Text messaging rates have always been a
little ridiculous, but a new class-action suit filed in Mississippi alleges that virtually every wireless carrier you can think of is basically cheating you by charging you for received texts and not allowing you to turn the service off. The suit names AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, Alltel, US Cellular, Cellular South, and Virgin Mobile (surprisingly, T-Mobile didn't make the cut), and says that members of the class are entitled to relief for the unauthorized charges, wrongful collection, and unjust enrichment. Of course, this will all likely end in a useless settlement that nets subscribers like three extra text messages and a 20 percent discount on an "approved accessory," while the plaintiff's law firm banks millions, but we'll see how things go.
posted May 20th 2008 8:02AM
Or it can end with the practice of charging to receive texts which is dumb and not done in most other countries. You can stop your drunk friends or random guy from texting you and then you get charged. You don't have to pick up calls but you always pick up texts. Its like charging someone charging every time someone calls you. This is the best this Mississippi has done ever. i hope they don't mess it up.
also first
Fortunately, the state taxpayers swallow the entire cost of my cellular services and my text Messages.
I will continue to call and text with impunity !!!!!
last time I checked I could turn off receiving unwanted texts. Im on At&t. I never receive dumb texts anymore
Flashpoint: "Fortunately?" How are you possibly proud of yourself? Assbags like you are exactly what is wrong with our government.
@vdogg
I'm on AT&T too. Unfortunately, if you have a data plan (as I do), you cannot shut off sms/mms and still be able to use data. It shuts off both. So unfortunately, I'm stuck with receiving the random/drunk late-night texts from friends and ex-girlfriends.
This lawsuit is a good idea.
Too bad it will fail miserably.
Any wireless carrier, ANY of them, allows the option to disable text messaging.
Also, why is US Cellular named in this suit? They've offered free incoming texts for as long as I can possibly remember.
Retard lawyers.
Charging for incoming call is also absurd and not done in most countries. Whomever initiates the call should pay for it. Right now cell carriers just double their profit by charging both ends.
@ Matt
Completely false. T-Mobile (which sadly isn't being sued) will NOT let you turn off SMS has they "may need to contact you via SMS". I've tried to get it turned off so many times, and they refuse.
From their FAQ:
How can I block text messages?
At this time, there is not a way to block incoming or outgoing text messages due to system restrictions.
Yeah I think I'll go through all that trouble to get credit for those 3 spam messages in 2 years I got.
Someone's working hard to get those millions! Can't blame them!
And you might end up getting extra 3 messages per month!
But... you're charged for *received* messages? Weird, they never charged us for it here in Ukraine... They tried to charge us for incoming calls but a law closed that possibility years ago (you only pay for outgoing calls, you don't pay when you're called any more).
I'm pretty sure the States is one of the few countries that charges to RECIEVE messages, which is a ridiculous practice.
same deal in Poland, incoming calls and texts are free, even on prepay.
sure, it's the same deal everywhere in europe, incoming text messages are free.
but when i lived in europe i had to pay 1 euro per outgoing message. and 1-2 euros/minute for calls (including voicemail), so i hardly used any of this. instead i used data to access gmail, which was running at about 0.015/KB, and used email for communication almost exclusively.
sad, but true state of the aggressive and horrendous costs of european cell phones. (sure, domestic everything is cheap in europe but i'm talking about international within europe; when you live in countries so small you're bound to have friends in all kinds of countries like i did)
i pay about 9 cents per sms...which still is a robbery...
Now if we can just get those losers for giving us cut bandwidth.
they are charging for 12 mb download but giving like 6 (if your lucky)
"Bursts of up to 12mbit, 6mbit steady" is how i understand it. Im fine with that. I get my 200gb a month, no complaints about the speed.
Mr. capitalist pig lawyers...just call up any of those providers and they will be more then glad to disable text messaging. At the same time why don't you tell the post office to stop sending me junk mailing killing millions of acres of trees a day. Better yet stop allowing lawyers like yourself to suck in the oxygen that I'm using every day and raising the prices of everything you greedy capitalist pigs go neuter yourself with a spade!!!
@Jeff
Um... you are allowed to stop junk mail from coming to your house. You can stop at the post office and fill out a form that prevents local circulars and anything addressed to "resident" from being delivered.
Hmm....
You used the phrase Capitalist pigs twice. Is my spider sense tingling or are you just being that blatent? God forbid someone get to keep the money that they work for. I'm sorry, but though socialism sounds nice, it doesn't work in practice. That's why most of the countries using it colapsed or are not on the fiscial world map.
