Text Rip-Off? Pricey Messages 'Cost Virtually Nothing' to Carriers

Text Rip-Off? Pricey Messages 'Cost Virtually Nothing' to Carriers

www.foxnews.com

In 2008, 2.5 trillion messages were sent from cell phones worldwide, up 32 percent from the year before, according to the Gartner Group and reported by The New York Times. But, what also went up in the last three years was the price — doubling from 10 to 20 cents per message while the industry consolidated from six major carriers to four.

Sensing a potential rip-off, Sen. Kohl soon discovered that text messages are essentially very small files, costing carriers close to nothing to transmit.

(visit the link for the full news article)



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
The great SMS (text message) rip off

Once again, ATS members are ahead of the curve in bringing such issues to light, as the related thread from the start of the month indicates.

Text messages are basically "riders" on existing cell traffic between the tower and the phone that set up each call. The space is already there and isn't being used, yet the price per message is doubling and packaged allotments are offered at a premium.

Just another example of how unscrupulous corporations will take unfair and unreasonable advantage of the American consumer at every opportunity.



www.foxnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Of course we're being ripped off! Well, not me, because I have refused to buy into the mindset that I even need a cell phone, much less an ipod, Gameboy, Blackberry or any kind of mobile data manipulator. Puke.

But it's true that they will convince you that you need something and then take you for what they can get.

Texting? I personally think people need to learn how to BE with their own thoughts and not HAVE to share every one with their "circle".

I knew it was an additional fee which amounts not nothing more then pure profit from the start. I find a cell phone hands, I got my first one after the hurricane that blew through and I was with out a land line for about two weeks.

This also reminds me of when I first tried to get internet banking, because I knew the less I traveled around town, and the less checks I wrote and sent through the mail, the less my month exspence would be. I was shocked to find out how much the charge was to use internet banking. I knew it was the cheapest way for the bank to do bunsess, few people, less paper work to process. I told them that when they told me how much it would cost for internet banking. They said basically nothing in return.

So perhaps some day the cost of text messages will change also. Many cities are wired for public access internet. Maby we will something for the cell phone user also.

I absolutely refuse to TXT MSG. Most of it is trivial nonsense. If I was an NSA guy using ECHELON to sift through txt I would rip my hair out.

Txt Msgs are making our next generation coming up illiterate. This can really be seen in freshman English classes in college, where young students can't efficiently read or write. Often they will use TXT in essays.

So if it was up to me, I would put a "Stupid Tax" on each txt msg. I hope the carriers keep pushing the price up. In the end its really all about demand not the costs the company incurs. If the incurred costs were all that mattered, fast food and soft drinks would cost nickles and dimes.

reply to post by MikeboydUS


Haha, good example Mike
All I can really say is all things change. I would no be all to suprised in ten years or so if it beacoms acceptable to talk in text speak. Language has always changed with the times.
so all in all you can look at it this way;
its nbd so myob ok?

Originally posted by RedGolem

its nbd so myob ok?

This may show how stupid I am, but uh... translation please? I can't understand txt talk half the time and annoys the heck outta me.

reply to post by MikeboydUS

In the end its really all about demand not the costs the company incurs.

I'm not against a company making a reasonable profit on the goods and services it offers. But demand driven rip-offs like this expose the greed and avarice inherent in the system. Ultimately that is what will be the downfall of unrestrained capitalism: its lack of conscience.

I gave away my mobile phone over a year ago now.

If I need to Text someones' mobile, I found a few web to mobile sites where you can send texts for free.

It's totally free with no sign ups or joining, just send it from the site.

It's probably not a good idea if the message contains private or important info of course.

So, use google and find a site like that in your country and don't give any more of your money to greedy corporations.

Cry me a river. It's the free market. If you don't want it, don't use it. There's a thing called unlimited plans so you can avoid the high costs of multiple texts. I pay one fee of $30 for unlimited texting on all of my family plan phones. I learned the hard way when one of my teenagers ran up $1200.00 in one month. It's not the carrier's fault its the user. Everything is laid out for you in black and white when you sign up for the service.

Maybe you guys can go cry to Obama and he will socialize our phone companies.

Of course we're being ripped off! In fact, the current "sales" occuring in the retail sector should be a good wake-up call to consumers everywhere. If a retailer can afford to take 70% off the "Existing sale price", how much was the mark-up to begin with? Cell phone companies are no different.

Not to deviate from the topic, but along the same lines, let's talk about the "Why" behind corporate profit... Why should a corporation record a profit? The simple answer is to take care of it's shareholders in the form of dividends, stock spits or increase in share value or some combination thereof. So, who are these shareholders? Well, in most cases a significant percentage of the "shares" are owned by the corporate executives, other corporations (holding companies) or wealthy investors.

In fact, according to a study conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, less than HALF of American households own any stock and less than 35% of American households own over $5,000 worth. You can see the Study by the Economic Policy Institute here. The reality is that stock ownership is highly concentrated in the top 10% of wealth holders in the nation. The majority of American's "wealth" is derived from home ownership and personal savings.

So, again, begging the question, why should a corporation record profits? We already know it is to pay the already and otherwise wealthy stockholders, but it is also to allow a compay to expand, engage in R&D etc... But WAIT... Aren't those operating expenses!?!?

My contention, in addition to eliminating the Federal Reserve would be to eliminate Wall St. and the stock market. It is nothing more than an additional fleecing of the average consumer to enrich the already wealthy. Corporations should be forced to record ZERO profit, meaning that they will be forced to reinvest every penny coming in on operations. This will cause an incentive for companies to either a.) pay their workers more; b.) lower the price of their product; c.) pour the money into developing new products/technologies and d.) some combination of the aforementioned.

