Life, in some ways, is much cheaper here-
When I first moved here, I wrote a post about our expenses
and came to the conclusion that life costs about as much here as it does in the
US. I'd like to revisit the cost of living, focusing
specifically on mobile phone plans for this blog entry.
Back in the US, my monthly cellphone bill through AT&T
was about $80/month. What services did I
receive for this price? I received a set
number of call minutes and text messages per month: around 200 text
messages. It's harder to determine my
monthly minutes because my plan included rollover minutes so that, to me, I had
unlimited call minutes. In the US, there
are two main cell phone providers:
AT&T and Verizon. There are
some smaller competitors as well but it is widely assumed they don't provide as
excellent network coverage as the main two.
Here in Austria, our monthly plan costs 13 Euros per
month. It includes 1000 call minutes and
1000 text messages. There seem to be
more competing companies for your business here than in the US as described in the following website:
There are many providers in Austria
(quite likely more than you would expect in such a small country):
· A1: The formerly state owned mobile provider. It is
said that they still offer the best coverage and good quality service. However
– if you have to call their agents, be prepared for a long wait on hold.
· Orange: The second largest mobile network
provider. Orange claims to offer best voice quality and has special offers for
European roaming services.
· Tele-ring: The discount provider. Almost
bankrupt but they are aggressively attacking the bigger providers.
· T-Mobile: Former max.mobil has good network
coverage and cheap prices. Many Austrians use this network.
· 3: This is the company Hutchinson. They are pursuing
the multimedia approach and sell only UMTS handsets. Rates within the 3 network
are very cheap, but calling to other networks can be costly. Check the details
of your contract!
· Yesss: The newest discount provider has caused a lot of
turmoil by giving hints on their website how to unlock your SIM card and use
their service. Good rates but (as it is said) bad service when you need their
assistance.
Note: As this article is slightly outdated (June 2009), there is
another provider "BOB" which was left off of the list.
Personally, we use Tele-ring mainly for the reason that
their in-shop clerks usually can speak English.
Generally, a poll among our friends here has shown that most
have plans with 1000/1000 minutes and texts per month (or more) and no one pays
more than 20 Euros per month. Some how a
country of 8 million people are able to provide an extensive cell phone network
along with affordable, competitive cell phone packages at a much, much lower per
month cost than the US.