Now, if you are mad at capitalism because you care for those who are in need, then I sympathize. However, if you are mad at capitalists because you think you are entitled to free health care and other government services, then I have no sympathy.
Very few places in the world have less oportunity for self betterment and advancement than the US. However, the major problem is that is coming hand in with laziness and a sense of entitlement that is causing many people to refuse to work for it.
Thing is, even though it sucks, the US is half way to socialism now and doesn't seem to be slowing down. We'll probably get a Democrat in office and we'll have socialized health care before they are out of there. So, you win.
Final note, though I'm staunchly against socialism and favor small government. I also think that those who have money should feel obligated to help those who don't. Though I include the needy in the US in that, I'm mainly thinking of the Millions throughout the world who live in poverty and might not even have clean water to drink.
Poke4Christ
"socialism sounds nice, it doesn't work in practice. That's why most of the countries using it colapsed (sic) or are not on the fiscial (sic) world map."
WHAT?????
I suggest you look at the world:
America which is the most capitalist country around has a collapsing economy.
Europe where almost all the countries have socialist governments (even the "right wing" ones are far more socialist than your Democrats) has a far healthier economy than the US
China, the next largest economy is seriously left wing and they will very soon economically overtake America.
I really suggest you actually have a look around instead of swallowing what your politicians tell you, it is possible for them to be less than 100% honest.
Dave, I suggest you not act like you have multiple degrees in economics or are an economic historian, lest you look like a fool.
First off China is not "left-wing." You could call China Marxist; however, economically, they are moving toward capitalism The places in China that are experiencing a booming economy are the newly minted free trade zones. These are booming from the capital influx and technological investment.
Now lets look at Europe. Europe, which certainly is more socialist than the US, but not that much thanks to Democrats and *gasp* George Bush, has an awful, stagnating economy. There is very little economic progress occuring in Europe outside of the strength of its currency. This is because of the poor GDP growth and oppressive unemployment, which is caused by extreme social engineering. In France, few young people get hired anymore because it is impossible to fire employees, even the bad ones.
The US's current slump is due to a market correction caused by a housing bubble and credit problems. In order to solve these credit problems, the Fed, very shortsightedly in my opinion, has precipitously dropped interest rates which has caused the devaluation of the dollar. The fed is trying to ease the pain, but right now, I think pain is exactly what this county needs. Middle Americans need to stop relying on the government to bail them out.
As for socialism/communism throughout history.
USSR - failed
The eastern block countries who came out of the shadow of Russia and developed completely open markets - flourishing
China under central planning - failed
China in the 15 new free trade zones - flourishing
Cuba - failed
North Korea - failed
East Germany - failed
Venezuela under Chavez - about to fail because he has blown all of his countries wealth on buying votes from the poor and has reinvested absolutely nothing into their oil industry and has run-off all outside investors.
Capitalism has brought more freedom to this world than any other economic system. For a starter, try reading Milton Friedman, Frederick Hayek, or maybe even Ayn Rand sometime. You could learn a lot.
"Dave, I suggest you not act like you have multiple degrees in economics or are an economic historian, lest you look like a fool."
Funny I'm standing here suggesting the same thing to you.
"Now lets look at Europe. Europe, which certainly is more socialist than the US"
Correct (for once)
"There is very little economic progress occuring in Europe"
More so than there is in the US, and by MILES AND MILES, and the lack thereof is due the the strength of the Euro moreso than its socialist leanings - in fact I can't believe I called Europe socialists in any way shape or form, only when compared to the US, a country run and wholly owned by corporations does Europe look socialist. Its like comparing a typical cloudy evening to the black hole and saying its actually pretty light
"This is because of the poor GDP growth and oppressive unemployment"
No we just established its because of the strength of the currency.
"The US's current slump is due to a market correction caused by a housing bubble and credit problems."
Partly yes, but not entirely. The US economy was heading for a collapse regardless and the credit crunch only acted as a catalyst. The truth is that there are economic cycles, and every country or region experiences them.
Except in some fucked up country, people like you are brainwashed to believe that everytime another country is in recession (however slight) its caused by socialist values and everytime your country collapses its someone else's fault (yea lets blame china or the market, or banks or the credit crunch)
"In order to solve these credit problems, the Fed, very shortsightedly in my opinion, has precipitously dropped interest rates"
The fed is run by some incredibly talented people who have proved their talen in their past work leading upto their current jobs. So forgive me if I take their predictions over some bum on the internet - after all its easy to criticize.
