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  1. #1
    Todd H.
    Guest

    Just noticed an unpleasant bit on this month's statement:

    "Effective 3/30/08, AT&T will charge 20 cents for text/instant messags
    and 30cents for picture video messages sent or received on a pay per
    use basis."


    The old rate for text was 15 cents.

    I'm curious is this a lower rate for picture/video though. This
    almost sounds semi reasonable.


    --
    Todd H.
    http://toddh.net/



    See More: Text messaging rates increaase by 33%




  2. #2
    Todd Allcock
    Guest

    Re: Text messaging rates increaase by 33%

    At 21 Feb 2008 00:58:04 -0600 Todd H. wrote:
    >
    > Just noticed an unpleasant bit on this month's statement:
    >
    > "Effective 3/30/08, AT&T will charge 20 cents for text/instant messags
    > and 30cents for picture video messages sent or received on a pay per
    > use basis."



    Pleasant or unpleasant depends on your POV- this rate change will likely
    result in an opt-out option for contract customers.

    > The old rate for text was 15 cents.
    >
    > I'm curious is this a lower rate for picture/video though. This
    > almost sounds semi reasonable.


    T-Mo did something similar last year. They went from $0.10 for SMS (text)
    and $0.25 for MMS (pixture/video) to a $0.15 "unified" messaging charge for
    either SMS or MMS.
    While I've never been much of a texter, $0.15 hit the spot where I'll
    occasionally send a pic or video via MMS rather than screw around with
    cabling a phone to my PC!






  3. #3
    Mike M
    Guest

    Re: Text messaging rates increaase by 33%

    Todd H. wrote:
    > Just noticed an unpleasant bit on this month's statement:
    >
    > "Effective 3/30/08, AT&T will charge 20 cents for text/instant messags
    > and 30cents for picture video messages sent or received on a pay per
    > use basis."
    >
    >
    > The old rate for text was 15 cents.
    >
    > I'm curious is this a lower rate for picture/video though. This
    > almost sounds semi reasonable.
    >
    >
    > --
    > Todd H.
    > http://toddh.net/

    John Navas\
    Well maybe you text too much, and your're not white...



  4. #4
    John Navas
    Guest

    Re: Text messaging rates increaase by 33%

    On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:58:04 -0600, [email protected] (Todd H.) wrote in
    <[email protected]>:

    >Just noticed an unpleasant bit on this month's statement:
    >
    >"Effective 3/30/08, AT&T will charge 20 cents for text/instant messags
    >and 30cents for picture video messages sent or received on a pay per
    >use basis."
    >
    >The old rate for text was 15 cents.
    >
    >I'm curious is this a lower rate for picture/video though. This
    >almost sounds semi reasonable.


    Makes my old MEdia Works Unlimited package with 1500 SMS messages and
    200 MMS messages look better and better.

    --
    Best regards,
    John Navas <http:/navasgroup.com>

    "Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea - massive,
    difficult to redirect, awe inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind
    boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it." --Gene Spafford



  5. #5
    Larry
    Guest

    Re: Text messaging rates increaase by 33%

    [email protected] (Todd H.) wrote in news:[email protected]:

    >
    > Just noticed an unpleasant bit on this month's statement:
    >
    > "Effective 3/30/08, AT&T will charge 20 cents for text/instant messags
    > and 30cents for picture video messages sent or received on a pay per
    > use basis."
    >
    >
    > The old rate for text was 15 cents.
    >
    > I'm curious is this a lower rate for picture/video though. This
    > almost sounds semi reasonable.
    >
    >
    > --
    > Todd H.
    > http://toddh.net/
    >


    Why not? It was ALREADY the highest cost data transfer on the planet. If
    they'll pay $961.54/megabyte, they'll pay $1282.05 for text and I don't
    know what data size to base the video calculation on. Text messages are
    156 bytes.

    These prices easily qualify as usury.




  6. #6
    John Navas
    Guest

    Re: Text messaging rates increaase by 33%

    On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:25:25 +0000, Larry <[email protected]> wrote in
    <[email protected]>:

    >These prices easily qualify as usury.


    Then don't pay them. Simple. If enough people do that, then prices
    will come down. That's how a market works. And it's not "usury" in any
    event, since that only applies to a high rate of interest.

    --
    Best regards,
    John Navas <http:/navasgroup.com>

    "Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea - massive,
    difficult to redirect, awe inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind
    boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it." --Gene Spafford



  7. #7
    clifto
    Guest

    Re: Text messaging rates increaase by 33%

    John Navas wrote:
    > On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:25:25 +0000, Larry <[email protected]> wrote in
    > <[email protected]>:
    >
    >>These prices easily qualify as usury.

    >
    > Then don't pay them. Simple. If enough people do that, then prices
    > will come down.


    Extremely unlikely. A text message costs them so little that they can make
    outrageous profits if they cause a 99.99% drop in texting.

    --
    Obama's childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, was a communist.
    http://www.aim.org/aim-column/print/...munist-mentor/



  8. #8
    SMS
    Guest

    Re: Text messaging rates increaase by 33%

    Todd H. wrote:
    > Just noticed an unpleasant bit on this month's statement:
    >
    > "Effective 3/30/08, AT&T will charge 20 cents for text/instant messags
    > and 30cents for picture video messages sent or received on a pay per
    > use basis."
    >
    >
    > The old rate for text was 15 cents.


    Ouch. Verizon is sure to follow with a similar increase. Clearly the
    carriers are going to continue to raise texting rates until they can get
    enough subscribers to sign up for a monthly texting plan which greatly
    increases the ARPU.

    I turned off texting on our phones as I was getting too many junk text
    messages. At 5¢ it was no big deal, at 15¢ it was a bigger deal.

