It&#x27;s pretty ridiculous.<p>First of all, the Sales Tax is tacked on when you buy a phone, and in the case of subsidized phones it can be more than the advertised cost of the phone..<p>As far as monthly bills:<p>1) there are a number of legally mandated taxes that are added on.<p>2) There are legally required services (e.g. emergency phone calls, our equivalent of 999) that the phone company is required to provide, and the phone company won&#x27;t include the costs of these in the advertised price.<p>3) Whatever the hell else they want to add on as a fee.  My provider adds a $10&#x2F;mo. fee for a smartphone and another $10&#x2F;mo. fee if the phone is capable of 4g.  This means any smartphone that isn&#x27;t more tan 2 years old will be $20 more per month than advertised.<p>I end up paying about $180&#x2F;mo. for two lines with unlimited data where the advertised price is $99&#x2F;mo. for 1 line and $20 for each additional.<p>[edit] And if you&#x27;re curious, this does <i>not</i> include tethering, which would be an additional per-month fee were I to want it.