As for socialism/communism throughout history.
USSR - failed nothing to do with socialist, they simply were poorer than the US at the time, and would have
The eastern block countries who came out of the shadow of Russia and developed completely open markets - flourishing
Sorry guys Engadget ruined the end of my comment:
-----------------------------------------------
As for socialism/communism throughout history.
USSR - failed nothing to do with socialist, they simply were poorer than the US at the time, and would have
The eastern block countries who came out of the shadow of Russia and developed completely open markets - flourishing
Texting should be free. I can't believe these asshats still charge for texting. I've gotten porked so many times for different text packages, plans, etc. Not only that I pay 34$ a month for my data plan alone that I hardly use and that slow as hell. That's as much as my home connection. I originally had 500 txt/month went over that, it was an additional 60$ for friggin text messages. Went to the "unlimited" package. Little did they tell me it was only unlimited out not in. Tried charging me another 50 something dollars. I told them I thought it was supposed to be "unlimited" so they cut it in half. so now I have real "unlimited; it cost like an extra 15 buck a month or some. SO before I even get to my f*ucking phone plan I'm alreay paying 50 bucks hahaha f*cking Verizon. I love those assh0les.
About time.
When I first got cell service, texts were free. Then .05 each, .10, .15, and now, .25
And, you *used* to be able to turn them off. My Nokia had a menu item that would disable receipt of texts. At some point, Cingular redefined the menu to remove that item.
I hope the consumers win this one. If you can't make money running a cell phone company nowadays, without gouging for text messages, you shouldn't be in business.
Wait, what? They charge you for receiving messages? And people use the carriers? My god, what a glorious land of stupidity...
Every carrier does this in the US, so it's not like we have a choice.
There was recently a bill in Congress that would outlaw text message spam, but lobbyists for the cellphone industry made sure the bill was killed.
Some carriers (US Cellular, for example) do not charge for incoming text messages (USCC even has a spot on their web page that allows you to send texts without charge). Sprint, on the other hand, charges me 20 cents for each incoming message, which pisses me off, and the CSR told me there was no way they can disable incoming texts because Sprint will occasionally send you texts (it's also how they send your password(s) to you if you use the "forgot password" link on their web page). At least they don't charge for texts sent FROM Sprint.
This is one of the reasons I'm looking at switching my current plan from the unlimited incoming 500 anytime minute plan to the 500 minute SERO plan...
You can turn off Text Messaging with AT&T. Just call in and ask them to remove the pay per use txt feature.
That's what I did. It's fun to see people's reaction when you say "I don't accept texts". They look at you like you're about to kill them.
Actually, I was just at the bank, and the banker was messing with his computer for like 10 minutes. He finally said that he couldn't get the computer to text me my new password, and I spent like five minutes trying to explain to him that I don't accept them.
He kept like, talking about his phone and other phones that do receive texts.
I tried to do this with AT&T, but if you disable texting, it shuts off data access as well.
@Jon Shannon
But why should I have to turn off a feature which I may use because of spam? What they should do is have a feature that lets you see who sent you a message, like the phone number displayed when you get a call. You don't know the number or don't want to speak to them you don't get charged for taking the call. You do want to read what the person sent you, you delete it and don't get charged.
Then again I'm with the people that say it should be free anyway, voice mail is free granted they expect you to burn your minutes on your cell phone to access it so I guess they win either way.
you can have text restrict, and data would be fine through att. i work in tech support an do it all the time. as long you have some messaging soc, data will work. now you remove text ppu completely and have nothing else, that would be a problem. i also have a sprint phone. they can also block messaging as well.
Its about damn time! I'm sick of getting charged for EVEN RECEIVING messages I didn't ask for.
This is absolutely outrage to charge people for receiving messages.
Yay, i can use those three free text messages to participate in my BOOMING social life, lol
Yes, we should only be charged for sent messages...
PS: I'm At&T
I always did think it a bit weird that I was charged for incoming calls when I first moved to the States. But then this was just one of many things I found weird - like being charged for bank account transactions, even though my account was in credit.
I'm glad to be back in Europe where things are a bit more sensible on the utility and bank charging front. It doesn't stop us complaining, of course.
thats funny, USCellular is on there and they dont charge for incomiing texts...oh and they dont offer service is that state either... hmmm...
