How can US telcos charge for incoming SMS?

This has probably been hashed and re-hashed here, but I'm too lazy to
look through the archives...

I've been on a data plan forever (Blackberry), but I just signed the
wife up with Cingular and my old V505 (freshly unlocked to work with
Cingular SIM card). I was told that she would be charged for any SMS
I send her. This seems a little unfair.

They can charge her for someone *sending* her SMS? It seems that she
should have the option to receive it and pay for it like an incoming
call. Am I missing something here?

Is this how all the Telcos do it, or is this just Cingular?

That's how they and most carriers do it. Unless there's a way to turn
off incoming SMS, I agree that it's unfair to charge for it.

FromH
thehobster@hXotmaiXl.com

> This has probably been hashed and re-hashed here, but I'm too lazy to
> look through the archives...
>
> I've been on a data plan forever (Blackberry), but I just signed the
> wife up with Cingular and my old V505 (freshly unlocked to work with
> Cingular SIM card). I was told that she would be charged for any SMS
> I send her. This seems a little unfair.
>
> They can charge her for someone *sending* her SMS? It seems that she
> should have the option to receive it and pay for it like an incoming
> call. Am I missing something here?
>
> Is this how all the Telcos do it, or is this just Cingular?