How expensive is it to stay connected?

I certainly enjoy being connected to the Internet and digital world, but as my bills poured in at the end of the month, I started wondering just how much this is costing me.

Here is a (very approximate) breakdown:

3G modem, 1 Gig , R350

3G modem, 2 Gig, R550

Cellphone contract, R500

Blackberry subscription, R150

Audible contract (for audio books) $25 / R200

Basecamp business account $25 / R200

Hosting (US) $10 / R80

.com domains $30 / R240

Hosting (SA) R 500 (this includes registrations of domain names)

Media subscriptions giving me access to online archives R 650

Not online per say, but still relevant: My PVR subscription (I watch CNN ☺) at R550

That adds up to just under R4,000 per month. And notice how little I spend on US hosting: if I were to host my content here, the bill would probably be closer to R1,000. And yet, I get a ton of stuff for free (plus bandwidth cost). My email is free, most of the software I use online is free (such as my blogging platform, WordPress), my LinkedIn profile is free, I host my photos online for free, I Skype (a lot) for free and my daughter plays with Barney online, for free.

(By the way: I thought my daughter’s school private school fees were somewhat exorbitant, yet now they seem somewhat of a bargain compared to how expensive it is to educate me! )

Certainly, not all those fees are strictly necessary, but I would find it difficult, if not impossible to give any of them up.

And of course, it must be said that these are more business expenses than anything else. I spend that money to generate more money, so I am certainly not complaining.
(I haven’t included the money I spend on outsourcing, which I do online, but consider to be a pure business expense than a “connectivity” expense).

And before you start lamenting about the high costs of connectivity in South Africa, let me say that this line of thought was inspired by an article I read a while ago in a US weekly (name and date escape me), where the writer commented that his family’s connectivity cost was about $500 per month. I am sure the prices have dropped since then, but there are more opportunities to spend money on online tools, so I suspect his bill hasn’t changed much.

Work out yours (if you dare).