If you've been paying attention to mobile carriers' SMS pricing lately (and something tells us you haven't) you'd be surprised to discover a fairly disturbing trend amongst providers: price hikes. Over the past year or so, nearly every major carrier in the US has raised their per-price cost of SMS messages, with
Verizon and
Sprint jacking up the fee from $0.15 to $0.20 a message, and AT&T and T-Mobile adding another nickel to their $0.10 charge. Of course, this trend of rising prices accompanies a major spike in the use of text messages amongst customers, with some surveys marking a 130-percent jump over SMS use since June 2006 -- and telcos are taking it to the bank. What's most insidious about the inflated costs is the fact that SMS data is particularly low-bandwidth, and analysts say that the price increases aren't related to higher operating costs -- these companies are simply gouging customers for a service which they have embraced. Companies say the hikes are meant to encourage customers to go for more expensive "bundles," though we're confident they won't mention it when your Mom uses more messages than her plan allows and unwittingly pays a few extra bucks on her bill -- that stuff adds up, you know?
posted Jan 23rd 2008 8:35AM
Bah... try Canada... where we routinely bend over. My favorite in the last year (or so) was when the industry quietly raised the price of DOMESTIC long distance from .25c/min to .35c/min in the face of unlimited/free long distance elsewhere. It's a monopoly here - no competition, nothing is reasonable... everything is ridiculous. Bell recently added an unlimited browsing plan for $7/month on the Touch, which is the FIRST reasonable move I think I have seen... in a long time.
Data is ridiculous... long distance, ditto... and airtime, well... getting better? As near as I can tell, US users have a lot less to complain about ;)
Oh yeah... we can buy an add-on plan for $12 that gives us 100 long distance minutes I think (though if you ask nicely... or more appropriately, threaten to head elsewhere, they will throw it in... whoop whoop)
Cell phones in general are a complete rip off... which is why I don't have one.
Something needs to be done to let these companies no that people are fed up with this gouging but the telecoms just keep doing it, and people keep getting complacent and just saying "oh, okay they are raising it again by 5 cents...no biggie". Now its become so bad the telecoms have conditioned a lot of people to accept what they do. Something needs to change. Anyhow, I think with AT&T you can get unlimited text M2M messages for like 14.95 and that includes 200 messages to outsiders. Don't quote me on that but its not that bad. Go unlimited unless you want to get raped in overages.
And as someone said earlier you're really not getting any bang for your buck on text messages as you are paying to receive messages. That is terrible.
for months my sprint service has been sending me duplicate sms messages.
I still don't understand why you have to take a hit for receiving a sms message or why when you have unlimited data you still have to pay for sending sms messages?
It's simply a matter of "'cause the carrier can get away with it".
SMS runs on a different network than your calls, and most carriers will cry "but we have to pay fees to the sub-carrier for each message!" (in or out) and thus they're passing along that charge to you.
It's a real scam.. The carriers are simply cashing in on the SMS craze.
A poster down below mentions sending an email to the phone instead to get around the SMS surcharge. It's a good idea, but most folks will be deterred by how the phone handles email - it's rarely as optimized/pretty as SMS.
Its times like this I thank god I go to college in a town where Verizon is the only carrier that actually gets service.
As a result, 90% of the people I text on a regular basis have it and I get by with my unlimited in network + 500 plan
I have had my text turned off on my phone for about 6 months now. I could not be happier about it either. It is way too expensive for what it is. I recomend and encourage you all to do the same.
This happens to be one of pet-peeves. Especially since SMS is practically free for the carriers. Here is a little history and tech explaination...
SMS on landlines (yes, in Germany) and GSM is sent using SS7. SS7 does not take any additional bandwidth because it is a part of the system. SS7 is used to initiate rings, calling waiting signals, the dial tone, etc. So essentially there is no added strain to the system from sending text messages.
When I started using SMS in the mid-90s in Asia it was being just given away. As it became more popular carriers started charging more and more. Even in the last year or so there have been increases... http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/10/09/sprints-sms-price-hike-saga/ and http://www.mobiletracker.net/archives/2007/01/12/verizon-wireless-sms-price.
