Text Messaging 7,500% markup?
Submitted by YelloW on Wed, 2010-02-03 00:51.
Technology
Are you paying too much for texting?
Text messages are short, quick and cheap to transmit. So why are they charging so much for them?
The messages are such a tiny piece of data that they cost carriers only about one-third of a cent to deliver, according to computer scientist Srinivasan Keshav, who testified before U.S. senators on the issue last summer.
But on a pay-per-text plan, the 160-character messages typically cost 25 cents (BTL). That's a markup of as much as 7,500%. OMG! (even more for international txt)
"It's pretty much pure profit," Keshav says. "Carriers would argue they put that money toward investing in new technology."
Even if customers buy text bundles, 3cents, carriers are still cashing in considering that their overhead is basically $0. That's a lot to pay for a few LOLs.