Odd yea, USCC hasn't charged for inbound SMS in a long time,and you can call and have inbound and outbound blocked too. Adding to that, MMS incoming is free, and incoming calls are free.
Wait, US carriers charge you for incoming texts? I knew you guys were backwards with the whole 'minutes' thing meaning you get charged for incoming calls and the notion of 'area codes' for cellular devices, but texts too?
Do you know that the current version of Sim card from (at least ) AT&T and T-Mobile can not send or receive unicode SMS? Basically, we can not send/receive for example Chinese or Thai SMS.
I used to be able to do that two years ago, but with the current Sim card not anymore.
T-Mobile customer service people listened to the issue that I addressed nicely and tried to get at least five tech-support guys to help me out.
AT&T really pisses me off. They never admit that it is their problem. I wanna sue them, anyone in?
omg, that's one hot phone, when's it out???111
hahaha
I wouldnt mind being charged SYMMETRICALLY, IE you only get charged if you receive more than you send...
Admittedly, they cant have people who just receive 1,000's of txts and calls for free.... That wouldn't make sense.
and why wouldn't it? in europe we don't get charged for receiving calls or texts (unless if you are on holiday in a different country), you could have a phone where you don't send out any texts or calls but only get them and you wouldn't be charged anything. But phones tend to be communication devices you will always use it to contact people. See my earlier post for price breakdown in Ireland.
Wow that's painful. You pay for the phone, the monthly line rental, and then receiving messages? Almost unbelievable. Also strange that someone like Virgin Mobile haven't taken the European Model over there, in order to blow the others out of the water. Free phone, 12/18th month contract, free mins and texts and nothing to receive.
On the other hand, you signed the contract allowing them to charge you for it?
I have requested a couple times to have text messages turned off (due to incoming SPAM) with TracFone, but they say they are unable to do it.
I agree:
- make incoming free
and !
- make it so providers have to disable incoming TXTs upon request as well.
you actually use tracphone? damn they are the most expensive prepay phone service i know of, i had 1 for 2 weeks the phone was givin to me and i said fuck this and paid for a verizon prepayed and spent much less money on my phone usage tracphone should be boycotted seriously there is absolutly no reason to use them every other company gives better features at a lower cost!
TracFone is actually the fairest prepaid provider and great for limited use and emergency phones.
- I pay $100/year for 1000 rollover minutes which comes down to < $10 / month. Texts are 33c.
- Whenever you add minutes they extend the airtime at the end of expiration time. No other prepaid provider does that. (With ATT if your due date is still 6 months out, but you add more minutes, they reset the due date to that of the value you add)
- Roaming = yes. Other prepaid providers don't roam. ATT dropped roaming for prepaid phones and requires you to use GSM now. Only calling using a GSM ATT tower is very problematic next to impossible in some areas.
Whereas my CDMA TracFone roams anywhere in even the most rural areas where GSM won't come in the next 5 years, if at all.
- International calling at no extra charge!
- No credit card / credit check / SSN required.
I don't see how that's bad and don't know which provider will match it for value.
I turned off that "feature" with Verizon with one phone call.
Those Telco's are money-grubbing pigopolist. They do this because there are currently few alternatives. They will get what they deserve as technology improves... just like the local carriers who were beat down by VoIP and Cell Phones.
Remember when AOL charged by the hour?
In India, messages are free. Calls are expensive.
I gave up and just put a data block on my phone. I would like to have the option of texting or other services if I ever wanted them, but twice now Verizon has included a few text messages on my bills. They were unable to tell me if the texts were incoming or outgoing and could not tell me who the other party was. I had to pay the bills.
Verizon seems to be padding bills that do not have text plans with extra profit makers --- only a few. But since I do not text at all and don't receive them either, the padding texts are VERY obvious.
The second they stop charging for incoming txts and phone calls, is the same second you'll start receiving telemarketing calls and non-stop txts from them.
that's the only thing that keeps us safe - same as unsolicited faxes. if it costs you, then they can't do it.
What keeps us safe from telemarketers calling us in the USA is the fact that it's illegal and a $15,000 fine whenever a company calls your cellphone to solicit you.
I would assume that text messaging would fall under the same contexts.
As far as faxes go, the company I work for receives a bunch every morning... I don't think it's illegal as you're not paying per fax to receive or send.
lol, this is ridiculous! in ireland this is how the networks break down for txting.