When I switched to T-Mobile in 2004 SMS to foreign countries was charged the same as local. Today it is 50c per message abroad, and it is similar with AT&T.
How do you explain the increase of price of a service that costs the carrier virtually nothing, from next to nothing to keep increasing.
Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_message_service
No added strain huh? Were you hiding under a rock on New Year's Day when messages were taking hours to be transmitted?
Nope I wasn't... the reason is because the overall systems were overloaded. For the same reason that I explained, if you can't get on the system to even initiate a call (system busy errors) there is no way you can send a text. Interestingly though EDGE uses a different pathway it needs to be GSM authenticated which makes that also not usable.
I could not send texts or make any calls for the first 10 minutes after midnight.
The other thing you might have seen is that inter-carrier traffic today is IP. Those servers might have been overloaded too if you were getting return messages.
What you seem to be saying is SMS competes with voice. If everyone is texting, no one can get a call through. If everyone is talking, no one can get a text through. Ever think that could be why it costs so much?
It doesn't compete, because it uses an out-of-band signaling on a separate channel. But the two band are tied such that they both have to exist for the phone to work. This wikipedia article has really good information on the SS7
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signaling_System_7
It also mentions the move to SIP protocols (today used in VOIP applications). The also talk about the "short message gateway" which is also used for inter-carrier messaging as I mentioned previously.
Even though the signal is available, it is the backbone that would have failed you on New Years. That is why you would have had "bars" one your phone, but nothing got through.
To directly answer your question... they co-exist without competing... thus you can get an SMS while you are on the phone. And thus my peeve-- SS7 must exist, is underutilized, carries our SMS, and thus SMS is practically free for providers to give us.
It's a sue time!.
I pay $.05 a text on my Virgin pre-paid crap-phone. Sure, I can't always rely on the carrier to make an urgent message regarding breakfast at Chik-Fil-A to make it through but it's cheap.
If you have a data package why not a send a email to the persons number. e.g 917-xxx-xxxx@tmobile.net. That's how it's done in japan folks. Saves a shit load of money.
No, my cellphone bill rise is simply due to the city of Chicago raising their taxes. I have unlimited text messaging with Sprint.
"Unlimited" on Sprint? I've asked about that and keep getting told "not available". What do you pay per month for that?
MidiWall,
My bill says I have "Unlimited 2-Way Text Messages" and I pay $10/month. I also have the "Power Vision Ultimate Pack" which is $25/month. But now I see the "Power Vision Pro Pack" that is $30/month and offers unlimited text messaging. The difference between the two is that Ultimate offers Sprint TV, Sprint Music and NFL Mobile.
There is an option to select "Unlimited Power Pack Text Messaging" for $10/month on the Sprint site too.
I got nailed by Sprint last month. I'm on their largest message plan (1000 texts/month) and STILL got nailed for an _EXTRA_ $100 (500 messages @ $0.20 per). I can't believe I texted that much... Had a lot goin' on though, but that's like 4x my norm.
@ midiwall:
You may want to check out the plans Sprint is rolling out before Valentine's Day; they have an unlimited texting plan for $10/month if you also get a Vision data plan.
@michael: You may want to check out the plans Sprint is rolling out before Valentine's Day; they have an unlimited texting plan for $10/month if you also get a Vision data plan.
Oh KILLER! I did the unlimited data plan with my Centro.
Thanks Michael!
What sens does it make that I pay for UNLIMITED DATA (iPhone plan $20 for data and 200 text) and if i go over on texts i get charged. Text mesages are only data after all.
I've had Sprint for the past 7 years or so. Used to have a bundle that was $5 a month and included 100 text messages and unlimited picture and text messaging (using 1xRTT [Vision] for data of course). Now that EVDO (Power Vision) is around, when I upgraded my phone I could still get text messaging for $5 a month. Unfortunately it included no data (that's an extra $20 a month), but it did get bumped up to 300 texts a month, which I've only exceeded once in the past 18 months.
