Study: Cell service costs more in US

Six consumer-oriented organizations answered a forceful "yes" in a July federal filing with the Federal Communications Commission. Backing their assertions is an international study concluding Americans pay the world's highest cell phone rates. And a U.S. senator is examining whether text messaging is priced out of line.
U.S. residents pay the world's highest rate — about $53.30 per month — for a "medium-use package" including 780 minutes of outgoing voice calls, 600 text messages and eight multi-media messages per year, says an August report by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In contrast, Finns, Swedes and the Dutch pay $11 to $12 per month for the same plan, according to the report, which covers 26 countries.
Americans also pay the most — about $22.50 a month — for what the group termed a "low-use package" including 360 minutes of outgoing voice calls, 396 text messages and eight multimedia messages per year. That compares with $4.16 a month in the least expensive country, Denmark, with Finland, Sweden and Norway just slightly more expensive.
But the OECD's data is misleading, said the Cellular Telephone Industry Association, the official voice of the cellular-service companies.

Via MSN
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US Carrier price changes on handsets

As is typical for the post-holiday season, U.S. carriers, including T-Mobile, Alltel, Boost Mobile and Cingular Wireless are reconfiguring their pricing strategies for handsets. T-Mobile reduced its Samsung t609 from $50 to "free" and the carrier-branded Sidekick 3 from $250 to $200. It also raised the prices of the t619 from "free" to $40, the t629 from $100 to $450 and the Motorola V195 from $20 to $30. The T-Mobile Dash also crept up to $200 from $150.

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