The Great Texting Ripoff

[marmar]

from Minyanville:



We Must Stop Texting!
By Mike Schuster August 18, 2011 12:52 PM


I've made this plea before, but now -- more than ever -- you need to stop texting.

At 160 characters, a single SMS message is the most egregiously overpriced service offered by a carrier. Twenty cents apiece under AT&T and Verizon -- 30 cents for MMS -- unlimited texts will run you $20 a month for those same providers. It's blatant highway robbery for a service that costs next to nothing, but our largest mobile providers have no qualms about squeezing us dry.

To wit: AT&T has just phased out its $10 texting plan which allowed 1,000 texts per month for new customers. All that remains is the $20 unlimited option for individual customers and $30 unlimited option for family plans.

"We regularly evaluate our offers and are making some adjustments to our messaging lineup," an AT&T spokesperson told Engadget. "The vast majority of our messaging customers prefer unlimited plans and with text messaging growth stronger than ever, that number continues to climb among new customers." ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.minyanville.com/dailyfeed/2011/08/18/we-must-stop-texting/

[Brickbat]

1. Meh, that's one service I'm not going to give up.

[DCKit]

11. Meh, that's one service I'll never use.

My fat fingers require a full-sized keyboard.

[Tunkamerica]

2. mine was 5 bucks for 250 which is plenty. i didn't text till last year.

Sometimes you want to communicate without actually speaking.

[Uben]

3. Me no texto!

I have a cell phone. It makes calls and receives calls. That's all it does, that's all I want it to do. I don't need a camera, an MP3 player, texting, or ringtones. I just need a phone. It cost me $15 a month. I use it about 10 times a month, and that's $1.50 a call. Yeah, it's too damn high, but convenience costs. I didn't get a flip phone until they were antiques.(well, actually, it was given to me)

I don't even know what my cell phone number is....I never call it!

[Dreamer Tatum]

4. How stupid is that article?

$20/mo for unlimited worldwide communications is a ripoff?

Measuring the cost per character?

Dumb as ever-living hell. Almost Luddite.

[sudopod]

7. How much data do you think is involved in you loading a DU page?

How much in a five minute call to Mom?

[Dreamer Tatum]

8. What's your point? nt

[sudopod]

12. Texts are just a few hundred bytes at most.

While loading all of the images on any given webpage will be dozens or hundred of kilobytes. Hell, that tiny DU logo in the corner is 2.7 kB. Voice can be even more, depending on the sampling rate. Yet they segment the market by separating data plans and text plans and charge people absurd amounts (in relative terms) to send tiny messages. No, it's no reason to bring out pitch forks and torches, but it is aggravating in the same way that the dozen different flavors of Windows 7 are also aggravating. I don't see how someone pointing that out earns your angrypost.

Also, where did you get "Luddite" vibes from?

From the article:

Since switching to a Google Voice number -- which includes texting, among other services, for free -- I promptly discontinued my texting plan for Verizon. Upon the imminent launch of iOS 5, iPhone users will have access to the iMessage app, which provides free text, photos, videos, and group messaging for every iOS customer. (Google is rumored to debut a similar product for Android users, too.) And most recently, Facebook debuted its Messenger app which circumvents a provider's SMS service by sending brief messages to contacts you're likely friends with already.

Sounds positively Pennsylvania Dutch, doesn't it?

This isn't Slashdot, son. We read our articles before posing in this house.

[MineralMan]

5. I believe it's possible to text on my trakfone, but I have no idea

how to do it. Heck, I only use the phone a couple of times a year. I think it's in one of my winter jackets, but I'm not sure. It's for emergencies.

[kick-ass-bob]

6. Ain't gonna work well sitting in a jacket

all discharged and all. ;)

[MineralMan]

16. Oddly enough, as long as it's off, the battery holds its charge for

months and months. I slip it in my pocket if I'm driving a long ways or going fishing in my boat. Otherwise, it's wherever I left it the last time I took it with me. Whenever I turn it on, the battery's on full. Then I turn it off. I rarely have to call anyone on the phone, so it just stays off between battery checks. I charge it a couple of times a year, just in case, though. :rofl:

[Sheepshank]

9. There's 5 of us on my family plan

we all share the unlimited text for $20.

That works out at $4 per person. I'm not whining about the texting part of the bill anyway. Between all of us (and 3 of us are hyper texting teens) we send 1000's...like 4000 texts a month. Granted most are one word or single syllable responses, but there ya go. I keep in touch with the kids and coordinate schedules for games, practices, friends, grocery pick up, dr appt, dental appts, school updates, piano, gym, social appts,etc etc and it's great for us. I'd give up voice before I give up text for convenience and ease.

[Dreamer Tatum]

10. Think of the time, gas, and trouble you save.

$20 for unlimited communication is a pittance.

[tabbycat31]

13. glad my plan has unlimited texting

I probably text more than I talk. I'd rather text than talk.

[Lance_Boyle]

14. I will gladly pay $20/month for unlimited texting even though I know it's a

blatant ripoff based on their costs. Texts ought to be less than a penny apiece. What gets me is that there is no voice plan with less than 400 or so minutes. I am on the phone maybe 10 minutes a month, and I despise every second of those 10 minutes. With AT&T the minutes roll over, but WTF good is it going to do my no-phone-talky ass to have 790 minutes available the next month?

[BadgerKid]

20. If leaving AT&T is an option,

Virgin Mobile has a $35/mo. plan with 300 voice minutes and unlimited everything else. You probably have to buy a phone of theirs, too, costing upwards of $80.

The problem with third-party carriers is that sometimes (though infrequently in my case) messages get delayed. Worst case for me was hours later, which happened only twice in the 3+ years I've had a cell phone.

[ixion]

15. I'm onboard. I don't text.

never made much sense to me to try and get out a coherent sentence with a crappy miniature keyboard.

[NeedleCast]

17. I value my ulimited text messaging option at at least 20$ month

Sorry, it's very much worth it to me.

[BadgerKid]

18. Supposedly one can still downgrade text plans???

Not dead yet (Score:1)

After reading this, I decided to go check my ATT account, and I was able to downgrade just fine from the 1500 text plan for $15 to the 1000 text plan for $10. So...if you want it, better go and get it before they update their site. iMessage is about to dramatically lower my billed texts anyway.


http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/08/19/1452255/ATampT-Kills-10-Texting-Plan-Pushes-20-Plan

[Shagbark Hickory]

19. If you have the google voice app and account you can send SMS (no pics) for free.

[hack89]

21. As the father of teen agers, I know I am getting my money's worth!

the record so far is 20,000 plus texts in one month.