[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] E90 Commie:
You have a very good deal with AT&T in that case.

I paid approximately $86-100 per month with Verizon (450 minutes talk plus unlimited data including taxes and fees WITH a corporate discount).

One thing that made me absolutely crazy is the way those carriers handles minutes. You can buy plans for international calling, which is nice BUT those international minutes are deducted from your balance.

That results is "double the payment": you pay for the minutes in your contract first and then you pay again to use them internationally with an extra charge and they are still deducting from your allowance. A logical, ethical way is obviously to include XX domestic minutes and if you make international calls, those are paid by the minute according to the selected international plan. The only proper way is this: 450 domestic minutes (within the US) plus international minutes paid per minute (i.e if I call to a different country for 60 minutes I have my 450 domestic ones intact and pay per minute for those international). My Hi3G contract works like that.

All other contracts I had (including Straight Talk) works that way. I.e international minutes is separated from the domestic ones. Even more sick is obviously when the carrier begins to charge overage - in that case you are really paying two times: first $0.45 per minute PLUS international calling, i.e $0.45 + 0.20 (if that is the plan).

My impression of the US carriers is very simple: they try to charge for absolutely everything and offer less service for more money.

I would say that it is time for regulatory intervention here because this horrible situation makes cellular service and mobile phones to a "luxury" with the negative result that people are depending on landlines. It is also creating a completely idiotic "class system" because of the choice of getting a rubbish device with a prepaid carrier or if you want something decent, you have to pay out of your nose. The problem is simply the horrible pricing.

Normally, cellular service should be much cheaper than a landline. If you want a basic "talk" contract in Sweden for example, you pay like $5 per month and then $0.03 per minute (yes, 0.03 per minute). A landline will set you back with approximately $20 just for the line, if you want some calling plan above that or number presentation etc - the price accelerates even more.

The result is that landlines are losing market share and most people use the mobile phone instead.

Basic phones are not very common any more, even highend devices are affordable with the result that even iPhone or Galaxy S II can be found among buyers that (if they lived in the US) would be forced to buy an antiquated, outmoded device from MetroPCS or Cricket.

Another service that is missing in this country is something called "pott" - that means that you pay for example $10 per month and can use those for calling. I.e you can call for your monthly fee and if you call less, it can rollover (but that detail depends on the contract). You can also use it for paying services. That way, it is possible to pay $30 per month and if you want Internet, you can add a plan for say $10 that is deducted from the $30 which gives you $20 for calling.