Given how few people, and how spread out Canadian’s are, we should expect to pay more.
My phone (and more recently its connection to my watch) have been instrumental in helping me rehab over the last 2 and a half years and get into the kind of shape i have not been in except a few times since i was nearing the end of High School, and was instrumental in getting my weight down 60-70 pounds. I cannot put a value on how much that will be worth in healthy later years.
The value of this phone, and the accompanying watch has been invaluable. $60 a month. And it is a phone too. But i text more often. And it is cool to use the watch like a Dick Tracy style watch/phone/video phone. And it takes decent pictures. They are not phones, they are pocket computers. The one i have now is faster than at least one of my dedicated desktops.
The phone cost nothing.
dave
In my state, in the remote rugged areas, if you had a twisted pair phone line at all, it was often a party line. This was well into the cell phone era. Even in this era, there can be spotty cell coverage in the remote areas.
That was simply re-caculating the OP's initial figures into reality.
I have a plan for $67/month which includes two phones with different numbers but only a small amount of data, which I never go over.
TrakFone.
Buy a low-level 2yo refurb Android phone for $29. Lasts about 2 years.
Buy a 1-year plan for $99. Get a add-on offer, 2 years for $160.
With some tax/fee I am paying $8.50 a month.
The offers vary. My 2 year is up in April 2020 so I've flagged March to start checking the site, in case they don't feel liberal that week.
It's not unlimited. But I don't talk or text much, and rarely browse beyond my WiFi (which Android prefers when available). By rolling-over a previous 2-year plan I have about 5,000 minutes of talk/text on account. (If I did use minutes I would have to study the plans closer; I just want connection and "I'll be late" not even every month.)
> Back in 2002, I purchased a cellphone, .... I still use that phone!
I bought a one-trip cheapie in 2009. About 2015 they told me my phone would stop working (I sussed that the 2G network in my area was depreciated and I needed 3G+), and they would replace it FREE! What they sent was a $10 phone with no camera, I didn't even turn it on. I got a $60 Android smartphone, was so good that when it got goofy (bad apps) I went back and got the $29 and a $59 (both refurbs). I like the $29 better, everything except movies.
Buy a low-level 2yo refurb Android phone for $29. Lasts about 2 years.
Buy a 1-year plan for $99. Get a add-on offer, 2 years for $160.
With some tax/fee I am paying $8.50 a month.
The offers vary. My 2 year is up in April 2020 so I've flagged March to start checking the site, in case they don't feel liberal that week.
It's not unlimited. But I don't talk or text much, and rarely browse beyond my WiFi (which Android prefers when available). By rolling-over a previous 2-year plan I have about 5,000 minutes of talk/text on account. (If I did use minutes I would have to study the plans closer; I just want connection and "I'll be late" not even every month.)
> Back in 2002, I purchased a cellphone, .... I still use that phone!
I bought a one-trip cheapie in 2009. About 2015 they told me my phone would stop working (I sussed that the 2G network in my area was depreciated and I needed 3G+), and they would replace it FREE! What they sent was a $10 phone with no camera, I didn't even turn it on. I got a $60 Android smartphone, was so good that when it got goofy (bad apps) I went back and got the $29 and a $59 (both refurbs). I like the $29 better, everything except movies.
What I like about my Kyocera 2235 is......... it has NO GPS designed into it.
I don't need to "be tracked", I like my privacy.
I'm not sure what "G" service it is, nor do I care...... it still works fine since I bought it in 2002.
I never use any of the "apps" (dumb games, internet access, etc) designed into it, I just want the phone part of it.
I don't need to "be tracked", I like my privacy.
I'm not sure what "G" service it is, nor do I care...... it still works fine since I bought it in 2002.
I never use any of the "apps" (dumb games, internet access, etc) designed into it, I just want the phone part of it.
For one, GPS can be turned off in every phone that I know of, and on the other hand you don't need GPS to be tracked. The authorities were able to find missing persons using phone records way before GPS was implemented in any phone. I have GPS turned off most of the time because it saves the battery quite a bit and I pretty much only need GPS when I'm using navigation.
But then, if there's no need for all the modern stuff, who's forcing you to get them? I know people who have never owned a smartphone or a computer. I don't like using phones either but there's no denying their convenience. I have a calculator, a very high quality camera, a map, a flashlight, a phone, internet access, car OBD reader etc. in my pocket wherever I go and the damn thing is smaller than my wallet.
As far as pricing goes, here where the whole modern cell phone craze started, we have it pretty good. The infrastructure has been there since the early 80's so I guess that has something to do with the prices and speeds we get here. The cheapest contract that I know of is 6€ per month including 4GB of data @ 100Mbit/s. Speech and text prices are practically negligible these days. Around 6 cents per minute if you choose to pay by minute. If you don't need data at all, you can get a contract for speech and text only for less than 10€ per month. For about 20€ per month you get unlimited everything. Since there are only 5.5 million people in the entire country, the operators have to compete over a relatively small number of clients keeping the prices down.
But then, if there's no need for all the modern stuff, who's forcing you to get them? I know people who have never owned a smartphone or a computer. I don't like using phones either but there's no denying their convenience. I have a calculator, a very high quality camera, a map, a flashlight, a phone, internet access, car OBD reader etc. in my pocket wherever I go and the damn thing is smaller than my wallet.
As far as pricing goes, here where the whole modern cell phone craze started, we have it pretty good. The infrastructure has been there since the early 80's so I guess that has something to do with the prices and speeds we get here. The cheapest contract that I know of is 6€ per month including 4GB of data @ 100Mbit/s. Speech and text prices are practically negligible these days. Around 6 cents per minute if you choose to pay by minute. If you don't need data at all, you can get a contract for speech and text only for less than 10€ per month. For about 20€ per month you get unlimited everything. Since there are only 5.5 million people in the entire country, the operators have to compete over a relatively small number of clients keeping the prices down.
I am a happy owner of a windows smart phone approaching 5 years of service in a couple of months and I have exchanged original battery for another. The intent is to keep it using until it dies or becomes unusable. The best feature it has is filtering out calls from operator trying to sell some more of their rubbish products.
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