I moved from Australia to Cambodia to Germany over the last couple of years. Australia does its best to cover vast areas of bush, driving costs up. Cambodia doesn't bother outside the major cities, where mobile data is good and ridiculously cheap. Germany feels more "normal" - you can get access most places, but it's not cheap.
But as you point out, the difference in actual cost is not as huge. In Cambodia it was $1USD per week for 80Gb of data, because of the insane deals all the providers were doing. But a decent middle-class wage for a Cambodian is around $500/month (so roughly 1% average salary). In Australia the average wage is around $4000USD/month, but data costs you somewhere around $30/month for a monthly plan (roughly the same 1% of salary, but for a lot less data). Not sure what the average salary for Germany is, but I'm paying $12USD (approx) per month for an 8Gb plan. It feels about 1% of average salary considering all the other costs.
The Cambodian plan can serve as your mobile and home connection, while in Aus, you’ll likely need a home connection too, so your costs are at least double.
Comments
I moved from Australia to Cambodia to Germany over the last couple of years. Australia does its best to cover vast areas of bush, driving costs up. Cambodia doesn't bother outside the major cities, where mobile data is good and ridiculously cheap. Germany feels more "normal" - you can get access most places, but it's not cheap.
But as you point out, the difference in actual cost is not as huge. In Cambodia it was $1USD per week for 80Gb of data, because of the insane deals all the providers were doing. But a decent middle-class wage for a Cambodian is around $500/month (so roughly 1% average salary). In Australia the average wage is around $4000USD/month, but data costs you somewhere around $30/month for a monthly plan (roughly the same 1% of salary, but for a lot less data). Not sure what the average salary for Germany is, but I'm paying $12USD (approx) per month for an 8Gb plan. It feels about 1% of average salary considering all the other costs.
The Cambodian plan can serve as your mobile and home connection, while in Aus, you’ll likely need a home connection too, so your costs are at least double.