So I guess what I mean is that for $5, I get what I need for texting. at $0.20 a message, that'd work out to $60. Realistically, I normally only use about 150 texts a month, but that's still saving me $25 a month by having the package deal instead of paying per-message.
...and the rates they charge for phone calls isn't outrageous? It's hard to find a plan that you don't pay at least $50/month, even if it's pay-as-you-go.
US Cellular is $.20/msg, or $4.95 for 250 msgs....but since I rarely text, I get 24 text msgs to use per month before I'd have to pay for a huge amount of text msgs I wouldn't really use anyways. and all my incoming texts are free---THAT's also where some telco's nail you--double check and make sure your INCOMING text msgs are also free.
freaking .20$ text messages on sprint when i go over my limit...
Well I have Virgin Prepaid and I use their 20 buck unlimited text plan, which to me isn't really expensive. The call rates are though, something like $0.18/min for the plan I have, though I do get a little over an hr a month in free mins through a loyalty programme they have.
I had T-Mobile for a couple yrs and I found I was mostly just texting so I switched to Virgin. I do miss T-Mobile sometimes though.
Most individuals understand cell phones can be, or are, in general, expensive. So what can be done to help consumers?? I mean seriously, when my bill arrives in electronic format from my carrier, I typically just paid it without allot of due diligence. I read a piece in Wireless Week about Validas, and life has been so much better ever since. Validas will 'audit' your bill in seconds, and it only cost about a buck!! Free if they do not find any errors.
http://www.wirelessweek.com/article.aspx?id=154798
Saved $231 so far on my cell bill.
I made sure I was immune to this. Well, sorta.
I got an unlimited plan so I wouldnt have to worry about going over and the continuing price hikes on messages.
They cant touch the price of my bill for a year or so.
I had the same problem on Verizon regarding TEXT MESSAGES. However, I have to explicitly call customer service and tell them to DISABLE the text feature on my account.
FYI: At this point you will be UNABLE to receive ANY text msgs – not even the FREE ones from VERIZON! :)
UPDATE to earlier post:-) this is obviously for folks who don't choose to use the
TEXT FEATURE and are NOT looking to incur another BILL, should you
need to ENABLE the TEXT OPTION for what ever reason in the future,
VERIZON can ENABLE it to perform certain applications and return it
back to the disabled mode afterwards.
"Class action nails T-Mobile USA over texting services"
Just a matter of time--folks are getting tired of the BS!!! It is one thing if one chooses to have the Text Messaging feature and another if they chose not...
The bigger the companies -- the bigger to rip offs!!!
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/66798;_ylt=Ai6fNmE3mMQSI53kw7TwdBcE1vAI
Prices are in HKD
Local SMS - intra network $0.10/SMS
Local SMS - inter network $0.70/SMS
If people will pay it, why not?
If this were the only ridiculous thing cell carriers did to make their customers (and don't forget that...we're the customers, not them) pay more, we might be able to overlook it. But it's certainly not. It all adds up to one big steaming pile of...
Is it just me, but ever notice on att you can't NOT receive a text msg. A friend has t-mobile and when a text comes in he can ignore it, can don't pay, whereas on att I have no choice, once the text is sent I get charged whether I read it or not.
@lmondesir,
Man, you have to pay to receive SMS?
@lmondesir
I have the same problem on Verizon. I have to explicitly tell all my friends NOT to send me text messages, because there's no way to decline them -- and then a few of them still do. At least it's a way to weed out the more simple-minded people so I can stop being "friends" with them. But they still have my number. :(
Everyone raise your prices! They will be forced to pay it!
Cuz there's no one else.... muhahaha
- The Management
like when your fiends and family send you invitations to social networking sites and use your private email address. :|
People seem to forget fundamental business concepts. First and foremost a commercial business' primary goal is to make money. They are not a utility or the Red Cross so they're under no obligation to give away a product at cost or some designated markup. People don't seem to have qualms about paying a few dollars for WATER because it comes in a bottle. Second there's a neat little concept in economics: "price the market will bear."
