While checking all the updates in my google reader today I noticed this little nugget of goodness - http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/10/senator-opens-inquiry-into-rising-text-messaging-rates/.
Thank you engadget for the article, and thank you Herb for slingin' big ones.
We've been talking about this for a LONG time and I am glad someone is finally asking the question out loud - How can texting cost so much?! We started archiving SMSs for users a couple months ago and I gotta tell ya, an SMS is tiny. Like, SUPER tiny. I cannot imagine the storage cost is the reason some cell phone companies are chargin' 20¢ a text now. Its ludicrous.
Now, there may actually be a logical explanation for why the cost has doubled in the last 3 years, but I cannot seem to wrap my head around what that reason may be. Even unlimited plan prices are staggering where you look at how much information is actually sent/received.
I will be keeping a close eye on this story. Apparently, Sprint is "looking forward to responding to the Senator's inquiry". I am looking forward to it too.
Till next time, cheers all.
The contents of this post are from the mind of its author, and may not reflect the opinion of Dexrex.
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Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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2 comments:
Senator vs. multi billion dollar industry... wonder who will win. I suspect cell providers will be able to make a compelling mathematical case by showing the costs of SMSing end-to-end. Satellites, global bandwidth, gateway negotiation between providers, the list goes on.
I am sure they could, I would just like to see it in writing. I cannot find the documentation anywhere! I'd be more ok with 'We sent up a satellite that has to be paid off over the next 4 years' than 'You'll pay for this no matter what we charge, muahaha!'
Also, prices are going up even though technology is getting more efficient... Doesn't sit well with me:/
On a related note, interesting factoid -
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/12/1419204
I made sure to double check this and yes it is true: It costs 4x more for SMS communication than to get scientific data from the Hubble telescope, bit for bit. Craziness.
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