Meteor (who i'm currently with) top up by 20 euro (or more) a month and get free txts to same network for 30 days, 9c a txt to other networks and same network when ur 30 days is up (25c a min calls). O2, 20 a month, free txts to any network for 1 month and 11c outside this deal (19c/min to O2 49c/min to other networks), vodafone, 20 a month free same network texts for 30 days, 11c outside this and (19c/min to vodafine 49c/min to other networks). 3, 5c a txt (picture and video messages same price), (18c/min to 3, 35c/min to other networks) and none charge for receiving txts or calls! (unless ur in another country)
In Soviet Russia, received sms costs you!
..o wait.
My parents both have Verizon and neither one of them receive text messages. They called up the CSR and said they don't want to receive them... bam, text messages blocked!
This lawsuit will be thrown out quite quickly...
With most, if not all carriers, if you don't read the message, you won't get charged for it. At least that's what I was told by the people at, I believe it was, AT&T. I guess their system can tell if a message is read or not. If that's the case, then this lawsuit won't go anywhere.
Andrew, the message gets sent to the phone, and you get charged. I don't think whoever you spoke to is correct.
On second thought, it could have been Nextel I heard that from. I know with their service you have to pull the text message off their server, so perhaps they don't charge until you actually open. That may not be the case with the others then.
someone lied to you, sorry. I am a long time Sales Rep turned MGR turned Area MGR for AT&T and thats never been the case. Not even in the days BEFORE Cingular.
You can turn off SMS on t-mo, but then you can't send or receive any, which might come in handy once in awhile when you can't talk or in an emergency. It would be really nice if we could have an SMS whitelist.
I spoke to a rep at T-mobile and was told that I couldn't disable receiving txt on my phone. I know T-mo sends free txt whenever you make a payment online, but it sucks when you get unwanted txt but not enough to justify adding a plan.
you can block txting and internet with any carrier. Sprint and eventualy tmo will allow you to block individual #'s. This law suit is insanly dumb. But as is common in america....groundless law suits always get settled and the important ones get thrown out......flame away all you want but you guys no as much as i do that this is stupid. Everything is disclosed at the POS as far as txting and internet charges go so these charges that these people dont know about it are groundless........last time i checked stupidity or ignorance is not an excuse in a court of law
the second "charges" would be charges as in accusations.
Even in Canada, incoming text messages are free... and apparently we have some of the highest mobile rates around.
@Ryan
The telephone consumer protection act (TCPA) of 1991 made it illegal for companies to send unsolicited faxes to residential phone numbers. You still receive tons of junk faxes on business lines, but you shouldn't get them on residential lines. If you do, file a complaint with the FCC.
You can find more information at:
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/tcpa.html
No wonder SMS didn't catch on in America, a simple SMS conversation would cost more than its worth, and you can't even be sure who can and who can't get your message because people block it as they're unhappy paying!
And before people start bleeting on about why not just call them, its much easier to text 'be there at 6:30' when on a train rather than call, hope they're available that split second to answer and you don't move out of signal range since you're going 160mph!
And what about in a meeting? Lecture? At work? Etc..
Am I the only person here that understands how outrageous this is. Your friend sends u a message and somehow feel like it not your responsibility? I could understand if it spam which i know T-mobile and hopefully all carriers and block but really we GIVE out our number, and if our dumbass friends wont stop sending us mindless messages we get upset at the company instead of the people?! WTF its called accountability
I could just see it now these same people great mad because now there blocked and they now wont get information messages like: 1)
Your service is about to be disconnected, or 2) "i need help pick me up" when either party is unavailable to speak ( ie meeting or class ) again WTF
W00t, just saw your post thank you , thank you
I'm glad I use MetroPCS.
Wait, hold up. Virgin Mobile is included? I had a virgin mobile phone up until last week. There is an option in the text message service screen to disable incoming text messages.
This is actually inaccurate. U.S. CEllular (USCC) does not charge for anything that is incoming--be it a text message, MMS, etc.
That is one scary thumb!
On an account level, with at&t, you can block text messaging.
I work for AT&T, you CAN opt out of SMS, MMS, and WAP. If a customer does not want a discounted messaging feature I recommend blocking so they don't end up with a huge bill.
T-Mobile is the only carrier to offer an application that allows the end-users to block text messages sent from an url (Public portals) or email addresses. Therefore eliminating about 99% of unsolicited text messages. Only those text messages sent from one cell phone to another cell phone or from a short code to a cell phone will be received.
