SilenceGold
Premium
join:2003-07-31
Benton, AR
| reply to NY Tel
Re: [AT&T] Text message rate increase...
If you run a BES, you can just disable SMS for blackberry and blackberry-enabled phones.
I know that many of you cannot afford to run your own BES. I run a small business version that is pretty decent and cheap.
It saved me a lot of money especially when deaf friends attempt to spam me and few others with SMS messages without permission. It's outrageous to get charged per incoming SMS messages when ATT would not even provide a blocking feature.
Instead, I used the BES built in feature for that. |
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NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
 ·VOIPo
1 edit | reply to DeeDee
said by DeeDee :
What is PIN messages?
Ok I cut and pasted this from a web site so I am not responsible for its content although it looks ok.
Each BlackBerry device is assigned a unique eight-digit number called a personal identification number (PIN). You can find your BlackBerry's PIN by selecting the Options icon, then clicking Status. Your PIN will appear in the Status screen.
Sending a PIN message
There are two ways to send messages directly to a BlackBerry user's PIN rather than to the user's email address, depending on whether you have the PIN stored in a contact in your address book or not. If you have a contact in your address book with the PIN entered, you can select the PIN using the Compose application. To do so, follow these steps:
1. Select the Compose icon (the open envelope and pencil).
2. In the "To:" list, scroll to the correct contact. Click the trackwheel to display a drop-down menu for the contact.
3. If you have stored a PIN for this contact, PIN will appear in the menu. Select it.
4. Compose your message and send it as usual.
When the message is sent, it will be routed using the PIN rather than the email address.
Note: The next time you select that contact with the Enter key, the PIN will be used rather than the email address. To reset the contact to use an email address, simply follow the directions listed above and select Email rather than PIN from the menu.
If you want to enter a PIN not associated with a contact, you can type the PIN directly into the "To:" field. To do so, follow these steps:
1. Select the Compose icon (the open envelope and pencil).
2. Scroll up to [Use Once] at the top of the "To:" list. Click the trackwheel to display a drop-down menu.
3. From the menu, select PIN. Enter the PIN and press Enter.
4. Compose your message and send it as usual. |
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DeeDee
@quiknet.com | reply to NY Tel
What is PIN messages? |
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NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·VOIPo
| reply to timcuth
Ok after extensive testing today with thousands of text and PIN messages I have concluded that on Sprint, they also treat PIN messages as part of unlimited data.
OK, OK so it wasn't thousands (it was 1 pin message and 1 SMS)but it does show how ridiculous the charges are since you get a huge amount of text allowed in the pin message and it is included, whereas SMS limits you to 160 and "you pay" |
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timcuth
Braves Fan
Premium
join:2000-09-18
Pelham, AL
clubs:
 ·AT&T Southeast
|  reply to jefe
The thing is, it is an absolute rip-off. The incremental cost of a text message is very near to zero. They are raising the price because unwitting consumers will pay it.
Tim
--
"Love consists in overestimating the difference between one woman and another" - George Bernard Shaw
~ Project Hope ~ |
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NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·VOIPo
| reply to CylonRed
said by CylonRed  :said by NY Tel :said by BlitzenZeus :The funny part is they make more money from sms than anything else, sms is almost no traffic on the network. Overseas, I think they are a few years ahead of us in terms of volumes of text messages sent and received. And you are not kidding: » www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/···ast-year quote:
snip... Filipinos increased the number of text messages they sent last year two fold, averaging 1 billion daily, industry figures showed.
Wow - that's some volume of text messages. |
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CylonRed
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County
1 edit | reply to NY Tel
said by NY Tel :said by BlitzenZeus :The funny part is they make more money from sms than anything else, sms is almost no traffic on the network. Overseas, I think they are a few years ahead of us in terms of volumes of text messages sent and received. And you are not kidding: »www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/···ast-year
quote:
snip... Filipinos increased the number of text messages they sent last year two fold, averaging 1 billion daily, industry figures showed.