Most cell phone carriers (in the US) are more than happy to turn data off to a specific line completely. I have done this with both AT&T and Verizon without much fuss.
@imondesir
That's incorrect. T-mobile, as with all nation wide carriers, can not see whether you've read the text message or not. You are charged for receiving it, not reading it. Unless your carrier has unlimited text included in their plan (Cricket, for example).
---
I work for a cell phone carrier in their customer care department. Honestly, cell phones can get really expensive if you don't watch your usage. This includes minutes used, sms, data, 411 calls, and downloads of games or ringtones. If you don't want to be charged for incoming SMS, you can call in and normally have it removed. If you like texting, you can opt for a plan that will give you a predetermined number for a far cheaper "per month" price. My carrier, Sprint, for example, let's you get 300 for 5.00, 1000 for 10.00, and unlimited for 15.00. Without the plan, 5.00 is only 25 text messages a month, 10.00 is only 50, and 15.00 is only 75 messages. So, you can see that at least having the lowest plan would save you quite a bit of money.
And, trust me, it does. I see cell phone bills with four hundred dollars worth of text messaging at least once a week.
If there's a way for them to rip you off, you can guarantee they are already doing it or have it planned.
Like here in the UK, Orange started charging to call 0800 numbers a while back.
0800 numbers were never free from mobiles, were they?
It is a real shame to be increasing the costs of SMS like that. Seems to me they're just pissed 3G and all the expensive/complicated services didn't catch on.
They were free on Orange and O2 and then I know Orange started charging for them. They put a message on there at the start of the call announcing that the call was chargeable when they did it too. We're probably going back 5 years or so when they didn't charge though.
I know the Orange PAYG service didn't charge for 0800 numbers at one point, even though contract users did.
Either way, Orange find a way of screwing me out of more money each month.
It's quite sad really that whenever you try another provider, you normally end up going back to the original, purely cus they screw you over as much as the provider you came from, if not more.
They started doing this because people (myself included) bought a cheap PAYG sim card and a good freephone calling card and then essentially paid landline rates for mobile calls, which back then were very expensive!
This I can understand, as orange is still paying for part of that call but the profit is going to someone else.
What did annoy me is the recent sneaky renaming of Local Rate (0845) to Lo-Call Rate so they can get away with charging you more than local rate!
A couple of months ago o2 announced like other providers they will no longer count towards your minutes but run up your bill... :/
I post this from little old New Zealand (Flight of the Conchords, anyone?) with a smile on my face, which is quite a rarity given our ludicrous mobile pricing.
Here in NZ we can send up to 2000 on-net (or 500 to any network) SMS for $10/month, which is about US$7. However, this is balanced by our stupid calling rates ($1.39/minute!!)
And as a result, we have an entire nation of teenagers growing up addicted to "txting", and hu nw typ lyk dis al da tym, evn in englsh esayz. So in some ways, be thankful that your carriers are charging more, it may be saving you from future generations of illiterate kids...
Too late for that.
@red
this isn't new to us over here in north america. I'm a canadian college student and we get lectures from our profs who are quite angry everytime they see this kind of writing. In a sad way it could (some may argue it is) an academic epidemic.
Yupp we the customers get abused DAILY. But as a long time sprint customer i was just able to upgrade from $15/m internet and $5 for 300 text messages to a newer cheaper $7/m for unlimited internet and unlimited texting. Iam sure in the life of my contracts ive been over charged but hell this plan will save me a ton of $$ now.
So everyone in my contacts list be prepared to receive plenty of texting. Yeah i know really sad but whatever.........WHEN IN ROME.
$7/m for unlimited mobilet net?
*swears profusely*
I pay NZ$15/m for 3mb. Yup, megabytes. It hurts, I tell ya.
I think in the UK, we have more of a 'txting' culture than in the US. Most people have bundles with their tariffs (I have unlimited txts with Orange) although this was not always the way - hopefully for you guys, the more people that txt, the more the networks will reduce individual costs and create bundles. Then again...
