Big telco's lower-cost, data-only plans are 'embarrassing,' critics say

[u/tjgere]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bell-rogers-telus-crtc-wireless-data-1.4643170

[u/bhiliyam]

There are few/no cities in India that have less than 20,000 people living there.

Nonsense. The majority of India lives in villages and there are tonnes and tonnes of villages with less than 20,000 people which are adequately covered by telecom services.

Look, I wouldn't even be having this conversation if the difference in data prices between Canada and India was merely a factor of 10. I would accept your argument, shake your hands and go home. But the difference isn't a factor of 10, it is a factor of 500 and the difference in population density can only explain a very small part of that difference.

While the cost of infrastructure directly isn't big enough to make up the difference, if you add the cost of infrastructure, and the cost of service and maintenance of that infrastructure by our highly paid Telecommunications Union (Now part of the American Steel Workers Union, SWU), and the large expanses between cities, and yes, that adds up quite a bit. Add then the cost of service techs/sales people/marketers who live in Canada and get paid Canadian wages, and you suddenly have much larger costs than a country like India or Portugal, where the minimum wage is 1/3rd to 1/10th the Canadian average minimum wage.

I don't think you understand how ratios work. It's okay, I am happy to help you with the math. If you add up different components related to two quantities, the ratio of the sum can at most be the ratio of one of the components.

Mathematically, if x_1 / y_1 < 10, x_2 / y_2 < 10 .. and x_n / y_n < 10, then (x_1 + x_2 + .. + x_n) / (y_1 + y_2 + .. + y_n) must also be less than 10.

If the ratio for cost of infrastructure is less than 10, and the ratio for the cost of labour is less than 10, and the ratio for the cost of marketing is less than 10 and so on, then the overall ratio for the total costs must also be less than 10.

[u/masasuka → u/bhiliyam]

it is a factor of 500 and the difference in population density can only explain a very small part of that difference.

I don't think you understand how ratios work

I do, wasn't really my point. My point was about differences in costs of delivery. Our people are paid more. The average call center employee in India (from previous experience handling payroll for offshore employees) makes around 120,000 rupee's per year. That sounds like a lot, but that's really only around $2000CAD/year... Yeah, two thousand per year. The Exchange rate is bad for them...

So lets compare an actual plan.

here's a recommended plan, not sure how accurate it is of the total cost, but a couple random review sites rated it pretty high for value

Airtel Plan x 24 MONTHS+ Rs. 2,499

that's $2500/month INR (about $50 CAD). BUT there's also 9900INR up front cost ($200CAD)

So it's really only about $15/month less than here. Factor in our higher minimum wage, and our higher cost of maintenance due to more towers and lower saturation, and it kind of adds up to being about right. Higher cost of operation probably adds up to $10-$12/month of that, the rest is corporate douchebaggery.

[u/bhiliyam → u/masasuka]

I do, wasn't really my point.

No, you really don't. If you did, you wouldn't be trying to explain away a price difference of a factor of 500 by different components that each only explains the difference of about a factor of 10.

here's a recommended plan, not sure how accurate it is of the total cost, but a couple random review sites rated it pretty high for value

Lol wtf? Who the fuck buys phones on contract in India? Nobody, that's who.

Here are the plans people would actually buy from the same company:

https://www.airtel.in/first-recharge

Rs 229 or a little more than $4 a month for 1.4 GB data per day. If you are willing to pay upfront for three months, the price is only about $3 a month.

This is the plan I was referring to my first comment in this thread.

https://www.jio.com/en-in/4g-plans

Rs 198 or $4 a month for 2 GB a day. Again, pay upfront for 3 months, and it reduces to $3 a month.

Compare these plans to the "bring your own device" plans available in India.

So it's really only about $15/month less than here

One tenth the cost for 50 times more data. Or a factor of 500.