Comments on: The rising cost of texting

Text message prices have risen as quickly as gas prices at the pump over the past two years. What gives?

[hawaiiinsomniac]

Yup, I remember the good ole days; when I had Voicestream, right before they switched to T-Mobile, $10 unlimited for SMS.

I am preparing to get the new iPhone 3G, and currently I pay $69.99 which includes 450 minutes and 1500 SMS messages, my new bill will be $74.99 with only 200 SMS messages.

AT&T is really milking the iPhone for all its worth. I know their landlands aren't moneymakers, but come on!

No worries though, I just hope that Google Talk will be available on the new iPhone.

Take that SMS!

[BLSCPTS]

What do I think of the high cost of texting? No much. I don't text much at all with my BlackBerry. I'll use email instead. I get a couple of text messages from a couple of family members in another state every once in a while but is isn't enough for me to get the texting plan along with my voice/BB data plan.

[Squashman2]

Sounds like Price Fixing, which is illegal. If all the major carriers are getting together behind closed doors and saying "OK AT&T and Sprint will raise their prices first and T-Mobile will go last, then next time we want to raise prices T-Mobile will go first." That is illegal.

[tigerkitty2]

you're describing collusion, not price fixing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collusion

[dnpinthepp]

Price Fixing is a form of collusion. Check the article you just sent. Hahahahaha.

[nickclark567]

I'm with Verizon Wireless and recently switched my plan from a regular voice plan to the unlimited texting plan. Previously, there was the account holder plus three additional lines, with two of them adding the $10 a month texting package for 500 texts. Since switching to the new plan with the same amount of minutes, we are only paying $5 more, while getting unlimited texting on all four lines, instead of only 500 on two of the lines. So the cost isn't bothering me, since I don't pay for each individual text.

[gsmiller88]

With my regional provider I get 1,000 for $9.99, which seems a bit too high if you ask me.

[jbrunhaver]

It actually turns out that it doesn't cost anything for a cell-phone provider to transmit text. The text messages utilize a reserved field in the header of packets which transmit other types of data. This piggy-backing mechanism is why there is significant variance in the delay of text messages.

[jbrunhaver]

It actually turns out that it doesn't cost anything for a cell-phone provider to transmit text. The text messages utilize a reserved field in the header of packets which transmit other types of data. This piggy-backing mechanism is why there is significant variance in the delay of text messages.

[mikekrause]

Never sent a text, never will. What kills me about this is when I see all the teenyboppers in the movie theater with their glowing phones texting each other during the movie. Who's paying for it? My guess is mommy and daddy. Like most addictions (I would lump my own addiction to Starbucks in this category, ) people will pay a premium for their fix. It's a simple as that.

[mjconver]

"text messaging rates seem exurbanite"? What, you can only get them in the country?

[katya99]

Yes, apparently, they're outside of the city. (Do you think they meant that the prices were exuberant? :)

[Pikachu62]

Exuberant, or exorbitant... LoL

[mikekrause]

Never sent a text message, never will. What kills me about this is when I see all the teenyboppers in the movie theater with their glowing phones texting each other during the movie. Who's paying for it? My guess is mommy and daddy. Like most addictions (I would lump my own addiction to Starbucks in this category, ) people will pay a premium for their fix. It's a simple as that.

[DipsetBeast72]

Lol alright Grandpa, I know are new fangled gadgets scare you but texting is essential now. It's become the fastest way to communicate over a long distance and it's easier then having to call somebody just to say "Lets go to Lunch." It's new it's taking over so get use to it, you will send a text before you die believe me...

[soccre55]

I think you mean to say collusion, which is hard to prove. You would have to have a memo or email or something between companies stating a plan to keep prices high. Sadly, reacting to other companies successful pricing policies isn't illegal, as shady and greedy as the pricing is.

[accounts--2008]

SMS is the biggest scam job of today's information world. Not only do we have to pay exorbitant rates for something much simpler than email, but we have to pay when we RECEIVE them!

Since when is it legal to charge someone for something they didn't request? people who pay $20/month for unlimited texts love to send texts to all of their friends who may not have those plans and have to pay for something they probably didn't ask for. Not to mention spam SMS. Am I supposed to call AT&T every time I get a spam SMS to get them to remove the 20 cents?

