One thing that struck me the other day was the exorbitant cost of mobile phone usage and other services, and perhaps phone use in general. With electronic technology improving all the time, should not the cost of meeting the required capacity for all of these services keep reducing all the time? However, it seems that the only improvements are in the profit margins of the telecommunications companies.

My costs (here in Japan) have been going down.. the price of the actual phones are going up, reflecting a different strategy from the cell phone service providers.

Cell phone cost usage seems to be going up or remaining the same.
Satellite phone service and equipment has come down a lot.
Where phones would cost 2-5000 dollars they are now under $700.
Where you might pay 3-4 dollars per minute to talk, it is down to 99 cents.

one things fo rsure, sat phones cost over 500 a month, just to have one.

Perhaps its all the ridiculous services that cell phones provide..its hard to find a phone that's just a phone anymore...

I have Cricket. ( a local calls only cell phone)

It started out as $25 a month 6 or 7 years ago, but now it's $40. The quality has gone up as more towers have been constructed, I guess.

Me too! Me too! Its simple and calls are unlimited...nothing fancy but its a phone...not a telecommunications center for god's sake....

Just as it is difficult to find a web forum that is just a web forum anymore!

I like my phone being more than a phone. I can check into domestic flights with it, pay my bills with it, pay for stuff at most convenient stores and some other places.. it reads bar codes, etc.. thats beyond the stuff that has been normal for a while (movies, internet, photos, etc).

When it'll clean my house for me, then I'll be impressed.