It has become apparent, recently, that Europeans must, more than ever, be intelligent about the phone company they choose before purchasing a new mobile phone. This became apparent to me recently when I purchased an internet connection package from my phone company, and, in light of the problems I came across, I have become more aware of what my phone company is charging me for my mobile phone.

This is a situation which is happening all across Europe. It also happens worldwide too!

When you purchase a new mobile phone, are you aware of what you're paying for? Most of the time, its not the quality of the mobile phone you're paying for. Its the design of the phone. It looks sleek. It supposedly has great-looking graphics. And it has the ability to do incredible things, like internet surfing, video recording, etc. And so you reach into your pocket and leave the shop on cloud nine with your brand new phone.

Once you turn it on, you begin to see what you're getting into. At a closer inspection, the equipment is more tacky then sleek, graphics are not that great, and internet connection comes at a ridiculously high price. But that's not all. Your sleek-looking phone is of poor quality too!

To keep you delighted, mobile companies motivate third party service providers to provide you with wonderful little extras like hot music tones for your mobile phone, fashionable carrier pouches to protect your phone, and extra equipment to give more power to your mobile phone, like USB wires to connect your phone to your computer for digital photo processing, etc.

All of these bonuses are there to keep you from seeing just how expensive it is. But when your first month bill arrives, you sit down to count just how much you have spent on your mobile phone and you discover that you have paid a high price for owning the latest, sleekest mobile phone. Here is where it becomes clear that its not just your mobile phone company that is charging you for your mobile phone use.

The ringtone industry, for example, has emerged overnight and has grown into a billion-dollar market. As expected just as fast, scammers managed to find the means to tap into your line.

These third party companies charge you for ringtones, screen wallpapers, joke-of-the-day, you name it. If you're not careful, you'll loose track of all the charges, and they are charges you never authorized and services you don't want. The charges aren't exactly identified on your bill as to what they are or where they came from.

If a user does check his bill closely enough to catch the fake fee and calls her phone company to inquire about the extra charges, they will often be told that he "must" have subscribed to the service, that the charges are monthly and will go on indefinitely, and there's really no way to stop it. This has happened to millions worldwide.

But let's get back to the phone companies. The quality of the basic service. Lines are not always of a satisfactory quality. Why? Because phone companies are taking on more clients than their antennas can serve. As a result, your telephone conversations are commonly not audible unless you shout at the person you're speaking to. If you try to connect to the internet, you are frequently forced to wait a painfully long time for the page you're surfing to load to your screen.

Is this acceptable? No. Especially since your phone company has imprisoned you to a long-term contract, generally no less than 12 to 18 months.

Purchasing internet connection packages from your phone company, mobile or not, have proven to be just as second rate. Again, phone companies are taking on more clients than their antennas can serve. And again, you are stuck to a long-term contract.

If you buy into an internet connection package with a 3.6 mbps speed, you rarely ever reach such speeds. Commonly, you only reach half of that speed. But most clients are not aware of this, and are thus paying for a service which they are not getting.

More recently, other issues have come to light too. Phone companies are purchasing internet connection modems from manufacturers who are providing equipment of low quality. Mac users have been suffering more than others because these manufacturers are being very slow at updating their equipment to be compatible with their new operating system, Leopard 10.5. The same goes for their mobiles, which are also not ready for the technological advances seen on the internet in recent times. This has forced users to spend long draining hours on the internet searching for help in user forums, to make their gadgets compatible with the latest advances in internet browsers and operating systems.

How have phone companies countered these complaints? They added more free download to your packages. Most users have been appealed to this seemingly great opportunity. But the reality is, if you don't have adequate connection speeds, why in hell would you care about the amount of downloads you can do for free?

But then, you're dealt the final blow. If you run into trouble. you are forced to spend hours on the phone with inept technical assistants, and many phone companies have the audacity to charge you for the calls too!

So, prior to buying your next mobile gadget, look beyond its fashionable look. Do research the plan you're signing up for and how much will it all come to.

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