Re:Project Fi by Google
by pluma on Thursday April 23, 2015 @11:33AM
(#9427403)
> In the US, when you open a cell phone contract, you get a new phone at a discounted price.
This has definitely been a thing in Germany in the past. In fact, I don't think I've seen ever the "pay $(x+y)/month for 24 months for the plan and phone, then pay only $x/month" model. Usually after 24 months you'd be offered a new phone (again for "free" or a radically "discounted" price). This may have changed since I stopped paying attention to long-term plans but you're wrong in thinking we never had what you have in the US.
> There is no variation of speeds, you either have data or you dont.
We also had hard data caps very early on. We just replaced that with "unlimited" plans with a cap on "high-speed" data at some point.
That said, the low-speed data might as well not be available at all -- most people I know buy extra if they hit their high-speed cap. It's barely sufficient for checking your e-mail.
This has definitely been a thing in Germany in the past. In fact, I don't think I've seen ever the "pay $(x+y)/month for 24 months for the plan and phone, then pay only $x/month" model. Usually after 24 months you'd be offered a new phone (again for "free" or a radically "discounted" price). This may have changed since I stopped paying attention to long-term plans but you're wrong in thinking we never had what you have in the US.
> There is no variation of speeds, you either have data or you dont.
We also had hard data caps very early on. We just replaced that with "unlimited" plans with a cap on "high-speed" data at some point.
That said, the low-speed data might as well not be available at all -- most people I know buy extra if they hit their high-speed cap. It's barely sufficient for checking your e-mail.