More of a texting culture than the US? Are you being serious? I don't know, maybe it is just the people I know, but my friends and I regularly send between 20,000 and 30,000 texts a month. Not only that, but everywhere you go, you see people texting.
You don't send 30,000 texts per month. That's a thousand text messages a day. I'd venture to bet that even you are not that prolific.
Apparently the UK and Ireland are the largest texters in the world, I know for a fact that there the highes mobile:person ration is in Ireland, with 102 phones to every 100 people at the last count.
@ Matt
Just because you don't send 1000 text messages a day, doesn't mean other people can't. Being in class tends to get boring after a while. Especially on days when you are in class from 8 to 5.
It's impossible to regularly send 1,000 text messages a day. That's one message every 1m 26s. All day. Every day. 24/7. You tell me 50 or even 100 a day and I might believe it. I don't care if it's "possible" to do 1,000 a day, no one does it habitually.
What is truly amazing is that US cellphone companies are billing both ends for the service: you pay 20 cents to send a SMS, and the person you're sending to pays 20 cents to receive it. 40 cents per message.
European cellphone companies, who are no philantropists themselves, have balked at the idea, and are only billing the sender (15 euro cents per message, which is still a rip-off). I had never even heard of the idea of billing both ends until I crossed the Atlantic. To our friends who live in the Old Continent: the Americans also pay to *receive* calls on their cellphone. Yep. I kid you not. The number of minutes in you monthly plan include both incoming and outgoing minutes. Again, never heard of in Europe.
This is exactly the way it used to be at AT&T (pre-cingular-acquisition) and then cingular. When I moved to a multi-line plan on cingular, I found out (by myself, mind you) that they now charge both sending and receiving. Absolutely ludicrous considering (as someone else mentioned) we cannot refuse the reception. It isn't going to break the bank, but I hate the concept behind it.
WT-Freaking-F ?!
you have to pay to receive texts and pay to receive phone calls? charging at both ends?
Now I understand where ISPs get the idea for a tiered (i.e. double charging) internet service. They see the sweet deal mobile providers are getting and want a piece of that action.
How is it that this became a normal and accepted charging model?
In some countries when you run out of minutes people can still call you.
"Companies say the hikes are meant to encourage customers to go for more expensive 'bundles'"
Does that mean that they won't then hike the price of these value "bundles"?
I have a statement in return for these phone companies: "Don't insult my intelligence."
30000 text a month? Do you realize how many that is? If you were awake 24hrs a day you would be texting 42 mins for every hour. By no means do I mean to stick up for the phone companies but they are a business not a charity. I don't think their intention is to price gouge, they want people to pick up text bundles. Seriously, even if it were only 5 cents a message and you send 30000 like the users on this forum, that would be $1500 in pay-per-use! Get a text plan. Also, I'm surprised I keep hearing people bring up Europe and how incoming calls are free and they are amazing for it. Ask them how much they pay to make calls. Ask them if they can make unlimited calls and txt for $55 like Lizeth, on this board posted. The bottom line is, the phone companies wouldn't be able to charge any of these prices if you the user didn't use these features and didn't pay it. Some of you guys are starting to sound like my Grandpa, "I remember the days when a hamburger and a Coke were a quarter."
I got tired of paying extra for everything. I used to have a $60/m plan, but ended up paying about $150/m. Finally I switched to a local unlimited company. Now I pay $55/mo and get unlimited minutes, internet, and sms.
Yep... take at&t for example...
$.01 (1 cent) for each kilobyte of data transferred and $.15(15 cents) for 160 bytes (one text message).
so mathematicians, what's the mark up???
I think the markup is approximately $.15 per message. I imagine a single message costs them next to nothing.
I know it's a rhetorical question, but the number you end up with is shocking. That's about 100 times the price of the data.
You are comparing apples to oranges. Data and SMS don't use the same system.
That's why I was more than happy to sign on with the Sprint SERO plan. 1250 minutes, unlimited data, unlimited messaging services for $50 a month. Not too shabby on my part I think.
