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its crazier than you think... the original sms messaging was sent over an already existent, in process data path.. they didnt really have to add much to the system to accommodate it, yet charged an obscene amount per message
the answer is simple; because they can
Messages went from $.05, to $.10, to $.20 to send and receive. That was in the span of three years. All of the companies said it wasn't collision. They just happened to arrive upon massive increases separately.
If I recall, one of the CEOs said "We're raising the prices to save customers money. This way they'll be an unlimited plan"
The telcos should have been broken up then. Instead we've seen even more mergers.
They fucked themselves. It became more worthwhile to just use data.
I know you meant collusion, but in case anyone else didn't, it's not collision.
You had to pay to receive? wtf.gif
So some rando could ruin you by sending a bazillion SMS messages?
It still does.
SMS is sent within unassigned space within management frames.
Cell works kind of like ATM - Asynchronous Transfer Mode, which unlike packet-switched networks, continually transmits frames (even empty ones), as a means of ensuring stable, performant delivery.
Like ATM, cell kind of does the same thing (that is, when it makes a connection).
Within those frames are segments which are allocated for different purposes, someone got the great idea to transmit bits within a segment that wasn't yet assigned to anything by the standard.
Those segments can hold... 160 characters (IIRC), and for technical reasons, this became 140 characters (again, IIRC).
So whenever your phone pings a tower, those frames get sent. From a bare transmission perspective, there's no additional cost. The cost is on the backend hardware that extracts the SMS and the routing of it. So there's some cost, but at 10 cents per message, there's got to be 9.9 cents of gross profit (just guessing).
Beyond corporate greed, there is none. SMS' are even sent as part of routine packets on the cellular network so they don't even take extra data. Carriers might pay extra for inter carrier routing, but again the cost associated with that is mostly corporate greed.
You compare to the internet but you have to remember, back when SMS' were the only player in terms of cellular messaging, cellular data cost an arm and a leg.
As far as I could understand, North American carriers charged through the nose for mobile data for the longest time, but usually bundled SMS with some plans in some form, be it a set number of messages, or unlimited nights/weekends (oof, I don’t feel younger typing that one out). I was a student working for one of our Canadian carriers the first time I saw more than like a gig of data for less than 70$/month, and that was in the long term contracts, cancellation fees days lol
In most of the rest of the world, data became cheaper faster, but SMS was/is still expensive. This, combined with iPhone’s popularity in NA making people use iMessage, led to a lot of people just sticking to the defaults and use SMS on one side of the Atlantic, while the rest used WhatsApp or similar.
SMS are completely free? I mean yeah, they cost money back in 2009, but that was a loooooong time ago.
Wherever you are, you're being completely screwed, yeah.
They aren't free in Canada.
Yes they are? I guess maybe not up north but in every province they sure are
Wait, I haven't paid for text messages in probably 15 years. Where do they still charge for SMS? It's usually unlimited with any plan that I've seen
I think my phone plan (in Japan) charges for outgoing SMS. I don't think it's much. I think some plans maybe include it. We all use LINE here (like much of Europe uses Whatsapp) so most people aren't sending text messages regularly if at all.
Pay-as-you-go is still popular in poorer markets, more rural areas or even in pro-competitive markets. It's only particularly scummy markets that force customers to use their credit within a certain time period so for those who only rarely call/text and have consistent access to wifi, even 5-10 dollars worth of credit can last a year or more. Extremely consumer-friendly.
The last phone I ever had that dinged me for SMS messages was the tracfone I owned when that was all I could afford. I think that might have been like a decade or so ago? Maybe closer to 15 like you were saying.
Really basic plans still charge you. When I was in school, my parents gave me a dumb phone with a plan that cost 10 cents per minute of calling or 10 cents per sms. MMS didn't even work. Ridiculously expensive, but at the amount I was using still cheaper than anything else
Where are you that you're paying anything extra for sms? They used to be expensive because they could charge that much, now that are included in even the cheapest prepaid plans. If you are paying per message, that's a you problem and you need to find another wireless provider.
