MightyPez
join:2002-05-01
Saint Paul, MN
 ·Comcast
| It's the market, unfortunately
As it was mentioned on Slashdot and on this site before as well, people are willing to pay it, so companies are more than willing to charge it. I myself have a data plan that includes unlimited text messaging.
Remember, we are willing to pay money for a bottle of water that we can get for free and cleaner out of a tap (well, in most cases, anyway). When we pay for something, we perceive it has value. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ | It has worth as long as people are willing to pay for it. Don't like paying for it; don't use it. |
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karlmarx
join:2006-09-18
iraq
 ·Fairpoint Communic..
| reply to MightyPez
That is EXACTLY correct. We are willing to pay for something that has 'value'. Why do you think P2P is so popular? Because it has no 'value', which is why it's free. If the **AA's got in the game, and charged reasonable prices that people were willing to pay, they could become the 'water' vendor of the internet. Instead, they cling to their outdated system of placing an arbitrary value on something that HAS NO VALUE. A bit is a bit is a bit. The fact that they are organized in a certain way doesn't make the price of ZERO suddenly add up to $17.99.
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The happiest countries are the most secular. The struggle AGAINST corporations is the struggle FOR humanity! |
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Kfedka
Premium
join:2005-05-06
Spokane, WA
| reply to MightyPez
I've had a cellphone for three years first year being Tmobile and last two years being Verizon. I have seen a drop of 0% on the rate. ISP's are either dropping rates or increasing bandwidth speeds, But these phone companies or doing neither.
There seems to be no competition whatsoever, even with some many wireless phone companies. |
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bogey780
join:2004-03-19
Here | reply to TKJunkMail
Soon they'll expose that Caller ID is making criminal profits too. |
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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs: | kids
kids and teens are the biggest SMS users. so this is a tax/fee on their ignorance. |
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Dan
Hamilton Tigers?
Premium
join:2002-12-17
Eh? | reply to karlmarx
Re: It's the market, unfortunately
How did that jump to a RIAA slag from a topic on sms? |
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PToN
join:2001-10-04
Houston, TX
| No way out
Plus, you forget that you are obligated to have SMS even when you dont use it. Of course you pay for what you send and receive. But try calling and tell them you want SMS turned off... The time that happens it will be the same time the sun dies....
It's free money for them, just like water bottling companies, its a license to print money... |
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B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| SMS and "Ringtones" - A Civilization in Decline
My Subject line says it for me. The fact that people blithely and willingly pay such ridiculous markups for tiny chunks of WAV or MP3 files (usually for songs they already own) in super-secret Ringtone format for their free-with-2-year-commitment cell phones, and that they then pay dozens of extra dollars per month to text-chat with their friends instead of using the phone/Internet minutes they've already paid for... well let's just say it explains a lot of things. 
-- B
--
In a realm outside causality and function |
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JasonD
@comcast.net
| reply to TKJunkMail
Re: It's the market, unfortunately
Agreed. And they should keep raising the fee until they reach the profit apex point. They could quickly drop the price if SMS demand warrants it or they become too out of step with the market. They'd just be leaving money on the table if they don't, plus it would be hard to find an easier way to add shareholder value. |
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phantom6294
join:2002-02-27
Abingdon, MD
·Comcast
| reply to morbo
Re: kids
said by morbo  :kids and teens are the biggest SMS users. so this is a tax/fee on their ignorance. I've reached the point where I'd rather just call the person then spend the time tapping out a message. I used to have Verizon's Unlimited IN text messaging with 500 other messages and it cost $10. Then, I noticed most months I would have no more than 20-30 total messages (in/out). Well, even if it were 30 message @ $0.30 a message, that's only $9.00 so I still saved money. Now that I know I don't have unlimited message, I use it even less. This past month was 19 messages (12 in / 7 out) for $2.85. |
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snipper_cr
join:2002-01-22
Wheaton, IL
clubs:
| reply to Dan
Re: It's the market, unfortunately
said by Dan :How did that jump to a RIAA slag from a topic on sms? Stand by for blaming it on the bush administration! |
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Cod
join:2000-07-05
Greensboro, NC
| one sided arguement...
Why doesn't this study take into account the fact that almost all people who use SMS on a regular basis pay for a text plan which is substantially cheaper:
AT&T prices-
200 text messages: $5.00 (10 cents/add'l msg)
1500 text messages: $15.00 (5 cents/add'l msg)
Unlimited: $20.00 |
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danc4498
@link2gov.com
| Raised prices
I think the reason prices were raised was to get people to move on to the unlimited plan texting programs. I imagine ATT wants to get rid of a cost per text model, and the only way is to do so (without lowering the price of the unlimited model), is to make the unlimited model more appealing. |
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slogansandbrands
@verizon.net
| clever marketing
it's clever marketing to get people to believe that the product cost so much and to convince consumers to buy those products and services.. well, all this was not lost on the company who knows to well that a sucker is born every day.
sooner or later a company such as google will come and take away that lucrative market, and the likes of verizon will have a reckoning as well when real competition hits the marketplace it its 65 million subscriber heart.
hey, now that the economy isn't doing so well, maybe $4 for a cup of deluxe coffee wasn't such a hot idea.. starbucks might have to (oh no, the sky is falling) actually CLOSE SOME STORES! |
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B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| reply to Cod
Re: one sided arguement...
And you think even this is somehow reasonable?? For teensy little text messages when you're already paying large sums for cell service, and now we find the SMS costs the provider nothing?
Are ringtones a great bargain when they're "only" a $1 a piece?
-- B
--
In a realm outside causality and function |
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shaner
Premium
join:2000-10-04
Calgary, AB | reply to danc4498
Re: Raised prices
Well, that's it exactly. When imnvestors are looking at ARPU as a defining factor in AT&S worth, then they have incentive to try and convert variable consumer charges into guaranteed fixed rates like Unlimited SMS. |
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Cod
join:2000-07-05
Greensboro, NC
| reply to B
Re: one sided arguement...
said by B :And you think even this is somehow reasonable?? I have the 1500 text plan and think a penny per SMS is very reasonable for the service it provides me. To each their own. |
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vzw emp
@qwest.net
| reply to PToN
Re: No way out
said by PToN :Plus, you forget that you are obligated to have SMS even when you dont use it. Of course you pay for what you send and receive. But try calling and tell them you want SMS turned off... The time that happens it will be the same time the sun dies.... It's free money for them, just like water bottling companies, its a license to print money... I don't know who your carrier is, but mine is Verizon. You can have texting blocked. I can neither send or receive text/pix messages and that suits me just fine. |
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B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| reply to Cod
Re: one sided arguement...
Fair enough. (I look at the $15 monthly and think that it's double what I pay for my unlimited home telephone service.) And thankfully I don't use or rely on text messaging. E-mail, as they say, for the win. 
-- B
--
In a realm outside causality and function |
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