Granted, I picked up a RAZR, which is not the best phone in the world. But I hope to be upgrading to an HTC Touch before long.
Though I'm still waiting diligently for the Android OS to really roll out and pick up the best plan for whatever phones are utilizing that.
This.
SERO is the best deal around. If you don't need 1250 minutes you can get 500 mins with all the same extras for $30. Unless Sprint just doesn't exist in your area I don't understand why someone would go with anyone else.
How does one get this SERO you speak of?
I love SERO. I tell everybody about my plan:
500 minutes (I typically only go to 300)
Unlimited texting, roaming, internet
=$30 -10% loyalty -$10 in "misc. credits ;) =$20 a month
I tell all my friends/coworkers about it, but when their contracts expire, they always renew their contracts. Well, I tried to help, but some people just like getting raped in the butt.
@ OneLove
Find the Sprint SERO site, quick google search because I don't remember it.
It asks for a Sprint Employee email. So just type in savings@sprint.com and gain your newfound happiness. I hardly ever use my 1250 minutes, but it's nice to know that I have them. Best deal around, I can't hardly understand why people pay outrageous amounts for similar with other services.
Last time I checked Cingular would not allow one to have both an unlimited text plan and an unlimited data plan. I'm not sure about the new AT&T.
Something else I noticed is that the contract terms on most cellphone companies no longer have an early termination fee that diminishes with time. It just seems to be a flat fee of $175 to $200.
At one point in time if you had your own phone equipment then you could get it activated without a contract. Now it also seems that even with your own equipment a 2 year contract is required. A couple of days ago I tried to pay the full MSRP for a phone to see if I could get it without a contract (something else one could commonly do in the past) but it appears that being able to do this is also less common.
Are you being serious here? You do realize the opposite of everything you said exists, right?
Unlimited Text and Web- $35 (crazy, I know)
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/services/serviceDetails.jsp?LOSGId=3977510881&skuId=sku1160058&catId=
Prorated ETF
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/10/16/atandt-moves-to-prorated-etfs-too/
Contractless Activation
http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/22/atandt-says-sim-only-service-available-contract-free-2-year-plan/
Wow! This is new [to me]. When I last spoke with a sells rep asking for unlimited text and data service I was informed I could have one or the other but not both.
We sure do! So in theory a phone company gets to charge twice for a single message sent from some one on their network to someone on their network.
Why is this suddenly an issue now? I have known for YEARS how much of a ripoff SMS messages are! People should have been up in arms the instant they climbed above 5 cents! As the author so accurately stated, an SMS is has extremely low operating costs to the carrier.
Its always funny to meet people who forget that:
a, the World is not fair
aa, not even outside the US
b, cell phone provider companies want to make $!!
c, you can always choose not to use them(or less)!!
d, stop whining about text prices when at the other side of the world people have similar costs but with half, third or a quarter of your salary
e, I know I was unfair and its generalizing but hey...read point a...
So glad i'm with Helio! But in all honesty, this really stinks especially for my verizon-bound family. Guess I'll be restricting my texting to them to a minimum!
Too bad they're going under eh?
these are the times i love living here in the Philippines.. a third world country that loves technology... even if we have one of the most expensive internet rates and really bad internet service for home users, our SMS- txt charges on average is only 1 philippine peso, last i checked it was 41 pesos to $1, and our telecos have unlimited services for txts within the network going for less than a US$1 per day... not sure about the numbers but i think there are about 1 billion txt sent a day here in the philippines... not bad for a 3rdworld country hehe
and we do have data services also video calls etc. for my network i think its .15 philippine cents per kilobyte hehehe
I have long been saying that sms was the biggest rip off in wireless. It costs them practicly nothing to service. Think of it this way. Cell phones are already running through digital communication, which means they are converting your voice into 1s and 0s and sending that data accross their towers. So, text messages and voice are transmited in the same way. I would assume they are encoding at something like 32 kilibites per second (just a guess, don't know for sure). A text message is 160 characters or less, and each character is only one bite. I can't see it being more than a coupe of kilibites.
