It’s probably not much of a surprise to hear that there are a lot of different reasons to have a cell phone around. In fact, mobile phones are a huge part of our lives these days no matter where we live – including around here in Norway. Thankfully, there are several different mobile service operators here; there are eighteen of them, in fact.
Choosing between them is where things can get rather troublesome. Part of the issue can come from a lack of understanding as far as pricing for these plans can go. If you’d like to learn more about how that works, as well as what these plans can actually entail, then you’ve come to the right place.
Now, if you’d like to get some background information on this, consider checking out this page: https://journals.oslomet.no/index.php/seminar/article/view/2474. Otherwise, just stick around and find out more about what these plans are, and the specifics involved in their pricing!
What are Mobile Service Plans?
As you can probably guess, we’re going to start out with the basics here: what are these plans, and why are they such a big deal? Ironically, the latter is probably the easiest thing for us to figure out on our own. Either way, though, this stuff can be surprisingly important to understand.
For now, let’s look at it this way: mobile phone plans are subscription-based services offered by telecommunications companies. They offer customers access to a mobile phone network – which is pretty important in today’s day and age of course. What might these plans include?
Most of the time, they include a certain number of minutes for voice calls, text messages, and data usage. That said, there are generally some “unlimited” options as well, if you’d rather not end up with a limit. We’ll cover those in further depth later on.
As far as the payment plans go, it’s pretty simple. Customers pay a monthly fee for the plan they select. Usually, there’s also an option to sign a contract for a specific duration – something like twelve to twenty-four months. You could also choose a prepaid plan where you pay in advance for a specified amount of usage.
Either way, in Norge, you have plenty of options available. As we mentioned, there are different plans that offer varying levels of services, such as unlimited calling and texting or limited data. They may also include bonus features like international calling or mobile hotspot capabilities – that’s something to inquire about with your provider.
How Does Pricing Work?
Now that we’ve discussed some of the basics as far as what these plans are and how they functionally operate, we can turn our attention to what the various options end up costing. There are a lot of metrics that this is based off of, of course.
Data Allowance
Perhaps the most important part of any plan is this: the data allowance. We hinted at this prior, but the biggest thing is that there are two types of data allowances: limited and unlimited. What’s the difference between them?
It’s not that hard to figure out, but we’ll explain anyhow. With limited data plans, there will only be a certain amount of data that you can use while not connected to a Wi-Fi network. It can range anywhere from two gigabytes of data to sixty-four gigabytes of data that can be streamed, downloaded, or otherwise accessed.
These are usually ideal for folks who know that they are going to be at home a lot, and thus will not really have use for data outside of the few trips they make each month. Unfortunately, even if you don’t end up using your entire allowance, the balance does not carry over to the next one (in most plans, at least).
Unlimited plans, on the other hand, are essentially the polar opposite. When you have them, you get to use as many gigabytes of data as you want to in the month period. The major downside is that these plans tend to be much more expensive.
With that in mind, if you have a large family who are all sharing one data allowance, or you’re someone who travels all the time and does not want to connect to public Wi-Fi services, then it may be best to get an unlimited plan. Either way, hopefully you have a sense which could be better for you.
Voice and Texting
The other biggest part of mobile plans is their voice and text options. Again, they tend to come in those two different formats: limited and unlimited. It works in a very similar fashion, so we won’t delve into those specifics too much. Rather, let’s delve into what “voice and text” even means in this context.
Anyone who had a cell phone in the 2000s is probably quite familiar with this, but nowadays, it feels like unlimited “talk and text” is pretty standard in most mobile plan offerings. Essentially, your allowance will determine how many texts you can send each month as well as how many phone call minutes you get.
Thankfully, the cost difference isn’t nearly as big now as it used to be. Hopefully, this won’t be too much of a stressful aspect of your pricing journey.
Additional Features
We briefly touched on “bonus features” earlier, and now, we can take a proper look at them. Usually, these are things like international calling and mobile hotspot creation. They’re just as straightforward as they sound but may come with a hefty price tag depending on your operator.
International calling means that you will be given a certain number of voice minutes each month that won’t cost you extra even if you are calling someone from another country. Bear in mind that these tend to be very expensive outside of that, so this feature could be worth it for you if you make a lot of international calls.
Meanwhile mobile hotspots allow you to create your own sort of “mini Wi-Fi” spot wherever you are, so you don’t have to connect to public ones. Both features could be worth it for you if you think you’ll use them!