Any text message received from a legitimate short code, the end-users simply replies with either STOP, END, QUIT or CANCEL and they must be opted-out by FCC regulation, CTIA and MMA rules.
The spammers will be shut down if all carriers would block those url portals and the email to SMS (Text) capability.
you should be able to stop any spam by replying to it, but that doesn't work very well. that's why you can stop spam with att with this website- http://mymessages.wireless.att.com/
T-mobile missed out because they allow you to turn them off silly. how can a blog that has a mobile wing NOT know this?
Actually, t-mo doesn't let you turn it off. Oh, I have tried. They require you to have it, and then charge you 15 cents even when it's spam. They finally just said that they will give me 5 messages till the end of the billing cycle for that spam, which I am like, I don't use text! They just won't give you the 15 cents back.
Still, we are kinda stuck with t-mo as they have the lowest cost plan for my family.
ACTUALLY, you can, login, go to
Communication Tools > Create e-mail filters
http://tagr.org/see.jpg
Anyone even notice the ridiculous and arbitrary 160 character cap designed to cost you a fortune? How about voicemail? Costs them if they don't get you, costs you if they don't get you. [Could've easily been implemented on phones. aswell - please no iPhone debate]
The bottom line
----------------------------------------------
Screw current telcos, I can't wait till we get an unregulated wireless radio band.
The 160 character cap is caused by technical limitations, not by carrier choice.
Text messages in 7-bit, typical in the US is 160 characters.
8-bit, foreign languages, is limited to 140 characters.
Text messages in Canada are limited to 134 characters.
Using unicode for text messaging, Chinese, Japanese and others limits the message to 70-characters.
Sprint allows the block of both incoming or outgoing or both...why is this lawsuit an issue again???
The reason T-Mobile isn't mentioned is likely that they don't do business in Missippi. The suit was filed there in Federal Court, because Mississippi is among the poorest states in the nation and therefore a jury from there is most likely to award a ludicrously large award.
And even if you can turn off text messaging completely, that is not what the suit contends. It charges that all of these carriers do not allow you to choose which text messages you receive; it is all or none, whereas as most consumers would prefer to be able to take their pick of the bunch.
I have sprint. Texting is disabled on my kids phones, not on my phone and my wife's. Even with that, Sprint tried to charge me $150.00 for texts "to and from" my son's number. I asked them to look at the account and see that texting has been disabled for years, they confirmed. However, they said that texts were still received/sent. They also told me that they can't send/rec from the CS office and that I'd have to go to a Sprint store for verification (i called, photo'd the failure msg's on the phone and emailed the pics). It took a store manager to over-ride the charges. Worse, I asked for proof of the incoming/outgoing numbers used for texting and was told that report would cost me $35.00us and could take 6-8 weeks but I had to pay now.
So while you can easily get texting disabled even with data plans, it doesn't always work well.
Oh, my neighbor has an iPhone with AT&T, their data plan which only has 200 msg's and somehow at 200 he can't receive/send any msgs. He had to complain to "retentions" or something that since he's only paying for 200, he's not responsible for more and won't pay. They told him they could put a "above limit block" on for no charge.
Euros pay for texts and calls (incoming and outgoing) if its a roamer, so shut up Euros about how your texts and incoming calls are free. You are just like the US - it's free unless it costs money.
In France which the last I checked, was still in Europe, the messages sent from an end-users phone to a short code arrive as an alias in the standard SMS format. So there is little or no spamming. If the end-user in France sends a text message in the SMS-plus format, the company has 60-days to communicate and then the alias is diasabled. Companies sending or receiving messages are billed for both messages in addition to what the end-user may or may not pay.
Publius
I agree with some of what you say, but not all. Capitalism works for a while, but if left to its own devices it will always overheat and self destruct. The current problems in America are due to capitalist greed, some people got rich by lending money they did not have to people who could not afford it (gross over-simplification, but close enough).
For Capitalism to function long-term it needs regulation, right wing governments like your Republicans or Democrats (seriously, on a global reference the Democrats are a right wing party, America does not have a left wing party - excluding Nader) will not enforce adequate legislation as it hurts themselves and their friends, at least not until it is much too late. Also the American electoral system seems to have corruption built in, dump the Electoral College, it is superfluous and an invitation to ignore the voters wishes.
