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Ask HN: Are There Any Startups Trying to Bring Us Cheaper Cell Phone Service?

1 points by rxl ↗ HN
Many of us pay $100 or more / month for our cell phone bills (or close to it). Your cell phone bill could be just as high as your monthly car payment. Does that make sense? How much value are we really getting for that price? Are there any alternatives to this ridiculous system? Are there any startups trying to take on this oligopoly?

A proposed solution: (1) get a Clear Voyager (comes with unlimited internet access for $50/month) (2) connect to it using a mobile device (3) surf the web and make calls w/ Google Voice

Do you have any other solutions in mind?

3 comments

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Torkild
In all seriousness, I registered false datum with Assurance Wireless, sponsored by Virgin, and am now using a free cellphone (or "Obama phone" as some voices in the media call it). Per month I receive 250 free minutes and 250 free texts. The only precursor was to "prove" that I am currently enrolled in any of a number of welfare programs (such as the "SNAP" food stamp benefits program). I understand what I am doing is illegal, but earlier this year I realized I did not feel comfortable anymore paying so much for something that seemed to be benefiting others far more than me.
cjfarivar
Yeah, too expensive phones are a pet peeve of mine.

See: http://ars.to/17BuE6s

QUOTE:

But what I’ve always wanted here in the US is what I had when we were living in Germany from 2010 to 2012: a cheap, prepaid, debit-style mobile offering, where the receiver doesn’t pay for incoming texts or calls. In nearly every other country in the world, this seems to be the norm.

For two years, we were happy customers of Blau.de (an E-Plus MVNO). The company offered a prepaid 1GB of data for just €10 ($12.60) and €0.09 ($0.11) per minute to any German phone number and €0.09 per text to any German mobile phone. In Germany, we spent something like €40 ($52) per month on average. That's roughly half of what we currently spend and about one-third of what most similar iPhone users pay stateside.

Last month, I reported from Belgium on what may be my favorite mobile provider anywhere in the world: Mobile Vikings (http://ars.to/12Bmo1G). With any luck, they’ll launch soon in the United States. I'd take the company's basic offering in a heartbeat: €15 ($20) per month for 2GB of mobile data, $0.32/min for voice, and 1,000 text messages. Another favorite of mine is 3 in the United Kingdom. This company offers a 30-day deal for just 15 British pounds ($23), which includes 300 domestic minutes, 3,000 text messages, and unlimited data. (Remember, incoming is free in Europe.)

More than the Verizons and AT&Ts we're used to, Roam Mobility and Ready SIM are closer relatives to these appealing European offers.

cjfarivar
For the time being, my wife and I use Straight Talk ($45 mo = unlimited talk/text + around 1-1.5GB of data [it's unclear]) It's an AT&T MVNO, and no 4G, but it works for us, and is the cheapest option I could find. (We both have unlocked iPhones.)