You call the carrier and complain. I have done that with t-mobile a couple times and both times they just added like 20 free text messages to my plan to cover it.
Honestly when you can get unlimited text for about $10-15 extra a month which is probably $5-10 more than the base level plan. Long distance on a land line is pretty expensive if you don't just pay the additional $5-10 to get unlimited.
So lesson of the day pay an extra $5-10 bucks and get unlimited it'll save you the pain of paying $20-30 bucks in overages...
I canceled My T-Mobile Contract (early Term) under the audacity of them raising their text messaging rates in July. I paid not one red cent for early termination either with the argument that the rates were ridiculous! (I also did not have a Text messaging plan, however, I do send/receive a few texts). (Line 3 on the Contract)
Correspond to: T-Mobile Wireless ATTN: Customer Relations PO Box 37380 Albuquerque, NM 87176-7380 FAX: 813-353-6545
If that helps just one other person save some non-needed BS from Customer Service department - then i have done my job . . . .
Then don't comment. Texting is here to stay, whether you like it or not.
I send over 9000 text messages each month, and have for some time. People ask me how I get work done, but I find that it's more efficient and less tangential sometimes to just stick to the point and coordinate in the space of 160 characters rather than have a full-blown phone conversation.
Texting doesn't _replace_ calling, it merely supplements it.
The fact that I can't opt out of unsolicited texts screams money trap to me. Even if I turn texting off on my service plans entirely (at+t) I still receive text messages from anyone who wants to send 'em. Calling up and complaining is only a band-aid. It doesn't fix the underlying problem.
Besides that, why do texts costs 10c or more anyway? They use way less bandwidth than a minute of talk time. Its just a steep fee to force people into yet another monthly plan.
Thank goodness my work uses Blackberry Messenger on our phones. it falls under data transfer and is unlimited, not to mention easier to manage conversations.
I can't believe you folks across the pond have to pay for messages received. Really, that's just ridiculous. No wonder that cell phone adoption was so slow in the US...
how the hell are you getting unsolicited texts? you obviously put your number out there somewhere for them to find, so it's really you're own fault. I've had the same number since 2003 and have never once received an "unsolicited" text.
You would think that paying 19.99 for unlimited blackberry service gets you txt because it's data and not talk but you'd be wrong. I am with T-mobile and I have to pay 45 for my 1000 talk minutes plus 19.99 for my unlimited blackberry data service but for text messaging...i was charged .15 a txt unless i buy a package of 400 txts @ 4.99 a month. I hope this guy Kohl can make them answer for this outrageous money making scheme.
Ok, so why did everyone rank kccboy2004 so low? If you think something is too expensive, DON'T DO IT. How hard is that? Or do you feel entitled to cheap text messages?
Now if you want to talk about getting charged for receiving text messages, that's another issue entirely. And you know what, not all cell-phone companies charge you for every text you receive. Hell, one of the big pre-paid cellphone companies only charge you for messages that you open, and do not charge you for messages that they send out.
But if it costs more to send a message than you would like, don't do it. Find another carrier.
"But if it costs more to send a message than you would like, don't do it. Find another carrier."
That's the problem right there, all the carriers do it because there's no real competition. In a true free market the cost for SMS would trend towards the actual cost which is basically nothing ($0.00), competition among carriers would have one carrier offering SMS for less than the others to gain customers and then the other carriers would either match or beat each carrier's prices until everybody started offering free, or extremely cheep messaging. The problem is that the cellphone industry is not a free market but an oligopoly - a market dominated by a small number of companies. As such there isn't any true competition amongst cellphone carries, especially regarding SMS. The evidence of this is that SMS rates have only gone up and that price increases from one carrier are often matched a short time later by the others. My belief is that this is due to either overt collusion, where the carriers communicate with one another, or tacit collusion where they just monitor one another's prices to keep them the same and match price increases. The former isn't very likely as it would be extremely illegal while the latter, though possibly legal, is certainly cause for investigation.
A free market would dictate that the price of a commodity that is unlimited and costs nothing would trend to zero. In an Oligopoly the price of the same commodity would stay the same amongst all carriers and even tend to increase, which is exactly what we see with SMS.
I hope that this inquiry has legs as text messages cost more per byte than receiving images from the Hubble Space Telescope. In fact, my guess is that SMS is the most expensive form of communication in the history of mankind.
FYI. text in most country in asia region cost so little 100 message for 0.5$. or if you fall in some plan, you could basically text for free. Free market? maybe, maybe not in US.
Just got out of your high school economics class? In a 'true' free market, the carriers will charge what ever the hell they can get people to pay for it. If you keep paying high prices for text messages, you only have yourself to blame. There are cheaper services that have text messages. Tracphone (sp?) for one. And you don't have to pay when someone sends you a message, only if you read it. So if you really are fed up with the big carrier's prices for texting, go somewhere else.
"A free market would dictate that the price of a commodity that is unlimited and costs nothing would trend to zero."
That is so pure theory, and not real world that I have to laugh. Again a free market would dictate that the cost of something is directly in relation to how much people are willing to spend on something. You've all agreed to pay high rates. You only have yourself to blame.
Don't worry, I'll be more than happy with this being low ranked as well. You might as well low-rank me for calling 9/11 truthers idiots as well, I won't be sad.
“An engineer explained to us that hundreds of ear impressions were gathered in the name of research, and while each one obviously boasted its own unique shape and size, one single characteristic remained uniform across the board: the entrance into the ear canal is not a perfect circle, it's an oval.”
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Don't text.
and when you get unsolicited texts you do what?
"and when you get unsolicited texts you do what?"
