Comments on: Why The U.S. Has More Minutes Of Use Than Others

By: PhoneBoy

PhoneBoy — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 07:13:56 +0000

Exactly, the problem of asymmetric communication mechanisms.

By: spg

spg — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 05:38:18 +0000

i had not thought about it in a while. but it was very true 5 to 10 years ago that in north america lots of people head cell phones for ‘outbound calls only’ and never gave out the numbers. on the other hand in europe lots of people had cell phones only ‘to be reachable’ and would never use them for outbound calling. this was particularly true in both places for prepaid.

By: PhoneBoy

PhoneBoy — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:52:29 +0000

@andrew3000 The dirty secret is that, technically, you don’t need to change your mobile number when you move in the U.S. either. I maintain a number in a different geographic area from where I live because of the number of people that have my mobile phone number. The only time you might have a problem is if you change carriers and use local number portability.

I think for the older generation, your observation is correct: people tend to leave their phone someplace else because of the historical costs. For the younger generation, the cost is not an issue. I take my phone everywhere and feel naked without it.

Penetration is certainly one valid statistic. Laws either forbid or severely restrict contract length in some EU countries, so that’s not really a valid comparison.

By: Andrew3000

Andrew3000 — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 17:56:37 +0000

Are you looking at actual usage, or the size of the bundles on offer in each market? I have lived in Canada and Europe, and have experienced both environments. Personally I think the calling-party-pays system has its advantages, but I also get annoyed with it because incoming international calls are costly for those who need to reach me. But at the same time, my mobile number does not need to change when I move cities, and you always know when you’re dialling a mobile number because of the dedicated numbering ranges.

On the other hand (historically), I think North American users had fewer incoming minutes than those in the EU, because they had to pay for them. This led to a culture of leaving the mobile at home unless you were expecting a call. I get annoyed when I’m trying to reach North Americans and it takes them 3 days to respond to an SMS because they “left the cell in the car”. Keep in mind that the super-sized US bundles need to have all those minutes to take away the sting of paying for an incoming call – something which is an alien concept to a European user.

In-country mobile-to-mobile calls are not that expensive in Europe (even though there have never never been domestic “long distance” charges), since the high interoperator termination charges tend to net out in the long run. A lot of users don’t even bother to call landlines any more, so the usage is all within the mobile numbering plan.

To look at this from another angle, you could try comparing penetration rates, contract durations, and the state of the handset market on both sides of the Atlantic.

By: PhoneBoy

PhoneBoy — Wed, 28 May 2008 18:19:45 +0000

@spg the big difference in North America is that local calls have ALWAYS been cheap. In Europe, you have decades of getting ripped off by the incumbent telcos and mobile network operators working against you. Even if calls suddenly become cheaper, you have years and years of ingrained behavior to MINIMIZE the use of the phone.

By: spg

spg — Wed, 28 May 2008 04:16:14 +0000

i am not so sure about the usage growth you speak of. i lived in several different european countries. the telephone culture is very different. even with super cheap local landline calls a call that lasts more than 3 minutes is considered very unusual. people simply do not have conversation on the phone. phones a to get across a quick point. for example a typical call i would have had in europe to meet at a pub or cafe to talk about a certain topic. here in the US the whole conversation may take place on the phone without the meeting ever happing. the reports that i have seen covering the prior rate drops in europe suggest a combination of calls moving from landlines to mobiles and of lower total monthly expense for users; but not a large increase in total phone calls(landline and mobile combined)

By: PhoneBoy

PhoneBoy — Wed, 28 May 2008 03:40:33 +0000

@radical24 As you say, it’s a different model. The usurious call charges drove SMS adoption in Europe. Without that pressure, and the lack of interoperability between carriers until several years ago, there wasn’t as much motivation for SMS.

By: PhoneBoy

PhoneBoy — Wed, 28 May 2008 03:28:03 +0000

They’re able to do it here in North America, why wouldn’t they be able to do it in Europe as well? Buy $100 worth of minutes on T-Mobile or AT&T, don’t give them anything for a year.

There’s nothing wrong with calling party pays per-se. What is wrong with it is the usurious rates the mobile operators are charging for no good reason other than they can. Make the pricing far more competitive, and voice usage in CPP countries will improve.

By: radical24

radical24 — Mon, 26 May 2008 22:03:55 +0000

It’s kind of nice to have no incurring charges when someone else calls your mobile. Such is the way of life in Europe. It is also a fact that their packets are much more expensive than here in the U.S. We get ‘charged’ for incoming and outgoing mintues here in the U.S. the mobile markets continue to grow perhaps at a slower rate but non the less it is still a moving forward model. In Europe you pay for everything, in some restaurants even for piece of bread. It’s a different culture and one that takes for granted that you pay for all kinds of at times ridiculous services. Demand of consumer and the market as it continues to grow will no doubt introduce novel, more cost efficient and more consumer appealing ideas. Time will tell when.

By: spg

spg — Mon, 26 May 2008 14:18:43 +0000

in most european countries telemarketing is illegal to all phones. it happens to be a very American phenomenon. we are actually subjected to all sorts of marketing and advertises at many times the quantiity of our friends in other parts of the world.

as for the paying model. 10 years ago a was a major fan of the european model. in particular i really liked the prepaid phones than after the initial expense you never had to pay anymore money to keep active. at the time there were people at all levels of society in europe who had cell phones; the sdame was not the case in north america. this was being driven largely by prepaid phones that were only used for incoming calls. 10 years later i see that the price has dropped far more dramatically in countries with called party billing. this has made me re think a little.

if the european operators lowered there inbound rates would they still be able to offer accounts that do not require any recurring payments from the SIM card holder?