We can now add 4G LTE service to the list of things Americans pay significantly more to have than the rest of the world — right next to education and health care. According to a GSM Association study reported by the New York Times, Americans pay three times more per gigabyte of data than the average European consumers — and ten times more than Sweden. But at least we can get a large pizza for just $5, right America?
The study revealed that America’s leading LTE provider, Verizon Wireless, charges its subscribers $7.50 for every gigabyte of data downloaded over its network. In comparison, the average cost of a gig in Europe is $2.50. Sweden leads the way in inexpensive service, with data only ringing up at $0.63 per gigabyte.
Verizon spokeswomen Brenda Raney did counter this information by pointing out the Verizon plan that is being compared is from its Share Everything plan, which includes unlimited call and text minutes and allows data to be shared among ten devices. If a person was to purchase a data only plan, similar to how the European providers offer service, they would only pay over twice the European average with a cost of $5.50 per gigabyte. Of course, Europeans separate talk and data plans, though. Verizon, on the other hand, is forcing all new users to sign up for Share Everything plans. And though you can connect up to 10 devices to an account, there is a monthly fee per device, which ranges from $10 to $40.
Verizon was the first company to roll out 4G LTE in the United States, followed by AT&T. Verizon still owns the market with 11.6 million LTE subscribers (AT&T reports just short of a million), or about 43 percent of the world’s 27 million LTE users. The lone country to beat Verizon to market just happens to be the cheapest: Sweden. The cost gap seems to have everything to do with competition, though. Europe has 38 of the world’s 88 LTE providers fighting for subscribers. Austria and Finland have three within their borders alone. Meanwhile, the world’s largest market for mobile, the United States, is still playing catch up in this regard.
This has actually been a trend with phone service in the United States. The average cost of a 3G contract runs an American citizen $115 a month. In comparison, citizens of the Netherlands pay $51 and those in Britain pay $59. The higher costs keep the adoption rate at a slow climb, which in turn keeps the cost up on those that have jumped on board because the provider has to recoup costs from building the network. It’s a self-perpetuating cycle that is very American: Pay more, consume more, and get less.
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In all fairness to phone companies here in the US, it’s way more expensive to build infrastructure for phone service across the sheer size of the US with decent coverage than it would be to build 100% coverage in a country less than half our size.
I bet this same study also found that we American’s find more places in our home country that are not covered too.
True.
What about Canada? I’m not sure exactly how much of their land is covered but they do have a ton of land and cell service is definitely a lot cheaper there.
I would guess that picking your battles is easier in Canada. Toronto, Alberta, and your other large cities probably are fully covered, but I would be skeptical of cell coverage out in the more remote parts of the Great North.
Or perhaps I’m just reaching to try to justify why I have to pay so much for cellphone service. As it’s been years since my last visit to Canada, (and I’m not even sure I had a cellphone then,) I’m not the best source.
Try 1/100th the size…
But on top of that, the U.S. companies subsidize phones to make the up front cost cheaper to the customer, but recoup their losses by having higher plan prices. How often would you upgrade your phone if it cost you $500 each time?
A recent rumor points to this cheaper upfront cost with a locked in monthly contract as the next move for the Xbox 720. There are rumors it will even be free, but will require a membership to X-box Live (possibly at a higher rate) to do anything with it.
It works for cell phones. I certainly wouldn’t have an iPhone if I had to pay $800 for it. I hadn’t realized such practices were not the norm the rest of the world over.
I was going to say the same thing. USA is larger than all of Europe. and we have deserts and wastelands where there are no or few people. If our entire country was the size of Texas like France or Germany, our service would be superb like European countries.