$500 A MONTH AND IT’S ALL GONE TO BILLS/RENT. MAYBE SOME FOOD AFTER THAT. THAT’S HOW. #Underprivileged #DisabilityPaymentsAreBULLSHIT
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That wasn’t the question.
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I make $200 after taxes (U.S, KY). How do you think I will be able to feed myself, pay bills and buy a phone + pay its bill? Your life is more blessed than others, doesn’t mean it isn’t correct to say having a phone is a privilege of the more fortunate.
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According to the site they charge a service fee to have a customer service staff.
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Have you looked into this sort of thing?
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The point I think @SeekerSupreme is trying to make is unless you live somewhere where you can get free Google Fiber internets. The cost of a computer + internet is identical if not more than a Cell phone + Plan that can give you SMS capability. I used to live in a-bump-in-the-road USA. Internet isn’t cheap there.
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I’m a bit confused since there are a lot of brands like Xiaomi, Doppo, Realme, and even Samsung with its A-series, made acquiring a phone possibly
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???
When you don’t make a lot of money in the first place, how can you justify spending money on a phone, “cheap” or not, let alone its expensive services? Unless you get lucky and get on a governmental service place (ranging from $10-20 a month) or there’s a cheap ass, garbage service near by, its just not feasible for less fortunate people to get a phone (and they often settle with land line phones for this reason). That money can be two days worth of meals, for example. I certainly would not have a phone or its service right now had it not been for my government deciding I’m poor enough to constitute a $20 phone and a 200hrs of free minutes a month.
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Cell service is rather expensive and limited in functionality where I am, middle of nowhere, plus internet costs an arm and leg, without competition.
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@Rhyagelle Don’t you considered people who afford to spend money and time on games vastly more “privileged”, then people who procure a phone as a basic means of existing on and progressing through the labor market? Like entitled vs struggling more privileged.
My life isn’t blessed (by anyone or anything). I live in eastern Europe, so if I were to subscribe to such Marxist horseshit as misappropriating and abusing the notion of privilege, it would have surely been very “unfortunate”.
As Pylinaer pointed out, the question was about accessibility and total costs of owning a phone (with a service of calling/texting) vs the same for a computer with broadband internet access and paid games.
I do not want to go into anyone’s personal situation, it’s irrelevant to the question.
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What? Look, I don’t think you quite understand. We’re not talking about people who have the funds to procure a phone but instead “waste it” elsewhere. That is something else entirely. We’re talking about people who cannot afford it, for any reason. There are people who get disability checks for $300 and spend a measly $10 after food and bills on themselves, maybe some new socks or a shirt. I wouldn’t call that “entitled”, but a better use of limited funds not only for life but for personal mental health.
Saving a few dollars a month to get themselves a computer (a one time purchase, mind you), for your example, is not the same as having continuous money per month to pay for a phone and its services. It is frankly a bit ridiculous to compare the two. If someone has $300 every two weeks, and puts aside $5 every month for a computer and they actually obtain that computer months later, it doesn’t mean they can afford a phone + services simply because they had somehow gotten an expensive object (in this case, a PC) once before.
That’s also not taking into account the cost differences between internet and phone plans. It could be far more reasonable to pay for internet instead of a phone+services for a lot of people. I get internet bundled with land line for $150 a month (we got people using the internet for work here). I’m not using my money in some entitled way because I’m not using it to buy a phone instead, I’m simply using my money in a more fitting way since there’s always less of it. The average internet cost in the U.S is about $50 on promotion, around $60-75 afterwards (and that gets you poopy internet). If you’re poorer than salted earth, how does one propose they pay for internet and phone services? At this point, the option is to pick. But why would they pick something like a mobile phone + its additional monthly costs of service over something—for example—like a computer and internet? Which would you prefer to have? Phone, or computer+internet? I can tell you now, I certainly wouldn’t prefer to spend around $100 a month on phone services (after phone purchase) over internet+tv+land line bundled together at one cost, and neither would my neighbors.
If phones and phone services were more readily available, and competed against regularly so as to reduce cost, it would be more likely poorer folk could justify paying for it with the little money they have. But it largely isn’t, and it probably never will be.
Lastly, a person struggling to get a phone and its services isn’t going around buying computers, video games or stuff like that. That is just unbelievably wrong. I myself might award myself once a year, or if I’m really lucky twice, with a video game, but a majority of what I own I received as a gift. So no…people in the situation I mentioned are not misusing funds on non-essentials like that.
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It’s getting uncomfortable in here. I’m just going to say that pennies on the dollar for games isn’t equal to a cell phone bill and that “RIC” is a discount code that discounts more than the xcomthanksgiving code for the site.
Happy Thanksgiving all.
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In the context of this thread - yes, we are.
In the context of this thread - no, we’re not.
Yes, it is. Why would you make such a ridiculous comparison?
A phone.
Because they’re incapable of using a computer as a tool for obtaining suitable income.
That’s what I was interested in.
Now, either those numbers you’ve given are misrepresenting (via cherry picking) the US market, or my internet is lying.
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No. Amyrakunejo and I brought up the discussion, so I can assure you that was not the context of the discussion we were having. Though you certainly jumped in and injected the conversation with a question of a subject that was not being discussed (about the accessibility of a phone versus computer/internet), that certainly was not the discussion at hand. And now it is clear why you did not understand.
Okay…then again that you was a plural you, but okay, I certainly would like us talk again when you have had neither and went without a computer + internet for years at a time, especially if it is the source of your income. The truth is, if you don’t have the money for a phone, you have no need for a phone beyond what is imposed on you (SMS etc), but yea, poor people should be buying phones instead of internet–which has been concluded as a necessity to livelihoods now.
So let me get this straight…you think in a situation where they are struggling to have an income in the first place or struggling to find money left from a check for additional things—and they cannot use the internet for this purpose (and despite it being considerably cheaper than cell services)—it would be wise for these people (people like me and Amyrakunejo) to spend what little they have on a phone which is considerably more expensive?
Yes…because I would lie to you apparently? You may just need to google it a bit more.
We (my family and I) get our internet bundled with phone from Spectrum for $49.99 and choose to pay an additional $10 for faster internet speed (cause, again, work). Xfinity has an option for $24. Internet is considerably cheaper than the average phone plan, especially when tacked with phone prices. The average person within the U.S pays the lowest of $70-75 on their phone bills, and that’s with limited data, minutes and access. The next common bill is around $120.
My sister, who is trying to build up her credit, is currently paying off a phone + service from T-Mobile. The phone requires $70 a month. The service is also $70. My mother pays $65 for the phone due to a trade in (gifted by our grandparents), but the service is $70 (which sadly, she needs, as the company will not allow her to use landline). Reminder…our internet is under $80 every month. 
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More cherry picking and continued arguments based on false pretence.
I’m done.
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Okay, good bye.
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I have been gone almost all day…Car shopping…
I am closing this…because it’s a grey area key reseller…Sorry about this. I should have closed it yesterday. Just got distracted.
Bad OP…Bad OP. 
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