A common mistake is to regard Socialism and Capitalism as opposites, they are not and a Venn diagram is a better visualization than a compass. Europe works because it has capital based economy and socialist leaning governments who do enforce legislation to try to avoid the problems apparent in America, admittedly with limited success, but at least they try. I just hope we can keep it going with the increased diversity we’re seeing with EU expansion.
Not that I don't have a text messaging plan...but with T-Mobile, I wouldn't get charged for a received message unless I opened it directly or physically read it.
For those of you who don't get it:
1. I want to use text messaging. That's part of the great thing about using the cell phone.
2. However, I still get about 15-30 random text messages a week from people I dont know, spam etc. At 25Cents a pop, thats a lot of money.
3. Yes I can go to Verizon and tell them to shut off text messaging completely, and thereby eliminating the extra charges, but see point 1.
Just because I want to use text messaging doesn't mean I should have to be subject to extra fees associated with Verizon or any other carriers inability to control spam or other users.
There is no configurable spam block, and you can't block specific numbers. It's either all on or all off. And thats ridiculous.
Plus the whole notion of charging for text messaging is ridiculous anyway. The way text messaging works on the cell phone network, it actually cost the phone company next to nothing to send your text message yet they charge 50 cents (send and receive) on the transaction.
SMS is a stupid service, in fairness. It costs a huge amount to send a tiny bit of information. It should be free of charge. Think of it this way:
160 character limit. Let make it 200 characters including the header (time sent etc)
So in that case, you're being charged 9c (in Ireland, thats what I pay) per 200 bytes and you want to send a text to America from Europe.
If you wanted to send (for whatever reason) 1mb of information via this service, it would cost €471 (737 USD) ! It would be cheaper to get a flight and hand the receiver a damn floppy with your data on it.
Its just another example of the consumer being completely ripped off. I can't wait until SMS is dead and gets replaced by proper messaging services.
I can tell you for fact, I travelled through Asia and my M1 card from Singapore, China Mobile, Vietnamese, and indonesian sim cards when put into one of my phones all still give me free SMS incoming even sitting here in the United States. I don't use the rest as often by the M1 card definitely does because it stays in my blackberry until for messaging to friends until I flee Verizon. I believe I get free incoming call to but I could be wrong on that because I don't use it for calls here.
bottom line US Telecom companies are scumbags and have an oligopoly over the market. I remember when MCI mobile went out of business and the original ATT or one of then, around 2001 or 2002, when I was in undergrad, I had a plan for like $30 with 700 minutes. Then the Telecoms consolidated into the big 4 and the plan disappeared into $40 with 400 minutes. They have you by the balls in the US and there is no competition. If you want a mobile you are paying a grip for it. SMS were free to receive until Verizon started charging $0.10, then everyone followed suit. And why can't you send your sms over data? They are short emails In Japan, people basically just send emails and there is no limit and its cheaper. In Chile i had a movistar phone and i was able to take it to Argentina and al of that was cheaper than the US. No they all have tipped their hats to give consumers something in the hard economic times before people flip out and they get into real crap, these $99/ month plans. If they are able to do that now why couldn't they do it before and why all at the same time. You don't just change your prices over night that has to be done over time to make all your infrastructure (websites sales people, sales signage , brochures pricing signage etc) all all correct yet all of these companies did it together almost over night. Further if they cal offer you ll of that for tat price why can use get unlimited talk for say 2/5 the price and text for say 1/5, and data for say 2/5, break it out al a carte? Its a joke, telecom companies just sit back watch work together to keep prices as they are and rake in the profits. I am glad someone is challenging them on something. Its not about time.
I WANNA KNOW Y T-MOBILE WASN'T ON THE DAMN LIST! I JUST WAS IN AN ARGUMENT WITH THEM A WEEK AGO BECAUSE I HAVE $40 WORTH OF RECEIVED TEXT MESSAGES, AND I ASKED THEM TO TURN IT OFF AND THEY SAY THEY CANT BLOCK THEM! AND SPRINT SHOULDNT BE ON THE LIST BECAUSE THEY CAN BLOCK INCOMING MESSAGES!
GREG WHY DID YOU KEEP YOUR MAIDEN NAME?
Here in Lithuania texting is $1/w for unlimited.. Frankly we have like 130% of population using mobiles, with coverage of smth like 99% :)
Otherwise we pay one of the highest gas and electricity bills with wages like $400/month
Move to Australia!
Come to canada, all incoming texts with all cell companies are free!!