It represents the worst that capitalism can bring us. Consumers should boycott SMS!

SMS - "Simple Message Scamming" (others should post their own acronym meanings!)

[soccre55]

I just hope there is an iphone app that gets around sms....

[Rants&Raves]

When you say exurbanite, you speak of people living outside of the city (you know, where stuff is cheaper). I think you wanted to mean exorbitant, which has grown to mean really expensive (but literally means out of orbit).

[mastercko]

no, when he says exurbanite, I think he means it in the sense that it's where the more well-to-do families go.

[Maggie Reardon]

Thank you for correcting the misspelling. I wasn't paying close enough attention to my automatic spell check when I first wrote this story. I'm glad I have such careful readers who will let me know when I make a mistake. Thanks!

[Tradeur]

Text messaging is the ultimate ripoff. But it will endure as long as hapless consumers continue to use it. I will stick to free instant messaging.

[globalVariable]

I still have the old old ATT Wireless plan from the pre-Cingular days which gives me unlimited incoming text messages. I have been heavily using this feature to receive mail, IM, calendar, weather, traffic, stock alerts and even messages from visitors to my website. The new ATT has coaxed me into signing up for new plan which will give me "Free Phones" but will snatch away this very useful feature. On one occasion they arm-twisted me into doing this by shutting down the text messaging feature under the pretext that I am under the "Blue" network and now they only support the "Orange" network (whatever that meant). But I have resisted all attempts and am still enjoying free incoming text messages and 10c per outgoing message. I won't give this feature up, now that it is a 20-dollar value !

[Kage_No_Oni]

Well, the thing you have to realize here is that they need to migrate all the old customers off of the network that is slowly being phased out (And sold to T-Mobile). They are switching all old TDMA towers and some older GSM towers (16-bit) to the newer GSM 3G (32 bit towers) over time. If you refused to switch over, your service would have been shut off due to lack of support. Or charged ALOT for roaming on T-Mobiles new network.

And a quick explination:

"Blue" Plans: Legacy plans created in older versions of program they use to set up the new phones. Completely unsupported after the new upgrades.
"Orange" Plans: Any plans that can be used on the new network.

Hope my information helped.

*Note: I did sell Cingular and Sprint for a two years*

[brianmedia]

This is exactly what i knew would happen. Years ago when there were lots of main wireless providers including AT&T Wireless (not to be confused with the new AT&T with Cingular) the plans were MUCH better. now with all the buying out we only have 4 major providers and prices are actually rising.

My old AT&T family plan was $69 for 2 lines that shared 2200 minutes, unlimited N&W @ 7pm, unlimited text....

you better believe they are silently working together to keep prices where they are at and nickel and dime you with little stuff to make even more money.

[stlhobbit]

Text messages waste more time for me than a 30 second call. I don't feel the need to be so completely digitally connected & obligated to respond. I actively discourage friends from texting me & I rarely respond when they do.

I don't anticipate buying a SMS texting plan.

On a more philosophical note: Solitude is both a value and a sanctuary that we seem to have forgotten. Being digitally plugged in 24/7 is not the way I want to live.

[katya99]

Here in Oregon, there are lots of areas among the mountains where cell phone calls just don't go through- but text messages do. (I almost never text, either, but this was helpful to me a couple of times).

[ittesi259]

Any type of IM client typically is billed as a text message for cell phones....AIM, Yahoo, MSN, all of them....read the ToS before you go crazy.

[skellener]

Time to bust up the large carriers again. And while we're at it but up the large oil companies as well. Competition is good. This is collusion. There is no free market in the oil or cellphone industries. That's why they raise prices and we suffer. It's government's job to make sure this type of monopolistic abuse of the market doesn't happen. BREAK THEM UP! Have real competition. Watch the prices fall!

[cheapskate_at_heart]

How is that some of the regional carriers like Cricket can offer unlimited texting, unlimited picture messaging, local and long distance calling at prices like $45 a month. Their costs cant be that much lower than that of the larger carriers. The larger carriers are simply out to squeeze every penny out of your wallet. Then again, how stupid of a consumer do we have to be to keep going back to the AT&T's and Verizons and paying those huge rates? As consumers, we have more power than we think.....if we have the guts to actually do something about it.