I think it's an American thing

Post #396,907 by pwhysall 12/6/14 6:25:12 AM Reply	I think it's an American thing I was helping out another friend recently with phone/plan choices and I literally could not understand what the offerings from Sprint and Verizon actually meant in terms of dollars out at the end of the month. Yet UK operators make it dirt simple. See here: http://www.three.co.uk/iPhone/iPhone_6?priceplan=PAY_MONTHLY&tab=Features.&memory=16&colour=Gold&featuretab=Features Phone is this much up front, plan costs that much per month, this is what you get. Compare: http://www.verizonwireless.com/smartphones/iphone-6/ How much data? Dunno. Minutes? Texts? Haha. You don't need to know that to make an informed decision. OTOH, here's a load of info on the most reviewed and written-about phone in history, just in case you didn't know what an iPhone 6 was before you arrived at Verizon's website.
Post #396,909 by a6l6e6x 12/6/14 9:28:00 AM Reply	So, who is advantaged by the website obfuscation? The salesperson at the store you wind up using! And of course, the phone company. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #396,911 by Another Scott 12/6/14 10:34:05 AM Reply	Yup. The big American telecos don't want you to know how much your plan will cost. They want to draw you in with a 5 second description - "20 GB for your whole family for $160/mo! What a bargain!!11" then have you sign the 2 year contract and, when it's too late, you find out all the extra fees and taxes. While it would cost them less to have people use the web site, they can't sell the $50 cases and $25 screen protectors and $100 earbuds and $100 "starter kits" as effectively as a guy or gal working on commission at a store... I was amazed when I signed up for my plan at T-Mobile. I did it over the web. I got the $30 month-to-month plan (at the time it was 2 GB of data, 300 minutes, unlimited text - I think the data is "unlimited" now). It was hard to find on their web site, but once I found it, it was painless. The actual amount I pay every month is ... $30.50. When I was on Sprint, the headline number was before all the various taxes and fees that added another $25 or so a month... The CFPB really should crack down on the big cell phone companies. It's deceptive marketing, pure and simple. Cheers, Scott.
Post #396,921 by pwhysall 12/7/14 4:15:57 AM Reply	Freedom, I guess. Over here, pulling that sort of shit (headline figure that's not actually doable) would get you into all sorts of interesting and expensive legal trouble. One thing the Great American Experiment is teaching us is the not-new-to-us-over-here lesson that large companies will do absolutely anything they can, right up to the very outer limits of the law, to get your money. You cannot rely on them to Do The Right Thing, and so if you want them to do something (say, honestly advertise what it costs to get a mobile phone and a plan from them), you've got to legislate those motherfuckers right in the face.
Post #396,929 by static 12/7/14 6:08:50 PM Reply	And Americans don't like that sort of legislation. For the most part. Wade. Just Add Story http://justaddstory.wordpress.com/
Post #396,932 by Ashton 12/7/14 9:04:12 PM Reply	Indeed: most seem to have caved to the proposition, re 'GMOs' and similar: That Corps should have a perfect Right to conceal from (very many who have evidenced their disagreement): simply, whether? or Not? some alleged food-like substance "contains GMO material". Really: (as in Oregon, where the vote was too close to decide sans recount ... I think DowSanto won, last I heard) these people, obviously influenced by BigAg $multi-M slick disinformation: voted to be Un-Informed of W.T.F. they would next be eating. By the tonne: world's larges medical beta? Can anyone not-Murican imagine such a tribe? (OK Jonathan Swift did, and now that brutish-creature is a huge Corporate icon. Clearly Muricans suffer from low self-esteem.. beneath all the bragging.) Square One ... if only one could go back there.

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