I was going to post about this a few hours ago, but was in a hurry and knew my post would be long
Anyway, the reason I am inclined to believe W&C is because I've heard stuff like this before. Plus I remember all the exchange students we met from the UK were amazed at the high speed connections in Canada. At the time, the UK didn't have any such thing as affordable 24/7 DSL service.
I am in Pakistan and paying $50 a month for unlimited 256k DSL connection, which is crap. I have friends across the world who have it better, but not a whole lot.
The reason why this internet situation is surprising, is because the United States and Canada are the worst when it comes to telecommunications standards among developed countries.
While it is a huge shock to you guys regarding the state of high speed connections across the world, it is a similar shock for those who come to the US of A or Canada when it comes to cellular connections.
Not counting Motorola or Apple, mobile phones normally take 12-24 months to hit North America after they've debuted the world over... including many third world countries.
The mobile phone monthly packages are a real shell shock for foreigners in North America. In most countries you can find at least 5 highly competitive mobile companies, all falling over themselves to try and get YOU to use their SIM card. These packages are nearly free of any purchasing charge and
don't involving a stupid contract. If you are lucky, some of these packages will come with free phones, often valued at $200 or more.
In North America, most decent packages cost $40-$50 a month, with the better ones including free weekends and evenings. Of course many of these have you sign a stupid contract, and involve rebates designed to screw you over. Last I remember, Canada had maybe three mobile company options, and they all sucked...including Fido. The phones they had were prehistoric and garbage, and cost far more than their worth.
In fact in Canada you are charged even when receiving a call! I remember when Xessive came to Canada, and was looking to buy a cell phone, he was absolutely shocked. He said,"Man what the hell is this air time crap? Why am I getting charged for people calling ME?"
In much of the rest of the world, using a cell phone is
cheaper than using a land line. Hell, from Pakistan I can call Canada, USA and most of Europe and will be charged LESS than a local call, I kid you not.
If I run out of credit, my SIM doesn't just turn off. In fact, even without credit I could receive calls for the next ten years. I don't get charged if someone calls me, and my rates are cheap regardless of what time of day it is.
One thing is for sure... I'd rather have superfast internet than filthy cheap cellular services.
