Monday, July 14, 2008
The costs of communicative families
For a reality check on the cost of being highly communicative families, check out a column by Larry Magid, my co-director at ConnectSafely.org, in the San Jose Mercury News. It's so great that Apple lowered the cost of an iPhone by $200 (to $199), but then AT&T "raised the price of the data plan for the new iPhone by $10 a month, which more than wipes out the savings" from the hardware, Larry points out. And that's the point exactly: Look at the cost of service for all our household communication devices and technologies all told, and try not to choke. Just talking on the phone costs the highly communicative Magid family "$3,720 a year," not including "extras like international calls or when we go over our allotted cell phone minutes." Then there's Internet service, PC security services, cable TV, TiVo or Netflix, Xbox Live, etc., etc. Larry and I were just talking about what this must look like in other parts of the world - wondering if anybody has calculated how many families in third-world countries could be fed for the amount of money racked up by Net-literate, highly connected US families.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hey Anne -- All of these costs have been on my mind a lot lately too.
ReplyDeleteLarry neglected to mention the cost of wireless USB modems/PC Cards for anytime/anywhere laptop access. That's another $60/month!
In my household, we also use subscription download services for tv shows like Stephen Colbert and a few PBS Science/History shows from the ITunes store, since often the only time we have to watch them is when we're at the gym or on the move.
So not only are the costs hefty for basic service, but there's a trend here for paying for duplicative/redundant services: You pay for the cable service, you pay for the Tivo service, but you still have no time to watch the shows at home. So you need another service.
Same with Internet access. No longer is it sufficient to access at home, it needs to be always on, reliable and ubiquitous.
It sure would be nice if these communication services weren't so a la carte!
Hi Anne,
ReplyDeleteI did a little cost analysis last fall of my personal telecommunications and this is what I showed:
*****
Every time I visit with a telecommunications provider, I hear a sad litany of just how tough it is to make a profit in today's marketplace. I don't get it.
In 1988, this was, as I remember it, my telecommunications outlay:
* Basic telephone service including handset rental: $25 a month
* Long distance service, $10-20 a month
* One television and one radio (receiver built into a stereo amplifier) = $500 with a life span of 36 months = $15
Total about $55 a month.
In 2008, this is my telco outlay:
* Basic telephone service, no handset, $25 a month
* Long distance service, $10-20 a month
* Cell service for 3 lines, text messaging, data service: $120 a month
* Satellite TV, no movie or sports channels, $50 a month
* Home broadband Internet access, $50 a month
* Webhosting, two sites, $40 a month
* Various wireless charges at hotels, airports, etc. $30 a month
* Three televisions, three computers, printer, scanner, 2 cell phones, 1 cell phone/PDA, 5 telephone handsets (now portable with base stations), 2 iPods, GPS system, wireless home router, DVD player, VCR, stereo receiver/amp (No TiVo - yet.) All devices which need to be replaced now and then. Maybe around $9000 worth of electronics with an estimated life span of 36 months = $250
Total about $580 a month!
And telco providers aren't making money? I don't get it.
***
If interested, the original post is at:
http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2007/10/19/home-media-ecology.html
Seems like the digital divide may be growing rather than shrinking.
All the best,
Doug