The same price for the service with or without a phone is just a sign that the market doesn't work for some reason.
Before my (coincidentally, American) employer started paying my phone bills, I had a service from one of the local operators here. In my "smart" country the costs were as follows:
- monthly fee: 0,67€
- phone calls: 0,069€ / minute
- texting: 0,069€ / message
Admitting I indeed don't talk on the phone that much and I don't use data services, I rarely racked up more than 5-10 euros a month. I could get 512k-2M data plan for 10-30 euros a month. Still, any plan that comes bundled with a decent phone here is many times more expensive.
Before my (coincidentally, American) employer started paying my phone bills, I had a service from one of the local operators here. In my "smart" country the costs were as follows:
- monthly fee: 0,67€
- phone calls: 0,069€ / minute
- texting: 0,069€ / message
Admitting I indeed don't talk on the phone that much and I don't use data services, I rarely racked up more than 5-10 euros a month. I could get 512k-2M data plan for 10-30 euros a month. Still, any plan that comes bundled with a decent phone here is many times more expensive.