Ex Dame Pansi wrote on Oct 30
th, 2010 at 6:10am:
<<electricity prices in America are two times lower on average than in Australia. >>
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That's good. So, in comparison to electricity, how does your telecommunications costs rate? It seems we are paying more to communicate than we are to power our homes.
I am unfamiliar with telecom in Australia beyond very basic information (Telstra dominant provider, broadband penetration is poor), but I can give you my direct costs if that helps. If you have a rundown of your costs that might be interesting.
For my home, I have a so-called "triple play" (television, internet service, and telephone service) through the cable company, Comcast. Comcast is the largest cable company in the United States.
My television service includes three cable boxes, all of which support HDTV (costs extra with most cable providers here) and one which is a DVR box. I have every channel you can get except the Playboy channel (costs $20/month by itself).
For telephone service I have two phone lines with caller ID and call waiting. Calls anywhere within the USA and Canada are included in the plan and do not incur per minute charges. International rates vary but are typically around eight cents per minute to other highly industrialized countries.
My internet service is 25mbps downstream and 5mbps upstream.
As for cellphone service, I use AT&T which is our Telstra (but has a more complicated corporate history). I pay $100 a month for unlimited voice and data (I own a smartphone).