Where do i find a break down of the "real" cost of the various
devices?

I'm not just talking about the $200-$500 for the device itself.
I'm also looking at the monthly data costs, the voice plan
costs,

For example, the real cost of an Iphone is about $2500
by the time you add in the coxt of the iphone, the data
plan, the voice plan, etc. Comes out to $2500 per
month.

Xena <Send to usenet only....email private> writes:
>For example, the real cost of an Iphone is about $2500
>by the time you add in the coxt of the iphone, the data
>plan, the voice plan, etc. Comes out to $2500 per
>month.

That's wrong.

The iPhone costs around $400 if you buy it on-line. The monthly plans
for the iPhone start at around $60 per month. Please explain how you
can turn those numbers into $2500 per month.

--
Help stop the genocide in Darfur!
http://www.genocideintervention.net/

>Xena <Send to usenet only....email private> writes:
>>For example, the real cost of an Iphone is about $2500
>>by the time you add in the coxt of the iphone, the data
>>plan, the voice plan, etc. Comes out to $2500 per
>>month.
Miss typed there, should be $2500 per year.

It completely depends on the carrier and the offerings they have available.
I do not know of one common matrix that provides such detailed information
as carriers, especially here in the USA, change their plans fairly
regularly.

My suggestion would be to find the carriers that work best in your area and
investigate what they have available. Another option is as well is to see
if your corporation has a plan with a carrier that you can take advantage of
as an employee. While it make cost you more up front for the phone, it
could save you on the plan itself. My company uses T-Mobile and while I
ended up spending some $500 (US) for my phone with my data (unlimited) and
voice costs me only $40 (US) per month. That makes my first year cost only
$980 (US) with reoccuring yearly costs at $480.

Regards,

--
Clinton Fitch, MVP-Mobile Devices
Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com!
http://www.clintonfitch.com


"Xena" <Send to usenet only....email private> wrote in message
news:31j0o35n2keoga1ddnqup6sm1fah4urgc6@4ax.com...
> Where do i find a break down of the "real" cost of the various
> devices?
>
> I'm not just talking about the $200-$500 for the device itself.
> I'm also looking at the monthly data costs, the voice plan
> costs,
>
> For example, the real cost of an Iphone is about $2500
> by the time you add in the coxt of the iphone, the data
> plan, the voice plan, etc. Comes out to $2500 per
> month.
>

OK then, $400 + 12x$60 = $1120 for the first year. Not even half what you
indicate. $40 of that $60/month is the basic voice plan BTW, no different
than any other cell phone you get at AT&T. To get to your $2500, you'd have
to sign up for a $155/month voice plan. Darned if they don't have one of
those, but it is 4000 anytime minutes a month...that's over two hours on the
cell everyday. Way more if you factor in the free nights and weekends and
mobile-to-mobile.

So, the reality is, the real cost of various devices is available to you on
the carrier web site. You take the price of the device and add 12 times
whatever voice plan you think you need, plus what ever data plan you think
you need. I'll make the last part easy for you. If you have a smartphone, or
PDA phone, be it Windows Mobile, Apple or Palm, you need an unlimited data
plan. A limited plan with overage fees per unit will kill you.

The only part that is a bit confusing, because it is rediculous, is that
some carriers charge for unlimited data, based on what type of device you
have. To me that is like charging for an all you can eat buffet, based on
how big you are. Some carriers don't make those distinctions, but you can't
get an iPhone there.



--
Sven
MS MVP Mobile Devices
"Xena" <Send to usenet only....email private> wrote in message
news:irr0o3tegehdil7lofgotqqealfl4t7u35@4ax.com...
> >Xena <Send to usenet only....email private> writes:
>>>For example, the real cost of an Iphone is about $2500
>>>by the time you add in the coxt of the iphone, the data
>>>plan, the voice plan, etc. Comes out to $2500 per
>>>month.
> Miss typed there, should be $2500 per year.

On Sun, 6 Jan 2008 15:42:16 -0700, "Sven" <sejohannsen@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>OK then, $400 + 12x$60 = $1120 for the first year. Not even half what you
>indicate. $40 of that $60/month is the basic voice plan BTW, no different
>than any other cell phone you get at AT&T. To get to your $2500, you'd have
>to sign up for a $155/month voice plan. Darned if they don't have one of
>those, but it is 4000 anytime minutes a month...that's over two hours on the
>cell everyday. Way more if you factor in the free nights and weekends and
>mobile-to-mobile.
The $2500 figure came from news reports within a month of the iphone
release where people got a huge box of paper that was their
first iphone bill.

"Xena" <Send to usenet only....email private> wrote in message
news:lf33o3hg1kphbmlmgimko895j1tmo8ssfb@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 6 Jan 2008 15:42:16 -0700, "Sven" <sejohannsen@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> >OK then, $400 + 12x$60 = $1120 for the first year. Not even half what you
> >indicate. $40 of that $60/month is the basic voice plan BTW, no different
> >than any other cell phone you get at AT&T. To get to your $2500, you'd have
> >to sign up for a $155/month voice plan. Darned if they don't have one of
> >those, but it is 4000 anytime minutes a month...that's over two hours on the
> >cell everyday. Way more if you factor in the free nights and weekends and
> >mobile-to-mobile.
> The $2500 figure came from news reports within a month of the iphone
> release where people got a huge box of paper that was their
> first iphone bill.

Typical of the media - always reporting on the most sensational/overhyped
aspect of everything in order to grab eyeballs & generate $$$...guess it
worked, they definitely got you believing them!


>

Xena <Send to usenet only....email private> writes:
>The $2500 figure came from news reports within a month of the iphone
>release where people got a huge box of paper that was their
>first iphone bill.

