Then you go to the store to get your beloved SmartPhone and you find out that Verizon’s “unlimited” data plan is an additional $45 per month on your bill, on top of your voice plan.  The combination plan they try to push you into is roughly $80/month.

OUCH!  Talk about sticker shock.  The monthly price to use the capabilities of the phone is about equal to the cost of the phone itself.  To translate that, it would be like charging $500 for a computer and having your cable modem/dsl be $500 month.

Also, the iPhone is coming out from Apple.  Cingular’s data plan is something like $50/month.

Why do people pay these prices for mobile data plans?  I pay $35/month for my Comcast cable modem and I get a lot more use out of in that some tiny screen with an awkward user experience.  For example, I have a Treo I’m currently trying out but I’m not going to activate Pocket IE because I don’t want to pay their outragous data plan prices!  It’s crazy!

In my opinion, a mobile data plan should be hmmm…maybe $15 additional.  What do you think?  Please leave a comment below.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 5th, 2007 at 7:46 am and is filed under daily stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

9 Responses to “Why are mobile data plans so expensive?”

Jeff April 5th, 2007 at 9:00 am

I agree 100%! I’ve been wanting a PDA for a while now but can’t bring myself to pay an extra $45 a month.

They do have a $25 plan, but you risk going over the 10meg limit.

I have heard they have some other non-advertised plans that you have to call customer service about. Ask them to look into it for you and they’ll find something.

Why are mobile data plans so expensive? April 5th, 2007 at 9:14 am

[...] Why are mobile data plans so expensive? [...]

rafael April 5th, 2007 at 10:48 am

For $15 per month for unlimited they’d have some many more customers on these things. The Sidekick data plan is $20 unlimited if you also have a phone plan, but then you’re stuck with T-Mobile service. I think the Verizon Data plans are a bit less if you do their combo phone+data plans, but not much less I assume and I don’t think they have any family plans that are phone+data.

Michael April 9th, 2007 at 6:57 pm

I could justify the $50 plan if the speeds were fast enough to drop comcast and just use my phone as a sort of mobile modem, other than this very unlikely situation I think that the prices are crazy! I am personally very excited about the iphone but I see myself using it as a great ipod/iphone more than a icomputer/iphone. I will most likely have the phone without a data plan and just wifi were available.

Jeff Alstadt April 11th, 2007 at 3:10 pm

The plans are just rediculous in the USA, plus all the taxes and “hidden charges” - FCC should require service providers to state all bill costs up front with all taxes like they do here in Europe. I like the idea of mobile office, but connectivity speeds will never be like that of a cable modem at home. Germany plans to release the new ICE3 High speed train which will have free Internet on-board. I do agree the plans are just out ragous. Why is Cingular now so expensive - there coverage hasn’t increased any, just their costs.

Cheryl Cohen May 7th, 2007 at 3:11 pm

I am OUTRAGED that cell phone data plans are so expensive! In fact, I have decided not to have web access on my new Nokia E62 smartphone from Cingular.
My husband can’t have it either. Cellular providers should make the Internet more affordable so more users can take advantage of being able to go online from anywhere at any time.

T-Mobile gets mobile data plan pricing right « Techcraver.com | Craving tech, craving life! October 4th, 2007 at 9:52 am

[...] longed complained that mobile data phone plans are overpriced.  That is, the price you pay to use your smartphone [...]

Loran October 8th, 2007 at 3:23 pm

U should be able to use ur phone as a modem if it cost so much.

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