why are smartphone monthly service plans so expensive?

[kvpatel007]

It's ridiculous! AT&T Iphone is about 0/month, Verizon hits you with a monthly fee whether you want it or not when you buy their smartphones and this in addition to the -90/month phone fee. The economy is terrible, when will the prices come down? Any other decent service plans out there?

Terisu I totally feel you. Verizon won't even allow you the option now of adding a data plan, you MUST take it now to get service on your phone.

[Terisu]

If you think that's expensive, try it without the data plan. When they itemize, those charges will add up in the hundreds of dollars pretty quickly. I didn't think I'd need the plan with my Centro, so I opted out of the $30 per month charge. I didn't think I was using it much for online stuff, but after a week, the charges were up to $85. That's when I decided to bite the bullet and get the dang plan!

[ryanopt]

That's including all the data charges, texts and calls.

You pay for these too as well as the cost of the phone, dependant on the length of the contract, you should get something overall that would cost you less. Say you spend about $20-$30 a month calling, texting, using the internet for whatever your needs, maybe even twice or three times as much as that, that's going to mean you spend nearly as much as you can get on contract for a phone that would offer you the things you already do.

But don't forget, i'm pretty sure this phone isn't intended at the casual phone market, hence smart phone, and it's also Apple, their products are not 'cheap'.

I wouldn't really think about buying one, they're not really going to come down in price and you could be more happy with an iPod Touch and a seperate mobile phone.

Hope this helps.

[ryanopt]

That's including all the data charges, texts and calls.

You pay for these too as well as the cost of the phone, dependant on the length of the contract, you should get something overall that would cost you less. Say you spend about $20-$30 a month calling, texting, using the internet for whatever your needs, maybe even twice or three times as much as that, that's going to mean you spend nearly as much as you can get on contract for a phone that would offer you the things you already do.

But don't forget, i'm pretty sure this phone isn't intended at the casual phone market, hence smart phone, and it's also Apple, their products are not 'cheap'.

I wouldn't really think about buying one, they're not really going to come down in price and you could be more happy with an iPod Touch and a seperate mobile phone.

Hope this helps.

[Unregistered]

It's nothing but a cash cow for these companies. Plain and simple.