So basically, a text message uses less bandwith than one second of voice communication!!! That's the gist and it's a scam!
Is there a single wireless company out there that isn't a total PITA to deal with? I've just left school to enter the workforce, so I'm going to be off the family plan very soon. What companies should I look at?
The family plan is with Verizon. I can only say two positive things about Verizon.
1)In-network calls are free -- anytime, any person. Particularly nice because my girlfriend is on Verizon, too. But I imagine other carriers have started this practice, too, right?
2) Verizon had good coverage at school. But now, where I live and work (Maryland), they're dropping about 10% of my calls, particularly in my apartment.
So, what carriers have good, affordable plans, plus good (customer) service? Or do any such carriers exist at all?
I live outside Baltimore and I know exactly what you mean. Service around my house is horrible, everywhere else is fine.
Choosing a provider is just like choosing a phone. It's all about compromise. Big Red's coverage is the best in the area but their customer service is one of the worst. On top of that, they twist your arm and limit the hell out of your phone's functionality.
I'd say go with T-Mo. I like the GSM standard a lot more than CDMA. I hear their coverage is adequate but their customer service is top notch and trying to get some function out of your phone isn't a hassle.
I live outside Baltimore and I know exactly what you mean. Service around my house is horrible, everywhere else is fine.
Choosing a provider is just like choosing a phone. It's all about compromise. Big Red's coverage is the best in the area but their customer service is one of the worst. On top of that, they twist your arm and limit the hell out of your phone's functionality.
I'd say go with T-Mo. I like the GSM standard a lot more than CDMA. I hear their coverage is adequate but their customer service is top notch and trying to get some function out of your phone isn't a hassle.
It's sad, I remember when they were free!
As a Verizon customer, I find this pretty ridiculous. I believe it was last year when they raised the price from $.10 to $.15, and now another 5 cents? I personally have a text messaging plan, but most people I know do not. As far as I know, there is no way to reject a txt with Verizon, which means you DO have to pay for every incoming text message that you receive. And unlike all of you with ATT, Cingular, or Sprint, who are able to get unlimited internet/text plans for $15/mo, or whatever it is, with Verizon it costs us $30 or $40/mo on top of our regular plan costs to get unlimited data. The prices are an outrage.
I guess I'll put my 2 cents in.
For years we have been willing drones for the phone companies here in the US, taking their abuse and asking for more as if we enjoyed it. It seems criminal to me to charge for both ends of the message (sending AND receiving.
I think our government should step in and pass legislation that restricts the carriers to only charging for sending messages. You send me junk, great, it doesn't cost me.
So...
What we can do? It's one thing to complain and whine, it's another to take action and create change. I'd prefer to do the latter.
I can't help but feel that the FCC would be a party to complain to. But in doing that one could be exchanging the devil for a witch.
I've personally been able to avoid the cost of sending text messages by sending a message to the phones e-mail address (ex: 1111111111@txt.att.net) and since my phone is syncing with exchange I get instant notification of the e-mail reply (I've got an unlimited data plan. AT&T doesn't allow you to have both unlimited data and text).
Here is India... Receiving calls and SMS has always been free.
This is their Cash Cow. They charge it because they CAN. Dammit. Would you people please stop paying these insane fees!
I'm irate.
i still have 600 txt/day free... via my skypephone :P i have just to topup 10€/month that add up to my pay-as-you-go credit.
So, that sounds cheap, here in the UK we have to pay 10p a text which is about 20 cents and some even charge 12p! That sounds cheap.
ah, it's only to other skypephones... if i have to txt to non-skype friends, i have one other mobile: 9c/txt o 1c/txt depending on receiver's carrier..
ah, it's only to other skypephones... if i have to txt to non-skype friends, i have one other mobile: 9c/txt o 1c/txt depending on receiver's carrier..
If you are too cheap to pay for unlimited text messaging, I think you leave yourself open to getting skivved for it.
I don't think it's a matter of being cheap. Unlimited text plans are not always available depending on other services one subscribes to, especially if one has unlimited data/internet.