Amen, Nick

In Portugal, quite a few plans pay you back by the received call minute.

But we're the country that invented pre-paid plans, it seems, and we have something like 1.5 mobile phones per capita. Besides, mobile phones are only a luxury when the norm is having monthly fees of $40 and over. I have trouble spending the €15/month I'm compelled to charge my mobile with every month, with my free 1500 SMSs per week, and €0.05/min calls. End up spending most of what I accumulate on mobile internet, €1/day flat fee, only when you use it. My previous plan was €10/month and I had trouble spending that one.

Nick said: ArtofAngels said: I was watching the Fox News report about that dude who thinks he invented the Wii remote, and at the very start there is an add saying 'If it rings it's free' and ad for a new Mobile phone deal stating that people can call you and you don't pay, as if to imply it's normal for incoming calls to cost the receiver money, this is really weird I think, you are charged even if someone calls you??? Over here in Australia every single carrier does not charge you if you receive a phone call, that' just plain stupid that it could cost you money if someone is ringing you, weird. Over here we only pay for what we do, we only pay when we are the one dialling the call or sending the txt. Apparently it's the same if someone ever txt's you in the US, it costs you money as well as them, talk about rip off! Although I agree with you entirely. You always know who is calling because caller ID is free, so if you "choose" to answer the call then you are doing something and still using a service. Almost all of my calls incoming or outgoing are free so it wouldn't matter much to me either way. Side note: Cell phones are nothing more than a luxury that I am ready to live without. They've become an excuse to be rude. A small example is when people go to a store or restaurant and use them. Sometimes I'll drop what I'm doing, walk up to the counter from the back of the store, and stand there until they decide to finish their call. Why even go to a place that you have to communicate with another human being and decide to do it while on the phone? Sometimes they don't finish their calls and expect you to read their minds. They don't offer the simple courtesy of communication while they're expecting you to perform for them. Generally when you can't/don't help them, (because they're too busy talking on the phone) they get upset with you. Blows my mind. I think I'd enjoy the world just a little more if cell phones didn't exist.

LOL. I wouldn't call them luxury. Unless you define luxury something that is needed for living, which would mean everything except food, clothes and homes. Wired phone network seems to exist practically only for internet anymore, which may change soon, since mobile internet speeds are topping 2Mbps. Mobile phones are handy, but i do agree that some people don't use them in respective manner. But in the other hand, when the kind of behavior is what everyone does, it can be considered as normal. About the billing deals, i have really bad one, 70 minutes for 7 EUR, but i chose it because of the low overall cost and of course could change it anytime i want. My wife has a lot better but she calls more than i. If i recall, she has 400 minutes a month for 14 Euros. Then we both have 300 SMS for (maybe) 4 EUR each and 25 MB of data transfer for 4 EUR each Damn, looks like you USAns get ripped with your phones. Well, this way for a change.

Wow I didn't know that.
If you change country in Europe you often have to pay for recieving, but that is getting less and less now.

@bbdbdbd

In the US, unless your using a cell phone for business, it is purely a luxury. We have near 100% home land line use, which is slowly dropping because of students who would rather have a cell phone than changing their land line ever semester when they change apartments.

In the US, we have 10 year old kids with cell phones, which they have absolutely NO need for. However, I do understand that in Europe that the landlines are in such bad shape that cell phones are better quality and cover those areas that don't even have landlines.

So yea, the US could stop using cell phones and I'd be quite happy, but that is because we have a better phone infrastructure than most other countries. And other than business people (like sales managers who have to travel a lot) everyone could get by perfectly fine.

I happen to have both a land line and cell phone, but i bought my cell phone as an emergency device in case my motorcycle breaks down in the middle of nowhere, other than that it is a luxury.

@Twroo: There's actually directive considering the roaming contracts, which says that inside EU you can't charge more than you do at your home country. I can't remember the given time period, when the directive takes place, but it should be pretty close.

@Nordlead: Well landlines are basically everywhere. And i don't know about their bad condition, since they usually are being kept in condition. But, you were right, that the mobile network is being heavily pushed because of costs, when thinking that the poles, which are used to keep the lines off the ground, have life cycle between 30 to 50 years (depending the conditions where the poles are placed and what chemicals are used for their protection). Also (especially at winter) falling trees often cut the wires.
The mobile network doesnt have similar need for keeping it in condition and the towers where amplifiers/transmitters/receivers have steel structures that last at least as long as the wooden poles at longest, they don't get damaged by falling trees and the only thing to what the towers are more vulnerable to is thunder, and even if thunder would damage the electronics in single tower, instead of shutting down the network in the area, in most places the connection just directs to another tower.

Yes, a lot of phones are bought to kids who don't need it. A lot of parents buy phones to their kids, when they start school or first christmas after school have started or at least when they start second grade and know how to read. If you're ten and don't have a mobile phone, you end up having a risk getting bullied at school these days.
Ten year olds do have use for their phones, but very little.

I don't have land line (except for internet) because i don't need one when i have my mobile phone and it would be so damn expensive and impractical. And i don't know anyone under 50 with landline phone and don't know any adult without a mobile, after my father and my wifes grandmother died.

Wow ... I thought with the MyCircle from Alltel, you could designate who you call - and who calls you - for free ...

nordlead said: However, I do understand that in Europe that the landlines are in such bad shape that cell phones are better quality and cover those areas that don't even have landlines.

Nowadays, I really doubt you'll have a better phone infrastructure than most EU countries. Historically, that used to be true, and with cheaper prices too. Maybe that has had something to do with the slower mobile uptake.

But not today. As an example, "average" speed ADSL is considered a "universal service" (just like electricity, or water) in Portugal, which means it must be made available everywhere, to anyone. That by itself demands a reasonable infrastructure. And besides, land-lines have been "universal" for at least a decade, so I seriously doubt it there was ever a place where you had to use a mobile, because you had no access to a land-line. It's just far more convenient.

So what happens if you haven´t got money and someone calls?

 

The land of the free and the land of hope has bevome the land of rip off and nobody noticed.

 

Europe has had better comunication line then US for a while now, US is both trailing in landlines and internet connections.

This is the most ridicioulous thing I ever heard of to pay when someone calls you, do you pay when someone calls you with landline phones too?

We don't really pay that much more for phone service than other countries...I don't get why people think it's such a rip-off. I've got a great family package deal, plus I don't use my phone much.