Back in the States, I paid $50/month for T-Mobile's unlimited-everything monthly/no-contract plan. There was an additional $10 fee for international calling, if I wanted it. This plan was later grandfathered out, leaving the only similar plan being one where you get on a contract and buy a new, SIM-locked device. Before it was grandfathered out, Consumer Reports ran an article on the under-appreciation of no-contract SIMs in America.
Where I am now (Northern Israel), the government passed a law against lock-in contracts last year. As a result, there has been a "cellular revolution". My new SIM, which might arrive in the mail today, costs 99 shekels per month (roughly $25 USD, but the shekel has been tending to rise against the dollar faster than the Central Bank can buy American bonds to keep it down). It includes unlimited calls, text and data, including international (to my American family) for no additional cost.
The internet service I have here, coupled to minimal public-access television service, is 10 Mb/sec download speed for 65 shekels ($16.25 USD) per month. The providers of physical internet infrastructure (cable and DSL) are also separated here from ISPs. A competitor to my DSL company offers 100 Mb/sec for 20 shekels ($5 USD) per month, but isn't available everywhere. This DSL company will upgrade you to 20 Mb/sec if you catch them offering a sale.
By contrast, a minimal cable package of public-access channels and broadband internet back in the USA cost about $45/month, before you've paid any other bills, and it gave you about 3-5 Mb/sec.
(Admittedly, these prices reflect household incomes being lower here, since the average worker's salary is something like $28k/year and most households have two working parents. But the way America has been going, those kinds of numbers are now typical there too, but without prices having gone down.)
So yeah. America gets gypped because its government consistently refuses to do anything about telecom infrastructure. It's pretty sad, considering how little you actually have to do to get decent results.
Back in the States, I paid $50/month for T-Mobile's unlimited-everything monthly/no-contract plan. There was an additional $10 fee for international calling, if I wanted it. This plan was later grandfathered out, leaving the only similar plan being one where you get on a contract and buy a new, SIM-locked device. Before it was grandfathered out, Consumer Reports ran an article on the under-appreciation of no-contract SIMs in America.
Where I am now (Northern Israel), the government passed a law against lock-in contracts last year. As a result, there has been a "cellular revolution". My new SIM, which might arrive in the mail today, costs 99 shekels per month (roughly $25 USD, but the shekel has been tending to rise against the dollar faster than the Central Bank can buy American bonds to keep it down). It includes unlimited calls, text and data, including international (to my American family) for no additional cost.
The internet service I have here, coupled to minimal public-access television service, is 10 Mb/sec download speed for 65 shekels ($16.25 USD) per month. The providers of physical internet infrastructure (cable and DSL) are also separated here from ISPs. A competitor to my DSL company offers 100 Mb/sec for 20 shekels ($5 USD) per month, but isn't available everywhere. This DSL company will upgrade you to 20 Mb/sec if you catch them offering a sale.
By contrast, a minimal cable package of public-access channels and broadband internet back in the USA cost about $45/month, before you've paid any other bills, and it gave you about 3-5 Mb/sec.
(Admittedly, these prices reflect household incomes being lower here, since the average worker's salary is something like $28k/year and most households have two working parents. But the way America has been going, those kinds of numbers are now typical there too, but without prices having gone down.)
So yeah. America gets gypped because its government consistently refuses to do anything about telecom infrastructure. It's pretty sad, considering how little you actually have to do to get decent results.