So cell phone usage in India has definitely skyrocketed in the past 5-10 years. People everywhere use cellphones including farmers in remote areas. Cell phones here are also very cheap compared to American phones and plans. Most of the networks are 2G with some 3G scattered around here and there. It's obviously easier to put up cell phone towers all over the place rather than dig and route telephone wires everywhere.
All incoming calls and texts are free in India. This is awesome and totally the way it should work in the US. A byproduct of this is that you'll periodically get calls or texts advertising something. I've been told there is a "do no call or txt" line you can call to stop these messages. These probably help subsidize the overall cost of the plans.
Plans are prepaid and post-paid or similar to monthly plans. Pre-paid plans cost 1 paisa per second. (1 rupee = 100 paisa) so you can talk for about a minute and a half for one rupee. Very cheap! Data plans are about $12 to $24 with unlimited calling. If you throw in international calling plans, most will never spend any more than $90 a month! Cell phone plans in the US with data typically start around $99 and go up from there. I'd be curious to know what cell phone plans are like in other parts of the world. Plans are definitely really cheap in India which I think is great.
No comments:
Post a Comment