For roughly a decade and a half, we have quietly allowed cellular companies to rape our asses with a business model devoid of logic or reasonable fairness, and they've done so without any stealth or covert action. They've done it right out in the open; in front of God and everyone.
Given the prominence of cel phones, why hasn't there been public outrage? Let's take a look at what I'm talking about. I subscribe to a cellular plan. By agreeing to pay x dollars at the end of the month, I am allotted y minutes of use of my phone. In the event that I use more than y minutes, I am charged per minute at an extremely high rate. Save for the Sprint (or AT&T?) exception, the minutes of usage remaining under y are simply lost & forgotten at the end of each billing cycle.
Would someone please explain to me what the utility of my psychic usage prediction is? Clearly it's not useful to me except letting me know when Verizon is gonna start fucking me harder (can't really stop using my phone...) So how does forcing me to make this guess help their ability to provide their service? I'll tell you how it helps. It is a covert means for them to charge me higher rates for my phone usage than I expect to pay. For example:
I use 800 minutes per month.
Plans are tiered at 700 min - $63 or 1400 min - $84. Overage minutes are $0.15 per min.
If I choose 700 with my average 100 min overage, my monthly is $78. For $6 more, I can have 1400 minutes and not sweat it every month; 'cause if I go 900 min one month, my bill will be $93 - Fuck! Shoulda gone with 1400...
So I choose to eat the $6 and not worry. $.06 is far more reasonable than $.09 or $.15 anyway.
WRONG! I normally use 800 min and am paying $84. That's over $.10 per minute!
Now, if you insist that I'm paying $.06 then I'm purchasing 600 minutes each month that at the end of the month are being taken back and discarded. So each month I'm being cheated out of $36. I've been with Verizon over 10 years. As a fair estimate, that's $436 a year or at least $4,500 that Verizon has ripped me off over the years. The real amount is considerably more.
There is NO reason for cellular service to be billed as it is, other than to veil the fact that the public is being ripped off. There is no reason cel phones can't be billed just like a regular land line phone or ANY OTHER UTILITY. Cellular service, like land lines, should be considered a public utility at this point and not be allowed to function as a cartel, ripping off the public every month. I WANT BACK ALL THE MONEY THEY'VE STOLEN FROM ME AND THEN SOME. THEY'RE NOTHING BUT SOPHISTICATED CRIMINALS.
Given the prominence of cel phones, why hasn't there been public outrage? Let's take a look at what I'm talking about. I subscribe to a cellular plan. By agreeing to pay x dollars at the end of the month, I am allotted y minutes of use of my phone. In the event that I use more than y minutes, I am charged per minute at an extremely high rate. Save for the Sprint (or AT&T?) exception, the minutes of usage remaining under y are simply lost & forgotten at the end of each billing cycle.
Would someone please explain to me what the utility of my psychic usage prediction is? Clearly it's not useful to me except letting me know when Verizon is gonna start fucking me harder (can't really stop using my phone...) So how does forcing me to make this guess help their ability to provide their service? I'll tell you how it helps. It is a covert means for them to charge me higher rates for my phone usage than I expect to pay. For example:
I use 800 minutes per month.
Plans are tiered at 700 min - $63 or 1400 min - $84. Overage minutes are $0.15 per min.
If I choose 700 with my average 100 min overage, my monthly is $78. For $6 more, I can have 1400 minutes and not sweat it every month; 'cause if I go 900 min one month, my bill will be $93 - Fuck! Shoulda gone with 1400...
So I choose to eat the $6 and not worry. $.06 is far more reasonable than $.09 or $.15 anyway.
WRONG! I normally use 800 min and am paying $84. That's over $.10 per minute!
Now, if you insist that I'm paying $.06 then I'm purchasing 600 minutes each month that at the end of the month are being taken back and discarded. So each month I'm being cheated out of $36. I've been with Verizon over 10 years. As a fair estimate, that's $436 a year or at least $4,500 that Verizon has ripped me off over the years. The real amount is considerably more.
There is NO reason for cellular service to be billed as it is, other than to veil the fact that the public is being ripped off. There is no reason cel phones can't be billed just like a regular land line phone or ANY OTHER UTILITY. Cellular service, like land lines, should be considered a public utility at this point and not be allowed to function as a cartel, ripping off the public every month. I WANT BACK ALL THE MONEY THEY'VE STOLEN FROM ME AND THEN SOME. THEY'RE NOTHING BUT SOPHISTICATED CRIMINALS.
My Verizon bill is $232 /month for three lines with 700 SHARED MINUTES!!!! I think that at that rate we should each have 700 minutes. On each line that is.
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