Cell Phones in Israel

[robi]

I wish a large American carrier would do this.

I believe simple mobile does it for 45$

[Judah]

Interesting btw, about saying a US carrier should do this. A few years back when either Verizon or Sprint came out with 'Unlimited Everything Plan' I read experts predicting the change in the US mobile market because the plans will be simple to compare from each carrier and competition will get fierce (where consumer usually wins.) However, I think what prevented it from really changing is that everyone is willing to sign up for a 2 year contracts to get new phones. So they are stuck in contracts and that slows any competition of jumping to carrier with better priced plan.

In Israel they made contracts and locked phones completely illegal. This was needed to force the carriers to be competitive (with all the other regulations etc). So with the scenario like it is, this could really change the Israeli mobile market.

[YudiG]

Interesting btw, about saying a US carrier should do this. A few years back when either Verizon or Sprint came out with 'Unlimited Everything Plan' I read experts predicting the change in the US mobile market because the plans will be simple to compare from each carrier and competition will get fierce (where consumer usually wins.) However, I think what prevented it from really changing is that everyone is willing to sign up for a 2 year contracts to get new phones. So they are stuck in contracts and that slows any competition of jumping to carrier with better priced plan.

In Israel they made contracts and locked phones completely illegal. This was needed to force the carriers to be competitive (with all the other regulations etc). So with the scenario like it is, this could really change the Israeli mobile market.

+1

[AsherO]

For NIS 99/Month (aprox $25/month):

Not much of a margin there, sounds a bit too low, especially with the unl. offering (which tends to specifically attract the heaviest users).

They use Cellcom's Towers as they are in the process of putting up their own (No roaming charges)

It's going to cost them many $100Ms to roll out a network like Israel's big three, hard to recover those costs when your annual revenue per user is $300...

In Israel they made contracts and locked phones completely illegal. This was needed to force the carriers to be competitive (with all the other regulations etc). So with the scenario like it is, this could really change the Israeli mobile market.

Regulatory agencies in Israel actually protect consumer interests. Here in America they're all in bed with the mega-corporations.

[Judah]

Not much of a margin there, sounds a bit too low, especially with the unl. offering (which tends to specifically attract the heaviest users).

Regulatory agencies in Israel actually protect consumer interests. Here in America they're all in bed with the mega-corporations.

I don't know exactly the costs incurred to the carrier to quantify their profit projections or opine on their business plan, but the Jpost article mentioned that this already was done in France and is being backed by big investor from there. Also, it should be noted that the unlimited international is to land line only except to US and Canada which is unlimited to mobile numbers as well. I think this is because other countries have mobile connect fees while US and Canada do not.

PS sorry for not OP'ing in the right place, the other topic looked little stale

[Yossi.]

Nice information

+1

[cozmohoot]

+1

wasnt that posted 2 pages ago?

[Judah]

wasnt that posted 2 pages ago?

PS sorry for not OP'ing in the right place, the other topic looked little stale

[cozmohoot]

its all good. these threads were merged

[real-brisker]

Sounds to good to be true. Anyone signed up yet?

[Flying Fish]

Since the flow of the thread was completely ruined by the awkward merge, i am repeating my (and another poster's) question:

Has anyone successfully signed up for HOT Mobile or Golan Telecom without a teudat zehut?

[AsherO]

I don't know exactly the costs incurred to the carrier to quantify their profit projections or opine on their business plan, but the Jpost article mentioned that this already was done in France and is being backed by big investor from there. Also, it should be noted that the unlimited international is to land line only except to US and Canada which is unlimited to mobile numbers as well. I think this is because other countries have mobile connect fees while US and Canada do not.

I'm just doing rough math and ignoring all other costs besides the cost of building out a network (I'm also ignoring other potential revenue streams), and on the back of a napkin it doesn't look good.

[Judah]

I'm just doing rough math and ignoring all other costs besides the cost of building out a network (I'm also ignoring other potential revenue streams), and on the back of a napkin it doesn't look good.

Well I guess the only way to know is to have the info.
I will point out about the 'building of a network' you mentioned, Golan seems to be slowly building their own towers and renting from Cellcom in the meantime for non-covered locations. So their plan seems to be to get there step by step, which is something that makes me optimistic with big ideas like these and probably reflects a business plan that was proven in France. However, renting from cellcom and not passing roaming charges on to the customer could mean a plan to take loss in the short-term. The other thing to realize is that if that the towers they do own (and more as they keep building) could already be bringing in revenue from rentals from other carriers, especially since there are a few others that just broke into the market.

[Judah]

Since the flow of the thread was completely ruined by the awkward merge, i am repeating my (and another poster's) question:

Has anyone successfully signed up for HOT Mobile or Golan Telecom without a teudat zehut?

Sounds to good to be true. Anyone signed up yet?

My brother is in the process of signing up with Golan. I will try to keep you posted.

[AsherO]

Well I guess the only way to know is to have the info.

I never professed to have the knowledge, I'm just talking hypothetically, and you haven't refuted any of my logic.

I will point out about the 'building of a network' you mentioned, Golan seems to be slowly building their own towers and renting from Cellcom in the meantime for non-covered locations. So their plan seems to be to get there step by step, which is something that makes me optimistic with big ideas like these and probably reflects a business plan that was proven in France. However, renting from cellcom and not passing roaming charges on to the customer could mean a plan to take loss in the short-term. The other thing to realize is that if that the towers they do own (and more as they keep building) could already be bringing in revenue from rentals from other carriers, especially since there are a few others that just broke into the market.

If roaming costs are of any significance (and I'm under the impression they won't be so low in this case), they'll be paying more to subsidize their userbase (who'll initially be roaming 100% of the time) than they'll ever make collecting roaming charges from those who roam on their network once it's built out (sine that number will in-all-likelyhood be lower, as they won't have as many unl. subscribers roaming exclusively on their network).

[YudiG]

any updates...which is the best new unlimited plan for one who wants a blackberry?

what about for one who wants to get a sim and put it into a android phone unlocked from usa?

TIA

[Jtown]

A hot rep I called claimed they do have BIS. They are in the taachna mercazit until 22:00. DO anyone?

Hot don't support BIS ,

[Jtown]

The national number-porting system is down. Officially it won't be up again until Sunday.

Hot people say they have 100,000 new customers in the past few days, though the news had entirely different numbers.

They do not currently have BIS, but hope to get it in a week or two.

One manager told me a passport is OK, another refused. The lenient one later subdued herself to that guy who refused, however this might indicate it being his personal policy.

Online orders will ship in one month.

PlatinumGuy

I'm assure you that thy don't have 100000 new customers , not even 10000

[Jtown]

About Golan:

i sign up to Golan , take the sim to arrive for 16 days after i sign up.
for me it's works perfect , but a lot of complaines on the FB page , i assume thy have a lot of issues on the beginning , but thy will fix it later.
https://www.facebook.com/GolanTelecom


Cellcom is offering interesting package :

199 unlimited everything , include calls worldwide true 013 NETVISION and text and web unlimited
Bis package for extra 5 Shekel

or 3 lines with the same package for 399

if you on cellcom on this package and you travel often to israel , just forward your call's to your american phone while you in the state and continue getting calls from Israel

very good for boucherim

[L'Chaim]

Orange:

125 Shekel unlimited calls and texts
39 Shekel extra for Blackberry Service