    PagePlus is as low as 3.5¢ for text messages.



  9. #9
    John Navas
    Guest

    Re: Text messaging rates increaase by 33%

    On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:17:04 -0600, clifto <[email protected]> wrote in
    <[email protected]>:

    >John Navas wrote:
    >> On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:25:25 +0000, Larry <[email protected]> wrote in
    >> <[email protected]>:
    >>
    >>>These prices easily qualify as usury.

    >>
    >> Then don't pay them. Simple. If enough people do that, then prices
    >> will come down.

    >
    >Extremely unlikely. A text message costs them so little that they can make
    >outrageous profits if they cause a 99.99% drop in texting.


    Only on a percentage basis. The absolute drop in margin would still be
    a big negative.

    --
    Best regards, FAQ FOR AT&T/CINGULAR WIRELESS:
    John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/AT&T_Wireless_FAQ>



  10. #10
    clifto
    Guest

    Re: Text messaging rates increaase by 33%

    John Navas wrote:
    > On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:17:04 -0600, clifto <[email protected]> wrote in
    > <[email protected]>:
    >>John Navas wrote:
    >>> On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:25:25 +0000, Larry <[email protected]> wrote in
    >>> <[email protected]>:
    >>>
    >>>>These prices easily qualify as usury.
    >>>
    >>> Then don't pay them. Simple. If enough people do that, then prices
    >>> will come down.

    >>
    >>Extremely unlikely. A text message costs them so little that they can make
    >>outrageous profits if they cause a 99.99% drop in texting.

    >
    > Only on a percentage basis. The absolute drop in margin would still be
    > a big negative.


    They'd make more money charging 5 cents per text message and keeping all
    their customers than losing 99% of texters. They won't do either, and
    eventually people will wise up and get alpha pagers.

    --
    Obama's childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, was a communist.
    http://www.aim.org/aim-column/print/...munist-mentor/



  11. #11
    John Navas
    Guest

    Re: Text messaging rates increaase by 33%

    On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:37:07 -0600, clifto <[email protected]> wrote in
    <[email protected]>:

    >John Navas wrote:
    >> On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:17:04 -0600, clifto <[email protected]> wrote in
    >> <[email protected]>:
    >>>John Navas wrote:
    >>>> On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:25:25 +0000, Larry <[email protected]> wrote in
    >>>> <[email protected]>:
    >>>>
    >>>>>These prices easily qualify as usury.
    >>>>
    >>>> Then don't pay them. Simple. If enough people do that, then prices
    >>>> will come down.
    >>>
    >>>Extremely unlikely. A text message costs them so little that they can make
    >>>outrageous profits if they cause a 99.99% drop in texting.

    >>
    >> Only on a percentage basis. The absolute drop in margin would still be
    >> a big negative.

    >
    >They'd make more money charging 5 cents per text message and keeping all
    >their customers than losing 99% of texters. They won't do either, and
    >eventually people will wise up and get alpha pagers.


    I don't think alpha pagers are going to come back. I suspect more
    people will sign up for text packages, which I think is the ultimate
    objective of the carriers.

    --
    Best regards, FAQ FOR AT&T/CINGULAR WIRELESS:
    John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/AT&T_Wireless_FAQ>



  12. #12
    Larry
    Guest

    Re: Text messaging rates increaase by 33%

    clifto <[email protected]> wrote in news:[email protected]:

    > They'd make more money charging 5 cents per text message and keeping

    all
    > their customers than losing 99% of texters. They won't do either, and
    > eventually people will wise up and get alpha pagers.
    >
    >


    There's hardly any pager companies left, any more.




  13. #13
    Larry
    Guest

    Re: Text messaging rates increaase by 33%

    John Navas <[email protected]> wrote in
    news:[email protected]:

    > I don't think alpha pagers are going to come back.


    That's really too bad, too. The old POCSAG code coming out of 12 500
    watt Quintron beasts on the same frequency had seriously more range and
    better coverage than any cellular and had amazing penetration in
    buildings and tunnels.

    I get a kick out of hospitals with 'NO CELLULAR PHONES' signs all over to
    protect patients and monitoring. Too funny. We had 4 UHF and VHF beasts
    right on top of the building blasting a constant stream of high powered
    RF into the buildings so all the doctors' pagers would have SOLID
    coverage, even in lead-lined rooms in radiac. No heart patients knew the
    difference. One of the UHF transmitters was on the 800 Mhz paging band
    very close to the Sellphone band.

    Those were great times. Every prostitute in town was our customers...
    (c

    They kept that terminal HOPPIN'!




  14. #14
    SMS
    Guest

    Re: Text messaging rates increaase by 33%

    clifto wrote:

    > They'd make more money charging 5 cents per text message and keeping all
    > their customers than losing 99% of texters. They won't do either, and
    > eventually people will wise up and get alpha pagers.


    Oh, geez, yet another device to carry around.

    In reality the carriers know that enough subscribers will decide to pay
    for a texting package to offset the losses from those that will just
    stop texting completely at the higher rates.



  15. #15
    clifto
    Guest

    Re: Text messaging rates increaase by 33%

    SMS wrote:
    > clifto wrote:
    >> They'd make more money charging 5 cents per text message and keeping all
    >> their customers than losing 99% of texters. They won't do either, and
    >> eventually people will wise up and get alpha pagers.

    >
    > Oh, geez, yet another device to carry around.


    IIRC it's cheaper than a message plan and unlimited to boot. I used to carry
    two and would again if I had much use for texting. I was disgruntled enough
    at two cents per received message that I didn't use it much, and you can bet
    that at twenty cents per message it's emergency-only communication for me.

    --
    Obama's childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, was a communist.
    http://www.aim.org/aim-column/print/...munist-mentor/



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