As long as the "Stock Market" exists, there will be an incentive to fleece the consuming public. There is very obvious price collusion amongst these companies to ensure profit. What ever happened to the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities Exchange Commission, the enforcement of predatory business laws and anti-trust legislation??? Oh wait, I know... they have been rendered ineffective by the politicians enjoying the largesse of the major corporations in the form of "campaign contributions". I mean, why stop the gravy train, right?

So, in summary, the entire system is broken and MUST fail if WE, average consumers, are ever to be treated fairly either in wages OR consumption. So, now you hopefully have a better understanding WHY the politicians and corporations are clammoring to save themselves - they can't afford to have the system reset. Any thoughts???

reply to post by on_yur_6


Wake up, 6. You should know by now that there is no such thing as a free market. There are just a few people left who are trying to make an honest buck. The rest of them buy off politicians and regulators while they rip off consumers and run their Ponzi schemes a la Madoff. Made-off, all right, with like $50 billion. When the tab comes due they stand around DC with their hands out like an offramp panhandler.

reply to post by RedGolem


The day that Txt Spk becomes acceptable language in the US is the day I move to another country. I don't want any part of that babbling idiocy.

Text messages are extortionately priced. In terms of data received it's actually less expensive to hire the Hubble space telescope. But photographs of some distant galaxy don't get you partying or laid, so I guess text messages have their uses, nicht wahr ?

reply to post by Icarus Rising


I'm talking about the ability to purchase a product. Not the overall disastor in our economy and whatever conspiracies we can dream up. There are always crooked snakes when it comes to making money.

You are free to purchase a product (texting) from a company or not. You don't have to if you don't like it. You can go to another carrier if you want. Nobody is making you do anything. So why complain about being ripped off? The company has to make money to grow and support their workforce.

OK I agree with all you guys , but case in point when texting is useful

As I was reading this I stopped half way through to go eat lunch. My brother is flying home today so I had to call grandma to tell her his flight number so she could pick him up, all of a sudden her phone dies, she calls back on her cell to tell me that there are phone guys out front and they are doing something to the phone line. So.... I just had to text my brother to call grandmas cell phone and not the house phone when he lands.* Not all texting is just stupid teenagers. There are those few times when this technology does come in really handy.


*I know a simple voicemail will do, but sometimes voicemails do not come thru for a couple of hours-days. Texting always seems to show up right away.


I have come to enjoy texting when calling doesnt work. Ever been at a concert and loose someone? Ever try calling them on your cel? Can't hear crap. So I text my location then all is found.

Well see sometimes this is the beauty of texting plans. My father has a plan in which he (well I since I'm the only one using it) has to pay 10.00 a month for unlimited texting, this in my opinion is a lot better than paying the .10 or .20 per message. Also it really does become useful when I am unable to call and such. Not to mention the fact I get about 150 messages or so a day (used to back when classes were in full swing). So If I didn't find out about that unlimited texting for 10.00 well then I wouldn't be off to a good start or something.

reply to post by on_yur_6


Again, this doubling of the price of texting outside a dedicated plan has occured as the choice of carriers has dropped by a third. Consumers are being forced, as you were, to pay more up front for a text package to avoid per text charges. The text packages are still probably pure profit for the carrier. It doesn't matter to me that it is being done in plain sight and included in the fine print. Imo, it is a case of collusion and price fixing, and is rightly being investigated by the chair of the Senate anti-trust committee.

Sensing a potential rip-off, Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, began to take a closer look at the doubling of prices American carriers were charging customers.

Timothy McKone, AT&T's executive vice president for federal relations, told the senator that the suits had been filed "since your letter was made public" and said that he was "eager to clear up any misunderstanding."

The last thing they want to do is clear things up. For all I know, Sen. Kohl is only going after them because he isn't getting a big enough slice of the pie. I would like to believe that isn't the case, and I know it is over the top conspiratorially, but I have become inclined to turn somewhat of a jaded eye on DC politicians and corporate mouthpieces these days.

I don't disagree with your approach. Personal responsibility is a key component of citizenship in a democratic republic. So is professional responsibility. The scales of justice must be finely balanced.

[edit on 30-12-2008 by Icarus Rising]

reply to post by Icarus Rising


Texting is only the tip of the iceberg. phone service carriers have been ripping people off since it all went digital. You used to get one real line into your house and you paid for one whole line. Then they started multiplexing and your line became multiple lines, but you still paid the same one line price for a fraction of the line you used to have.

Did they decide to charge you less? Nope. You pay the same even though their costs went down. Why should texting be any different with cell carriers? Their greed is of the opinion that if you are willing to pay for it, then far be it from them to not charge you. Pager companies were well aware of that for along time. It is the same service they provided making a nice tidy profit on the sale of the pager and the $10/month fee to receive small data packets, too for relatively inexpensive infrastructure.

This is, however a technology that can save lives. It is overpriced, but it is a very beneficial technology.

On the other hand, they may be concerned about energy prices going through the roof. Imagine what their electricity bill is to power all their transmitters. As energy costs go up, the profits will shrink, especially if they go up so much that consumers will be unable to afford the service. I certainly hope they are saving their profits for a rainy day. They may need it soon.

Once again, ATS members are ahead of the curve in bringing such issues to light, as the related thread from the start of the month indicates.

*Ahem I would like to draw attention to my own thread on this subject from back in May

Text messeging costs £374.49 per MB!!!!!

A British boffin has calculated that text messages are a horrendously expensive method of handling information, costing many times more than it does to access data from the Hubble Space Telescope.

"Hubble is by no means a cheap mission," says Dr Nigel Bannister, a space scientist at the University of Leicester. "But mobile phone text costs are astronomical."

link

More than accessing data from HUBBLE people



[edit on 30/12/2008 by Now_Then]