my mobile telephone bill....

[Dan B]

Ha ha - that's funny! I wonder if it was a case of trying to differentiate different models by not enabling the radio circuitry in them and then the word got out, embarrassing them into enabling it later OR ... had they just not got round to it when the other models were first released?

Hanlon's Razor probably applies. When you deisgn the handset by stictching together a bunch of off-the-shelf chips you probably find there are hardware features you would get "for free" - like an FM radio - that you don't regard as worth the effort of writing code for and supporting for your customers, so you just don't turn them on. Some Qualcom SoCs even have FM *transmit* capabilities in hardware that no customer except the gnarliest will ever be able to use

 

[Dan B]

P.S £5 + VAT, my monthly bill - 100 mins, 100 texts, 3GB internet. Came out of a £15 18 month T-mobile contract two years ago, called them, pointed out that I'd be better off on prepay, so they gave me a £10/month "loyalty discount".

 

[Andrew_P]

As a side note - More connect phones than humans! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17047406

 

[srw]

My phone cost a tenner a year or so ago. I loaded it with a tenner's worth of credit, which I'm still using up - at 8p a minute and 8p a text. The most expensive thing about the phone was the postage.

 

[Bromptonaut]

Result. The future's bright texted me with a 'best plan' offer at £15.50 instead of £20 ish on my legacy tarif where I paid for txts. After 20 frustrating minutes with a script jockey in Bangalore I was transferred to a Scots guy in the UK. Now paying £6.40 for 150minutes and 200txts.