SMS Text Messaging Costs

On 23/02/2006, at 9:49 AM, Chris Luth wrote:
> A typical price for sending an SMS in the U.S. is 10 cents per
> message.

Lucky you. SMS messages are 20 cents a throw over here (except with
one particular provider where they are free at the weekend, but then
only between phones from that provider) & they seam to be incredibly
popular. Probably, going by your argument, because mobile calls cost
anywhere from 49 cents to $1.80 per minute depending on your plan,
off-peak/on-peak etc

-------------------------------------
Jason Campbell
Technician
Psychology Department
University of Otago

Having moved to NZ from the UK (and not planning to go back!), I can
vouch for the 'ouch' of NZ telecoms. Cellphones, texting and
broadband are all way up on the UK equivalents, due in part to the
respective duopoly and monopoly that exists here.



--
bignoseduglyguy
http://www.bignoseduglyguy.com
http://www.bignoseduglyguy.com/no8wire

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On 23.2.2006, space aliens observed Chris Luth saying:
>Frans mentioned that Europeans use SMS because it's often cheaper than
>a phone call, especially for phone calls to mobiles (as calling
>mobiles costs more than calling landlines).

That's not the reason I use them. Sending a few messages pretty quickly
costs more than calling somebody.

I use SMS because it's more convenient. Since you don't have to talk,
you don't bother the people at your workplace with your personal stuff.
You don't interrupt the people you're contacting. They can answer when
it's convenient for them. Furthermore, messages are stored. You can go
back to old messages and see what exactly people said. And for stuff
which isn't that important, quickly firing off an SMS is easier done
than calling up somebody.

If you use MMS, you can even send images along with your text, which you
can't do during a call. MMS messages have pretty much replaced postcards
for me.

lucas

- --
"Wine makes a man more pleased with himself; I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others."
  -- Samuel Johnson

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At 12:49 PM 02/22/2006 -0800, Chris Luth wrote:
>many American adults are technology-illiterate and have a hard enough time
>figuring out how to make calls from their phones, much less type in text
>messages,

Many American adults learned how to type as children, and consider one- or
two-finger keyboards to be rather inferior to eight- or ten-finger keyboards.

Edward
Art works by Melynda Reid: http://paleo.org

[Chris Luth]
> Americans *don't* use SMS (except for stereotypical teen girls) for
> two reasons: 1) many American adults are technology-illiterate and
> have a hard enough time figuring out how to make calls from their
> phones, much less type in text messages,

I do not believe this is a real issue (the *perception* that it is
difficult, perhaps, but not that they cannot figure it out). I am
familiar with many technology-illiterate people that struggle doing
anything with a computer or a VCR, but can easily send text
messages. It is a simple interface, after all - only 12 keys, and
the phone will use some sort of predictive algorithm to enter most
words with only a couple of key presses.

[bignoseduglyguy]
> Having moved to NZ from the UK (and not planning to go back!), I can
> vouch for the 'ouch' of NZ telecoms. Cellphones, texting and
> broadband are all way up on the UK equivalents, due in part to the
> respective duopoly and monopoly that exists here.

Broadband is not a monopoly in New Zealand. Providing the physical
lines to houses is, but ADSL is available from many different
companies (for different prices, with different limits). Assuming
that you are including any high-speed Internet access under
"broadband" and not just ADSL, then there are even companies that are
completely independent of the physical lines that Telecom provides.

Since nearly all (personal) cellphone packages in New Zealand include
both a number of calling minutes and text messages, it is difficult
to put a price on either individually. However, a reasonable number
(based on the data available) is that an SMS costs between NZ$0.02
(~US$0.01) and NZ$0.075 (~US$0.03). Even using SkypeOut, I cannot
call a cellphone that cheaply.

There's little evidence that the cellphone duopoly (not a true
duopoly, either, since other companies sell service that uses
Vodafone and Telecom's networks) is keeping prices high. In fact,
there is strong evidence that the competition between the two
networks is driving prices down.

The economics are complex, but I suspect that the small size of the
market (requiring a higher rate-of-return for equipment) and that
there is obviously sufficient demand in the market to meet supply at
the current costs, are much more likely reasons for any international
differences in price.