You call the carrier and complain. I have done that with t-mobile a couple times and both times they just added like 20 free text messages to my plan to cover it.
Honestly when you can get unlimited text for about $10-15 extra a month which is probably $5-10 more than the base level plan. Long distance on a land line is pretty expensive if you don't just pay the additional $5-10 to get unlimited.
So lesson of the day pay an extra $5-10 bucks and get unlimited it'll save you the pain of paying $20-30 bucks in overages...
Huh?
@Jagster
I canceled My T-Mobile Contract (early Term) under the audacity of them raising their text messaging rates in July. I paid not one red cent for early termination either with the argument that the rates were ridiculous! (I also did not have a Text messaging plan, however, I do send/receive a few texts). (Line 3 on the Contract)
Correspond to:
T-Mobile Wireless
ATTN: Customer Relations
PO Box 37380
Albuquerque, NM 87176-7380
FAX: 813-353-6545
If that helps just one other person save some non-needed BS from Customer Service department - then i have done my job . . . .
Then don't comment. Texting is here to stay, whether you like it or not.
I send over 9000 text messages each month, and have for some time. People ask me how I get work done, but I find that it's more efficient and less tangential sometimes to just stick to the point and coordinate in the space of 160 characters rather than have a full-blown phone conversation.
Texting doesn't _replace_ calling, it merely supplements it.
The fact that I can't opt out of unsolicited texts screams money trap to me. Even if I turn texting off on my service plans entirely (at+t) I still receive text messages from anyone who wants to send 'em. Calling up and complaining is only a band-aid. It doesn't fix the underlying problem.
Besides that, why do texts costs 10c or more anyway? They use way less bandwidth than a minute of talk time. Its just a steep fee to force people into yet another monthly plan.
Thank goodness my work uses Blackberry Messenger on our phones. it falls under data transfer and is unlimited, not to mention easier to manage conversations.
So apparently you get low ranked if you actually _use_ the service we're talking about in the article? SMS?
That makes sense not.
The new opacity-proportional vote system is annoying too. Now I'm squinting to read everything. Great.
I can't believe you folks across the pond have to pay for messages received. Really, that's just ridiculous. No wonder that cell phone adoption was so slow in the US...
@nerdtalker:
Blind much?
how the hell are you getting unsolicited texts? you obviously put your number out there somewhere for them to find, so it's really you're own fault. I've had the same number since 2003 and have never once received an "unsolicited" text.
@Ghen
You would think that paying 19.99 for unlimited blackberry service gets you txt because it's data and not talk but you'd be wrong. I am with T-mobile and I have to pay 45 for my 1000 talk minutes plus 19.99 for my unlimited blackberry data service but for text messaging...i was charged .15 a txt unless i buy a package of 400 txts @ 4.99 a month. I hope this guy Kohl can make them answer for this outrageous money making scheme.
Ok, so why did everyone rank kccboy2004 so low? If you think something is too expensive, DON'T DO IT. How hard is that? Or do you feel entitled to cheap text messages?
Now if you want to talk about getting charged for receiving text messages, that's another issue entirely. And you know what, not all cell-phone companies charge you for every text you receive. Hell, one of the big pre-paid cellphone companies only charge you for messages that you open, and do not charge you for messages that they send out.
But if it costs more to send a message than you would like, don't do it. Find another carrier.
wow, is it just me or (firefox) are low ranked comments faded???
@Rocketboy
"But if it costs more to send a message than you would like, don't do it. Find another carrier."
That's the problem right there, all the carriers do it because there's no real competition. In a true free market the cost for SMS would trend towards the actual cost which is basically nothing ($0.00), competition among carriers would have one carrier offering SMS for less than the others to gain customers and then the other carriers would either match or beat each carrier's prices until everybody started offering free, or extremely cheep messaging. The problem is that the cellphone industry is not a free market but an oligopoly - a market dominated by a small number of companies. As such there isn't any true competition amongst cellphone carries, especially regarding SMS. The evidence of this is that SMS rates have only gone up and that price increases from one carrier are often matched a short time later by the others. My belief is that this is due to either overt collusion, where the carriers communicate with one another, or tacit collusion where they just monitor one another's prices to keep them the same and match price increases. The former isn't very likely as it would be extremely illegal while the latter, though possibly legal, is certainly cause for investigation.
A free market would dictate that the price of a commodity that is unlimited and costs nothing would trend to zero. In an Oligopoly the price of the same commodity would stay the same amongst all carriers and even tend to increase, which is exactly what we see with SMS.
I hope that this inquiry has legs as text messages cost more per byte than receiving images from the Hubble Space Telescope. In fact, my guess is that SMS is the most expensive form of communication in the history of mankind.
FYI. text in most country in asia region cost so little 100 message for 0.5$. or if you fall in some plan, you could basically text for free. Free market? maybe, maybe not in US.
its all related to the high cost of oil.
Just got out of your high school economics class? In a 'true' free market, the carriers will charge what ever the hell they can get people to pay for it. If you keep paying high prices for text messages, you only have yourself to blame. There are cheaper services that have text messages. Tracphone (sp?) for one. And you don't have to pay when someone sends you a message, only if you read it. So if you really are fed up with the big carrier's prices for texting, go somewhere else.
"A free market would dictate that the price of a commodity that is unlimited and costs nothing would trend to zero."
That is so pure theory, and not real world that I have to laugh. Again a free market would dictate that the cost of something is directly in relation to how much people are willing to spend on something. You've all agreed to pay high rates. You only have yourself to blame.
Don't worry, I'll be more than happy with this being low ranked as well. You might as well low-rank me for calling 9/11 truthers idiots as well, I won't be sad.