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Off-topic: Going online with o2 mobile
Posted on July 15, 2009 by .
After having canceled one of my mobile phone contracts I took the change to actual check recent bills. That was quite surprising (should have done this earlier!).
o2 Germany by default offers two different billing methods (there are further packages that require a monthly fee); per volume and per time. It seems in March 2008 I canceled an addon package (email stuff) and accidentally switched to volume based billing.
This made me pay 9,22 EUR per MB (1 MB could be one page on a website with a few images). Curious as I am, I calculated that for this 1 MB I could be online with time based billing for 102 minutes (billing is 0,09 EUR per minute). 102 minutes would result in 5,5 GB transfer with offered (theoretical) maximum speed of 7,2 MBit/s.
Paying about 9 EUR and getting 1 MB with volume based billing versus 5,5 GB in time based billing!! What would you choose? Interesting business model, isn't it?
I still wonder if there's any use case where choosing volume based billing is cheaper than time based billing? Like connecting to a web server and sending keepalive packets only every two minutes?
At least, after presenting the figures (1 MB vs. 5,5 GB), o2's Customer Care gave me a little refund. I'm now using a package with a monthly fee but "unlimited traffic". Stupid me.
- 2 Comment(s)
Doe these mobiles still have modems??
May be set-up a small modem pool (1?) at home,
and then dial into your mobile using the regular modem??
May be not as fast as using GPRS or whatever they are using nowdays,
but it might eat your wallet less fast..
And yes, the telecom boys are the mafia of the 21th century!
Ries
Re: Doe these mobiles still have modems??
Nice idea - my mobile does have a modem. However, this would be too much overhead.
With the new "internet package" subscription, I'm paying way less than 10 EUR/MB.