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Alcohol
Premium
join:2003-05-26
Somerset, NJ
| reply to NY Tel
said by NY Tel :said by BlitzenZeus :The funny part is they make more money from sms than anything else, sms is almost no traffic on the network. Overseas, I think they are a few years ahead of us in terms of volumes of text messages sent and received. This is true, but don't forget they are mostly on a pay per use system. |
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NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·VOIPo
| reply to jefe
said by jefe :Say what? Information posted on a message board incorrect? Say it ain't so.....  Well everything posted here is fact because we are more discriminating and I know most of us are well past 12 exponentially speaking. |
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jefe
Premium
join:2001-05-19
Northport, NY | reply to NY Tel
Say what? Information posted on a message board incorrect? Say it ain't so..... |
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NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·VOIPo
| reply to jefe
Apparently my source was incorrect and this page:
»na.blackberry.com/eng/ataglance/···jsp#faq4
speaks to and implies that they ARE encrypted.
That's what I get for believing a 12 year old posting information on a Blackberry message board....  |
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jefe
Premium
join:2001-05-19
Northport, NY
 ·Verizon FIOS
| reply to NY Tel
I use PIN messaging on my work Blackberry too. With AT&T PIN messages are data...not SMS. In fact, when I travel to a few parts of the world where cellular data still isn't available, SMS messaging is.
The feature I like about PIN is you can tell when the message has been delivered.
But I'm under the impression that PIN messages are indeed encrypted, as are Blackberry BES messages. Where's your source that PIN messages are unencrypted? |
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CylonRed
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County | reply to jefe
That reminds me to turn off text messages for my Verizon phone. |
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NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·VOIPo
1 edit | reply to BlitzenZeus
Actually I did an experiment (I have a company issued Sprint Blackberry and my wife has a Verizon Wireless Blackberry)and we have discovered PIN to PIN massages which on Verizon, do not count as sms but go against the unlimited data plan she has. For me on Sprint, I think they lump them in as sms.
PIN to PIN messages are not encrypted but they go through immediately and is almost like using an instant messenger program. Also, they are not limited to 160 characters. Yesterday I sent my wife a news article and sent it as a PIN to PIN ans she got the whole thing.
If anyone has a Blackberry (regardless of carrier) you can send to other "Berries". I am available to test PIN messages to anyone who wishes to play. Just PM me and we can swap PINS> |
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jefe
Premium
join:2001-05-19
Northport, NY
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to BlitzenZeus
As usual....the law of supply & demand prevails.
We don't text message much, but for a younger generation, sms is probably the main reason to have a cell phone.
It reminds me of someone at 3M realizing they could actually sell left over paper scrapes from other processes and call them...sticky notes. |
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BlitzenZeus
Burnt Out Cynic
Premium,MVM
join:2000-01-13
Beaverton, OR
·Verizon FIOS
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to NY Tel
Which is why its insane that they charge so much per message.... it used to be used only for the old voicemail systems, now they want to make a huge profit from it. Amazingly consumers can't stop texting when they are an insane price. I don't like to use sms at these prices, I rarely use sms, but even on prepaid the cost of one sms is the price of one minute of talking, wtf... |
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NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·VOIPo
| reply to BlitzenZeus
said by BlitzenZeus :The funny part is they make more money from sms than anything else, sms is almost no traffic on the network. Yup, one (1) single sms message uses 1 kilobyte which is teeny tiny (those are technical wireless terms  )
Compare that to the kind of bandwidth a voice call uses and yes I have long said that the light bulb went off in someones head domestically when they realized the cost/benefit ratio of text messaging.
Overseas, I think they are a few years ahead of us in terms of volumes of text messages sent and received.
Of course, my kids could write their own white paper on "who can send the most text messages in a one month period"...
Luckily, we have unlimited texts on our plan. |
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BlitzenZeus
Burnt Out Cynic
Premium,MVM
join:2000-01-13
Beaverton, OR | reply to jefe
The funny part is they make more money from sms than anything else, sms is almost no traffic on the network. |
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C DM
join:2002-12-31
| reply to NY Tel
said by NY Tel :said by jefe :Just got my AT&T bill. It included a notice that effective 3/30/08 the charge for text messages will be $0.20. Messaging package rates are unchanged. Verizon just did the same thing last month. Yeah, I think it's effective as of the beginning of March for VZW. |
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NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·VOIPo
2 edits | reply to jefe
said by jefe :Just got my AT&T bill. It included a notice that effective 3/30/08 the charge for text messages will be $0.20. Messaging package rates are unchanged. Verizon just did the same thing last month. |
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