Why are SMS messages so expensive?
Is there any reason, beyond corporate greed, for SMS messages to cost so much?
If I get it right, an SMS message is just a short string of data, no different from a message we send in a messenger. If so, then what makes them so expensive? If we'd take Internet plans and consider how much data an SMS takes, we should pay tiny fraction of a cent for each message; why doesn't that happen?
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I know it doesn't help, but Europeans have always been amazed how much you guys were charged for SMS. Even in 1999, over here messages cost a fraction of what you were charged - that you pay for them at all these days is just mind-boggling.
American profit seeking at its finest
They’re in Russia. I don’t know anybody in the US (I assume you’re talking about) who pays for SMS.
Who were you texting in 1999? Cell phones weren’t very common then.
Probably me on my Nokia 5110 with the slick custom faceplate, extra thiccccc battery, and analog external module.
I always wanted a Nokia - I know it was a cliche, but I was amazed at how indestructible they were. Even when they did actually break apart, you could just pick up the bits, clip them back together, and it would just work again - with no visible damage.
Also, SNAKE
Obviously I updated my 5110 to a 3310 only a few years later!
But to be honest I think my all time favorite will always stay my Ericsson T610/630... I kept that thing for over seven years. It rocked. Even had Bluetooth which I used to connect with my X10 home automation.
I started university in 1999. Pretty much everyone had a mobile phone there. They were fairly new, granted, but they were pretty ubiquitous.
I was late getting a flip phone, but I did in 02. Everyone else I knew already had mobile devices.
By 02 texting & cellphones were somewhat common. In 1999 people were only really using cellphones to make calls and they were less common than pagers.
It's funny. My general region uses text but really only phones if it's really important right this moment. We do have the phone conversations when it's too much to text though.
They were called pagers back then.
Bullshit
Please elaborate on how wrong you are. There were still pay phones everywhere in 99 because cell phones weren’t common yet.