I was shocked too when I came to the US for a few months.
In Germany, I just pay 9 cents per SMS/Minute and 10 Euros for a Gigabyte of data (per month).
In the US, I had to pay about 50 USD per Month on T-Mobile. It would have been more if I actually told them I had a smartphone ("Nah, I've got an old Nokia, I just want to be able to get eMails").
I used the "T-Mobile Even More Plus™ 500 Talk with FlexPay®" and added the featurephone internet "service"... I could only get edge anyway because of t-mobile's weird UMTS frequencies in the USA. I just had to set the proper APN and it worked (only edge, but that's just because I had a European GSM phone)
p.s. I used google voice for texting, no need for stupid text message plans
What plan is that? I'm on tmobile and just upgraded to a Nexus S and all the unlimited internet plans seem to hit 70/mo or above. $30 for unlimited internet, plus $39 minimum for the rest. Would love to grab your plan if possible.
In Germany, I just pay 9 cents per SMS/Minute and 10 Euros for a Gigabyte of data (per month).
In the US, I had to pay about 50 USD per Month on T-Mobile. It would have been more if I actually told them I had a smartphone ("Nah, I've got an old Nokia, I just want to be able to get eMails").