America has fallen in love with text messaging. More than 28.8 billion text messages are sent per month, according to figures from CTIA. And nearly everyone knows someone who knows someone who sends 15,000 texts a month. (Usually that someone is a teenage girl).
Obviously texting is becoming an important revenue stream for wireless operators. However, a quick trip to the top four carriers’ Web sites shows it’s not that easy to find out how carriers bill for text messaging. Indeed, billing seems to get increasingly complicated as subscribers have more choices.
Shouldn’t it get easier as the industry matures?
T-Mobile USA seems to have the most straightforward approach online. A T-Mobile USA customer can add text messaging to their plan for $5 per month for 400 messages or $15 per month for unlimited messaging.
At AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless, unlimited messaging is $20 per month. Both carriers also charge 15 cents for each text sent without a plan and 10 cents per message for overage for customers with a messaging plan.
By the time I started searching Sprint Nextel’s Web site, I was disappointed/lazy/frustrated and never did find out what the carrier charges. But shouldn’t pricing be included in the text-messaging section of the site?
(After further investigation, I discovered the carrier charges 20 cents per message if a bundle is not selected or for overage on bundles or offers unlimited bundles for $10 per month.)
Further, how are average consumers going to understand text messaging charges since they count neither as data or voice? The carriers themselves include it as part of data revenues, but it’s not part of data plans. It’s an add-on in most cases.
If carriers want to continue the gold rush that texting has become, they should be more forthcoming about its cost and options online. No one wants a 15,000 text surprise at 15 cents a message.
Txt hedake
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