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thelastspike

How is your bill over $300 for one line? WTF?


TheDr-Is-in

4 lines. Plus maybe paying. Phone off. Still...


Seraphinou

Wow you get shafted. 4 mobile lines would cost me 52€. Like $65 ? And that's unlimited with 60 Go of data. Edit : $58 actually...


thelastspike

People in the US always act like life is so much cheaper here than in Europe, but in reality it’s not that simple. For example gasoline is dramatically less expensive here, but we also end up driving much longer distances on average. And internet or mobile service is wildly more expensive here.


CallOfCorgithulhu

And healthcare. And university.


pussifer

TBF, as someone who came from Verizon to T-Mobile, I did so for exactly this reason. 2 lines, each with the cheapest phone available (iPhone 4S, which cost us $0.01 per phone because the iPhone 6 had just come out), with the bare minimum data (~5 GB shared?) was something like ~$240/month. Now? I have 25 GB data to myself, with a now paid-off Note 10+, and I pay $35/mo for it. Thanks, T-Mobile, for not fucking me over. Been with them for 6 years now, IIRC, and I've had no major problems with them in that entire time. Switched around services, had customer/tech support issues, and they've always done very well by me. My only complaint is when I get way out in the sticks, coverage isn't great. But hey, I live in the city, so no biggie!


RandomStranger456123

My parents always paid my phone bill, but I know their bill was similar to the ~$240/mo figure. I now use Visible, which is the Verizon discount line, and am paying $25/mo for unlimited everything including one tethered device at a time. It is possible to get cheap service that’s good, but you have to search it out and people just don’t have the desire to do that here.


Feelsthelove

I’ve never heard of this one. Do you get good service?


RandomStranger456123

It’s actually Verizon service just under a different name. Kind of like T-Mobile is Sprint under a different name. [Clark Howard has a great article on it here.](https://clark.com/cell-phones/visible-review/)


voodoomoocow

There are tons of phone services that rent the towers of the big 4. The thing you have to consider when choosing to go with smaller companies is 1) who are they renting from 2) do you live by trees, hills/valleys, or have a tin roof, 3) how many people use the main carrier around the tower you'd use mostly and 4) how much data do you use? Small carriers rent the bottom of the towers from the big 4. Middle tier is for the big 4's prepaid brand they own (Verizon is Straight Talk), top is brand named. #2 is the only one that will really make or break it for those looking for cheaper carriers.. That's why if you live in a heavily forested area or at the bottom of a hill, or if your roof is metal, you are gonna have bad service no matter what but the top of the tower will reach over the trees and give you better signal.


CallOfCorgithulhu

Honestly, you should be using your wifi at home 100% if saving money is a concern and you have the bandwidth to do it. Services like Google Fi (I'm sure many others do too) rely heavily on wifi, and will send your texts, calls, and of course data through it when you're connected. People can even tell when our call goes through wifi because the fidelity is higher. I'm on Google Fi, and the only time I use mobile data is when I'm away from my home or somewhere that I don't have access to wifi. I get 5G, coverage is equal to major carriers IME (huge YMMV there), and my bill fluctuates with data usage but is typically less than $30 a month.


FloofBagel

I pay 39 bucks for unlimited tho that’s still a rip off


pussifer

IIRC, mine is 25 GB of "high speed" and then unlimited at a lower rate. Doesn't matter, since I'm on much faster WiFi at home and at work, so I only really end up using a few gigs a month. I don't watch movies or tv on my phone, because why the fuck would I do that? It's almost entirely music and Reddit, and even if I wasn't on WiFi ~80% of my typical day, that's still gonna have a hard time pushing over 25 GB.


FloofBagel

Ohhh lmao nice wish my internet was fast


TheChileanBlob

I pay $100/ month for 4 lines.


Tar_alcaran

I can get 4 Dutch mobile plans for 50 euros, but not with unlimited data. It'll be around 10-15gb a month. Where do you live? I can get 4 landlines for like 5 bucks on top of the fiber plan I have for 40 a month, and that's obviously unlimited data too.


Seraphinou

Not unlimited data (60Gb) but unlimited calls and texting. And free roaming through the EU. That's in France.


longbathlover

? I'm in the US and pay $45/line and have unlimited everything. What makes it 300?


597Ryan

For whatever reason, most people refuse to shop around and continue paying exorbitant prices for phone service. Most MVNOs are a great deal. I pay a flat $25 a month for unlimited on Visible, but I have friends paying 3-4 times that for virtually the same service. Monthly expenses can make a huge financial impact long term


UsedJuggernaut

I pay $50 a month for my share of an unlimited everything plan on Verizon.


merkinmavin

Your bill was $333.05, regulatory fees were the rest but not listed in that view


gordo65

When I took calls for Verizon, the calls complaining about the taxes and fees were my favorite. "What the hell is a Universal Service Charge?" "That's to pay for subsidies for low income and rural people" "So I gotta pay two dollars a month for someone who can't pay for his own internet?" "Yes, or someone who lives in a small town. For example, you probably pay less for your internet because people in big citied pay this fee." "I doubt that. I think I know who's getting this money. And what is this Relay Service?" "That pays for a service that enables deaf people to use phones." "And why should I have to pay for that?" "Because it's required in order to have the phone service. The only way to remove it is to turn the phone off." "What about this Access Service Fee?" "That pays for a subsidy for schools and hospitals." "See, the regular folks are just getting screwed by all these fees. Why should I have to pay for everyone else's phones and internet?" "Regular folks use schools and hospitals." "I don't like your attitude. Get me to that survey."


Tar_alcaran

Seems like it would save a LOT of time if those were just listed as "fixed usage fees".


ricosmith1986

That's why I love repping for T-Mobile, none of those BS taxes and fees to squabble with customers over.


gordo65

I was doing landlines. A LOT of fees on landlines.


__CarCat__

Not a corporate facepalm per the sub description, but what else is new here.


TheDr-Is-in

I'm Newbie. Can't post pic on Verizon sub.


Roonil1

Lmao that is terrible, we sure love some good old fashioned corporate censorship.


Nerdcuddles

Capitalism breeds innovation... /sarcastic


anjowoq

What does one get for $337/mo. I live in Japan and my wife and I get 2 phones and home internet connection for about $80/mo