=Tony.Meyer

I can't speak for Americans, but my Aussie wife has a great fear of all
things electronic. I bought her a mobile phone but she hardly uses it. She
is terrifed of pushing the "wrong" buttons. And the idea of sending text
messages is too frightening for her to contemplate.

She is a school teacher, fully literate, and is quite normal in almost every
other regard!

It reminds me of what Sigmund Freud once said: "All men are stupid, and all
women are mad!"

Paul

Den 22. feb 2006 kl. 21.49 skrev Chris Luth:

> many American adults are technology-illiterate and have a hard
> enough time figuring out how to make calls from their phones, much
> less type in text messages,

he, I only SMS using my Powerbook through Address Book Bluetooth to
my phone for the same reason: using my phone is far too difficult. If
ever Apple did a phone, it would never have half the features of
"Modern" mobile phones, I am sure...

When that is said, non-European phone companies should have a look at
the kind of revenue that is generated by microscopic payments for
each SMS sent. If you have enough of those, you will earn money too,
especially when SMS is so extremely cheap to provide.

Kim G.

I can vouch for SMS being cheaper in Europe - and handy when travelling. I've got a cell phone but don't use it much here in France. But when on a trip to Cuba to photograph an Italian friend's wedding, he suggested I bring it along to communicate between ourselves in Havana using SMS, as we weren't staying at the same place. While calls between the phones would have been exhorbitant (his routed via Italy and mine via France) SMS between us was very inexpensive and allowed us to coordinate, set up where and when to meet and etc.

SMS can seem relatively expensive if you're a heavy cell phone user (over 350 minutes per month). I use T-Mobile ToGo which costs 10 cents per minute (domestic) and 10 cents to send a text message with no monthly bill or taxes. Receiving SMS is free which makes them great for paging or simple Email notifications. If you only use 50-100 minutes most months, it's a nice bargain.

If you're already buying 1000+ minutes/month, than 10 cents per SMS on top of that is probably a needless expensive.

On 22/02/2006, at 21:49, Chris Luth wrote:
> Hmm, I just had something dawn on me: Frans mentioned that
> Europeans use SMS because it's often cheaper than a phone call,
> especially for phone calls to mobiles (as calling mobiles costs
> more than calling landlines).

I have read all the thread so far and I don't know about other
European countries, but here in Spain mobile phones have already
passed land lines. Yes, right now there are more mobile lines than
regular phone lines, and we are arriving to the point that there are
more mobile lines (or contracts, as you like) than legally counted
citizens (And as someone said it is cheaper to call or SMS from
mobile to mobile than from a land line).

This last point is not strange, because many companies have something
called "trax" attached to their PBX systems. Trax are mobile phone
lines but the "mobile phone" is replaced by something like a modem
with no keyboard or screen that is directly attached to the PBX
system (or the telephony exchange in a company). You still have a SIM
Card, but this is inserted in this special modem. You need as many
traxs as mobile phone calls you want to support simultaneously. Here,
at the company I work for, we have four traxs, because when you want
to reach a client you almost always call him to his mobile. Looking
at the company's phone bill we realised several years ago, that more
than half of our phone calls were made to mobile lines and with the
trax we are saving a lot of money.

Also you have two ways of having a mobile phone line: by contract or
by prepaid rechargeable cards. The first type is the normal one where
you sign a contract with a fix cost plus all the calls you make (they
usually include a number of free SMS messages). The second type is
meant for people that need a mobile phone for awhile or that want to
control cost. Calls are more expensive than those with a contract but
you can only spend as much as you put in the card. Once you run out
of money on the card you can still receive calls for several months
without recharging it, but after that period your mobile phone line
will be cancelled. Many tourists use this type of mobile connection
while they are on vacation here in Spain, so they can call each other
with a local rate. Also criminals and illegal immigrants use this
prepaid cards, because if you pay them with cash there is almost no
easy way to trace you.

With all this said and adding the convenience of sending SMS directly
from our Macs, here in Spain we use them a lot. Also, I would like to
point out that it is easier to send an SMS with and address or
driving directions than saying it over the phone with the possible
errors in spelling, etc...

Victor Bottacco victorskios.es