Right now the AT&T Web site is offering *only* an unlimited data plan
with the iPhone, i.e., that's thethe cheapest plan they'll let you sign
up for when you buy one. That means that one of two things is the
case:

1) When the iPhones first came out, AT&T was letting people sign up for
them without purchasing an unlimited data plan. If so, then this was
just stupidity on AT&T's part. As someone else has noted in this
thread, if you buy a smartphone and don't get an unlimited data plan,
the overage fees are going to kill you. Giving how many people bought
smartphones, that's a lot of people to piss off in their first month
and convince that you're trying to rip them off, so if they did this,
then it was just stupid, and it's a good thing that they've fixed it
since then by only allowing an unlimited data plan with the iPhone.

2) Even when the iPhone first came out, you had to buy an unlimited
data plan with it. If this is the case, then the people's big bills
were for regular cell phone usage, and they would have had bills just
as large when a conventional cell phone, so this has nothing to do
with the smartphone.

The biggest take-away from all this is that if you get a smartphone,
you should get an unlimited data plan for certain, and then look at
your voice usage patterns to figure out what voice plan you need.

If you don't need the unlimited data plan, then you probably don't
need the smartphone.

--
Help stop the genocide in Darfur!
http://www.genocideintervention.net/

At 06 Jan 2008 21:29:50 -0500 Xena wrote:

> The $2500 figure came from news reports within a month of the iphone
> release where people got a huge box of paper that was their
> first iphone bill.

And you've been corrected about that $2500 figure here before, IIRC. The
only "news reports" I remember involved people who unwittingly racked up
huge roaming charges by leaving their e-mail auto-retrieval function on
when traveling outside the USA (which one could do with any smartphone.) I
have the cellular data function on my WinMo phone disabled right now, as
I'm in Cancun, Mexico, and don't want to see what kind of data roaming
charges I can rack up on Telcel at $16/MB. I'm using my hotel's free WiFi
at the moment.

@Todd,

Nice-spent a week at Dreams Resort/Cancun-alas, during Hurricane Emily '05.
Trust me, even without data connected, when I used it even just for cellular
(with international included) during that week,
HUGE bill.

Jeff

"Todd Allcock" <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote in message
news:flsbfo$n3v$1@aioe.org...
> At 06 Jan 2008 21:29:50 -0500 Xena wrote:
>
>> The $2500 figure came from news reports within a month of the iphone
>> release where people got a huge box of paper that was their
>> first iphone bill.
>
> And you've been corrected about that $2500 figure here before, IIRC. The
> only "news reports" I remember involved people who unwittingly racked up
> huge roaming charges by leaving their e-mail auto-retrieval function on
> when traveling outside the USA (which one could do with any smartphone.)
> I
> have the cellular data function on my WinMo phone disabled right now, as
> I'm in Cancun, Mexico, and don't want to see what kind of data roaming
> charges I can rack up on Telcel at $16/MB. I'm using my hotel's free WiFi
> at the moment.
>
>
>
>
>

At 07 Jan 2008 00:16:21 -0500 Jeff wrote:
> @Todd,
>
> Nice-spent a week at Dreams Resort/Cancun-alas, during Hurricane
> Emily '05.
> Trust me, even without data connected, when I used it even just
> for cellular (with international included) during that week,
> HUGE bill.
>
> Jeff


True, but you were like aware of the costs to use voice, and your phone
probably doesn't make voice calls periodically without your knowledge! ;-)

Where many smartphone owners, particularly new ones, get a surprise, is
when they realize the phone has automatically downloaded x# MB of e-mail at
roaming rates.

My provider, T-Mobile USA charges $1.49/minute USD for voice, but I used
Fring.com's software on my MDA (HTC Wizard) to use Skype over the free (but
slowish) hotel WiFi. (While Skype has a nice WinMo program available, it
has audio problems on very slow devices like my Wizard and it's 200MHz
processor. Fring does a better job on slower devices (and slower internet
connections.)

20 minutes of calls over the 5 days ran me about $0.50 of Skype credit
instead of $30 in roaming charges.

On Tue, 08 Jan 2008 08:17:44 -0700, Todd Allcock
<elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote:
>True, but you were like aware of the costs to use voice, and your phone
>probably doesn't make voice calls periodically without your knowledge! ;-)
Not necessarily true. You can pick up a used phone and clone
it to run on someone elses cell phone number.

Also phones are lost and stolen every day.

nice
when I was in Cancun, I only used voice and it was still a shock, but great
info-thx.

Jeff

"Todd Allcock" <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote in message
news:fm04e1$hn3$1@aioe.org...
> At 07 Jan 2008 00:16:21 -0500 Jeff wrote:
>> @Todd,
>>
>> Nice-spent a week at Dreams Resort/Cancun-alas, during Hurricane
>> Emily '05.
>> Trust me, even without data connected, when I used it even just
>> for cellular (with international included) during that week,
>> HUGE bill.
>>
>> Jeff
>
>
> True, but you were like aware of the costs to use voice, and your phone
> probably doesn't make voice calls periodically without your knowledge!
> ;-)
>
> Where many smartphone owners, particularly new ones, get a surprise, is
> when they realize the phone has automatically downloaded x# MB of e-mail
> at
> roaming rates.
>
> My provider, T-Mobile USA charges $1.49/minute USD for voice, but I used
> Fring.com's software on my MDA (HTC Wizard) to use Skype over the free
> (but
> slowish) hotel WiFi. (While Skype has a nice WinMo program available, it
> has audio problems on very slow devices like my Wizard and it's 200MHz
> processor. Fring does a better job on slower devices (and slower internet
> connections.)
>
> 20 minutes of calls over the 5 days ran me about $0.50 of Skype credit
> instead of $30 in roaming charges.
>
>
>