There is a large contrast in this regard between NA and Europe. In Europe data is dirt cheap and wifi is usually available anyways so messaging over whatsapp/signal/whatever is much more common than trying to use SMS. In America public wifi is extremely rare and businesses are so spread out that coverage is limited... people also tend to use iPhones which default you into their shitty iMessage - SMS was also traditionally much cheaper so it's more of a habit in NA.
GSM SMS protocol is the same on both continents. The reason SMS became free in the US with 4G, was as an attempt to level competition for cell phones that weren’t iPhone, since the iMessage protocol uses data transmission rather than SMS. Now that Android uses RCS, which is also data transmission, the only use for SMS is Android to iPhone texting and dumb phones.
If you need to send SMS commercially they're still generally priced at $0.03 each. I just had to deal with that because some users will apparently only turn on MFA if they can get the codes by txt.
OP didn't clarify personal versus business. I'm aware of how much businesses get ripped off, I've looked into using the short codes for promoting my own business and shit is not cheap.
I know it doesn't help, but Europeans have always been amazed how much you guys were charged for SMS. Even in 1999, over here messages cost a fraction of what you were charged - that you pay for them at all these days is just mind-boggling.
SMS piggybacks on existing signals to and from your phone. They are entirely free, and have been in a lot of places for a long time.
You're getting screwed. At least it's a good reason for your contacts to switch to signal or simpleX?
This isn't really true anymore. Originally it was and because SMS was rarely used it was effectively free. But then it grew more popular to the point where most messages didn't have "unused bandwidth" to piggyback on and had to be sent separately. Now days all traffic is basically data traffic and SMS isn't hiding in some unused space.
That being said it is still so close to free that it doesn't really matter. Sending 140 bytes of low-priority data is a rounding error.
Unlimited SMS is on most cell phone plans nowadays, at least in Canada.
On a slightly different tack: I run a website, and I choose not to implement SMS for notifications - only email. Email is free. Adding SMS, even at $0.007 per message, could add up to big bucks.
Where I live I haven't seen non unlimited SMS or calls on normal plans in forever.
Sending an SMS as an operation is just as expensive as checking for signal. Which every phone is constantly doing.
I didnt know SMS is expensive. I know it was but i thought it was free nowadays.
What are you paying for SMS? I pay 6 euro a month for unlimited sms and calls and 2 GB data. 50+ mobiel is my provider. Now they offer my plan with the first year for 2,5 euro. Dirt cheap.
Yeah, I drop the equivalent of 16€ and I get 60GB data and unlimited calls and SMS with my Danish provider. Having to pay for SMS is purely corporate greed.
They aren't the cost was arbitrarily chosen 30 odd years ago and hasnt changed in all that time despite there being several free alternatives. Data usage doesnt cost what they charge either. Its all a scam.
Are they? I have plans in both the UK and France, and I think they're both unlimited sms. Not expensive plans, I think the UK one is £7 for unlimited sms, unlimited calls and 20gb of data. French one was 13€ for unlimited sms/calls, and 130gb data on 5g.
7 euros for 20gb of data? I'm paying close to $30 a month for 1 gig and if I cross that the bill shoots up to $40 Fucking American Capitalism.
lol
I pay $170/ month for two phones in the States. I wouldn't say that SMS is free, but I can send an unlimited amount of messages with that plan.
85 per phone? did you get suckered into a contract+new "free" iPhone or something? I pay 40/mo for unlimited everything in the States but could be paying 25-30 if I wanted to switch providers.
SMS message costs are a scam, always have been. It takes like 1-2 seconds worth of talk time for the same amount of sending a text.
Holy hell. Sure, I bought my phone (a OnePlus 9) out of pocket but I pay about 20 USD for unlimited calls and SMS with 5Gb of data per month (I can also save unused data from each month to the other up to 15Gb). This is in Sweden for reference.
Holy smokes that's expensive :D 85 bucks per phone per month
If you're paying for SMS then it's only because there are enough people like you. Sending email is free, or using Facebook or Instagram messaging, those are also free. If companies are charging for SMS it's because they know that people like you are locked in.
And I'm not blaming you, because it's hard when you have to change how you communicate, especially when a lot of the people around you are set in their ways.