dbsynergy Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 So I just got back from a vacation in Iceland. In the capital city, Reykjavik, I stayed at a B&B where they provided WiFi via an LTE hotspot. I was thinking, that can't possibly be economical. I'm in a downtown apartment, there should be better options than this! So I looked into it. Nope. ADSL is the best you can do, and it's only 6mbps. I was pulling 50mbps off this hotspot and they were charging pennies per MB compared to what US companies charge. See for youself: https://www.nova.is/barinn/internet/4g The exchange rate is 120 ISK to 1 USD. That means their 100GB LTE plan costs about $50 USD. For $50 on Sprint, I only get 6GB, and a prepaid 3GB plan costs $60 on Verizon! Now I'm thinking, what the hell?! Why is LTE service so much cheaper in Iceland? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
utiz4321 Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 So I just got back from a vacation in Iceland. In the capital city, Reykjavik, I stayed at a B&B where they provided WiFi via an LTE hotspot. I was thinking, that can't possibly be economical. I'm in a downtown apartment, there should be better options than this! So I looked into it. Nope. ADSL is the best you can do, and it's only 6mbps. I was pulling 50mbps off this hotspot and they were charging pennies per MB compared to what US companies charge. See for youself: https://www.nova.is/barinn/internet/4g The exchange rate is 120 ISK to 1 USD. That means their 100GB LTE plan costs about $50 USD. For $50 on Sprint, I only get 6GB, and a prepaid 3GB plan costs $60 on Verizon! Now I'm thinking, what the hell?! Why is LTE service so much cheaper in Iceland? Iceland is a country of 600,000 or so If I remember correctly. The amount of spectrum per person is a lot more in Iceland than the US further since Iceland is such a small market they need to be in different markets beside smart phone and tabs to recover the fix cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lil_jimmy_norton Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 Iceland is about 40k Square Miles. US is almost 4 Million. Much cheaper to cover 40k square miles with a robust network than it is 4 Mil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z250kid Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 Simple because were USA over pay for everything lol 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bakedc4 Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 'Murica is all about finding ways to make the rich richer and the poor poorer so that the rich can continue to control everything. Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashed Ixnay Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 IMO, data is so expensive b/c they know that's where they can make their $$$. Not much competition hurts. Hopefully T-mobile and Sprint make Verizon/AT&T lower their prices or give you more data for what they want you to pay now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiWavelength Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 Now I'm thinking, what the hell?! Why is LTE service so much cheaper in Iceland? S4GRU does not host complaints. And if you complain once more You'll meet an army of Björk, an army of Björk AJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fraydog Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 Blame these guys. http://www.att.com http://www.verizonwireless.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbsynergy Posted October 25, 2013 Author Share Posted October 25, 2013 S4GRU does not host complaints. And if you complain once more You'll meet an army of Björk, an army of Björk AJ Oh no, not Björk! Speaking of... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiWavelength Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 Oh no, not Björk! Speaking of... Björk driving a massive truck and getting a dental exam from a gorilla is far more interesting... AJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickel Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 S4GRU does not host complaints. And if you complain once more You'll meet an army of Björk, an army of Björk AJ Would that mean he's borked? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Newhart Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 I was in Iceland this month also, an amazing place, stunning!! I was in the middle of nowhere, on one of those 4wd only roads in the southern part of the island, mountains all around, no buildings or towers to be seen, yet ..... full HSPA+ signal on Siminn. http://www.siminn.is/english/internet/coverage/ 300k people live there. I stayed in a farm house b&b, miles from anywhere, and of course, great internet connection. They use some kind or wireless, I could see a lot of directional antennas on the buildings there. Low ping times, good service. Loved it there, spendy. Quality of life is high for the people that live there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S4GRU Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 I was made in Iceland. Really. My Dad was stationed at Keflavik in 1975. I was almost born there too. But my Mom made a Winter escape and landed in Grand Rapids, Michigan in time for my birth. Wireless is cheap in Iceland because of me. You can send me thanks via a PayPal donation. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiWavelength Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 I was made in Iceland. Really. Where is your "Gerðar á Íslandi" tag? AJ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dave Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 I was made in Iceland. Really. My Dad was stationed at Keflavik in 1975. I was almost born there too. But my Mom made a Winter escape and landed in Grand Rapids, Michigan in time for my birth.Wireless is cheap in Iceland because of me. You can send me thanks via a PayPal donation. ;)Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro You must be the reason why Iceland went bankrupt, too. It can be mighty pricey to import enough fried chicken to satisfy your hunger even back then. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiWavelength Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 Would that mean he's borked? No. But in the 80s, we almost got Borked. AJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S4GRU Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 Where is your "Gerðar á Íslandi" tag? AJ You don't wanna know! You'd never be able to look at me again with a straight face. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiWavelength Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 You don't wanna know! You'd never be able to look at me again with a straight face. Is the tag inside your turtleneck? AJ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Newhart Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 Is the tag inside your turtleneck? AJ What?!?!??!?!?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbsynergy Posted October 25, 2013 Author Share Posted October 25, 2013 I was in the middle of nowhere, on one of those 4wd only roads in the southern part of the island, mountains all around, no buildings or towers to be seen, yet ..... full HSPA+ signal on Siminn. That's quite a coincidence. We might have crossed each other in Landmannalaugar or Þórsmörk then when I was doing the same thing. I had the same experience with Vodafone.is. HSPA+ everywhere, including the highlands. SIM card only cost 1000kr and came with 1000kr worth of minutes which made the card free. The NOVA LTE service only worked in the capital but when it worked, it was awesome. At first I felt bad that I used 3GB of their bandwidth backing up my pictures. After I looked up how much it cost, I didn't feel so bad. Makes me a little jealous that it's so cheap and fast. I did see a bunch of spools of fiber at the harbor with Ericsson logos on the spools. It looks like Siminn is getting ready for a big LTE deployment too. Wireless is cheap in Iceland because of me. You can send me thanks via a PayPal donation. I guess I don't have a choice. Because of you I had a great wireless experience during my vacation . I wish I could say the same during my road trip through Baja Mexico. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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