I'm in the UK and get nowhere near that for a similar price, who are you with?

I've just checked and the recurring charge I pay gets:

£12 goodybag: will include UK 3GB, 500 minutes, unlimited texts (was 250 minutes, unlimited data)

So thanks to your post I've just discovered I'm no longer getting the service I thought I was! It seems they sent a "changes to your service" email which I didn't read because I assumed it was ToS changes.

edited to add: This is 3G and not even 4G!

Three, it's the same deal on PAYG as well.

£17, my $20 is slightly off

Thanks, I thought it might be them, I've just ordered a sim from them!

Exactly. I thought this article dealed with a very specific problem in a very specific geographic region.

I’m talking about the issue of “zero rating”: the practice being followed by mobile carriers around the world to provide Web access “for free” to their users to certain chosen services.

But all other OECD countries have some flavor of zero rating in place.

I've never heard of a UK or European carrier implementing "zero rating" services, so I'm not sure how far around the world this occurs and the only concrete examples given are in the US.

I'm with a dinky little PAYG plan in Austria at the moment, and I just pay EUR3.95 for 1GB as I need it, which I never seem to use very fast because the majority of the time I'm connected via WiFi. Even when I was moving house in the UK and tethered my phone, I think I only used about 6GB in the course of a month. Of course I was slightly careful with video streaming and other data heavy activities, but I didn't really restrict my Internet use.

Anyway, my point is, "zero rating" even if it did occur would have very little relevance when data is so cheap anyway. It seems to me that the root of the problem is overpriced data, and not the "zero rating" of some services.

Edit: As for voice and text. I use Telegram for all my heavy "texting" and a SIP provider for all calls. I think my total monthly mobile telephony bill is only about EUR10 with the Austrian PAYG plan and another $10 with the SIP provider.

I used to have massive mobile phone bills, sometimes in excess of £100 per month (average around £70), when I lived in the UK and traveled around Europe a lot. This was all down to charges while abroad, and apart from not accept incoming calls, there wasn't a lot I could do about it if I wanted to continue operating my business.

> I've never heard of a UK or European carrier implementing "zero rating" services, so I'm now sure how far around the world this occurs and the only concrete examples given are in the US.

Historically it has happened in the UK. For example, "daily passes" of data coming with unlimited Facebook (on O2 PayG I believe) and some streaming music all over the place (Orange pre-EE, Virgin, et al).

I don't see anyone doing it currently as frankly data prices have become so inexpensive that it isn't as interesting of an offering. The UK is largely about price wars right now, who can offer the cheapest service. The gimmicks have mostly fallen by the wayside.

I'm talking back when 150 MB was a "lot" of data and 1 GB was over £35/month with a 12 month contract).

> It seems to me that the root of the problem is overpriced data, and not the "zero rating" of some services.

Zero rating facilitates overpriced data, which in turn incentivizes users to stay within the discount/zero web. Without zero rating, a broad consumer base will demand reasonable data rates, encouraging carriers to compete.

If this is the case, and as @Someone1234 recalls the UK used to have zero rating services (I honestly don't remember them), what changed in that landscape to bring data prices to significantly lower points? Surely not just competition on its own. The US mobile market isn't a monopoly (although I stand to be corrected if this is spoken in ignorance).

My O2 and Vodafone contracts used to have a special number I could send to, to Tweet for free (I'm not on them now, so I don't know if they still do).

I'm paying $50/month in the states on T-Mobile for unlimited text/voice and 2.5GB of data, no tethering permitted.

EDIT: Yes, I still tether, I stated it for completeness. You can get around the tethering nag by using SSL or VPN when tethered.

There's a tethering nag? I'm not paying for tethering either, but I'm still able to do it without T-Mobile yelling at me (as I've had to do several times due to network issues with my ISP).

I never saw it until I used over 1GB in a day (out of my total 5 per month).

Is that a grandfathered plan? They don't seem to offer that right now.

Plus most current plans come with SOME tethering (even the unlimited plans have limited tethering now).

Tethering is included in your rate plan if you have a Simple Choice plan. I pay the same amount per month and tethering is included in my rate plan.

FWIW, T-Mobile's tethering ban is fairly easy to circumvent.

Just change your browser agent (or at least that worked til Sept 2014)

Can I ask what network and what plan you're on?

I am clearly on a vastly inferior one with t-mobile and should switch.

three

17 quid a month on contract or payg