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SMS and email are different. SMS costs $ per message. Email does not. In the Facebook UI, if you add a SMS user to an email thread, he will receive numerous SMS
by apl 16y ago
SMS and email are different. SMS costs $ per message. Email does not. In the Facebook UI, if you add a SMS user to an email thread, he will receive numerous SMSes from email users who don't realize that they're racking up his bill.
Wait a minute, is that true? Do you pay for receiving text messages in the US? That does seem a little crazy from a European perspective.
- Maro 16y agoPerhaps he meant that the users who are sending the message [to the "email list" with an SMS number on it] will pay.
- legooolas 16y agoMany US mobile/cell plans include paying for receiving text messages. Clearly no-one in the US gets any text message spam, or they'd be _really_ angry about paying to receive that.
- sudont 16y agoU.S. Cellular has no charge on inbound messages. That nicety aside, I'm switching away from them.
- smackfu 16y agoMost heavy users of SMS (aka teens) have messaging plans that are either unlimited or very high numbers, like 1500 per month. Usually $15-20 per month, which seems high but they generally replace actual phone talking so it works out. Also, it's funny that Apple is being brought up in this context. The iPhone treats SMS messages just like chat messages (using the iChat UI), which is exactly the "problem" being described in the article of mixing messaging types carelessly.
- mhlakhani 16y ago1500 SMS/month for $20 sounds like daylight robbery to me. Here in Pakistan, we get about 8000 SMS/month for $1. So it's not unreasonable to think that SMS would take off really well.
- smackfu 16y agoOh, I agree. Those are the numbers for the iPhone on AT&T in the US, which is a ripoff and doesn't include any texts in the basic $55 plan. http://buyiphone.apple.com/ipa_preauth/content/catalog/att/ http://buyiphone.apple.com/ipa_preauth/content/catalog/att/ If you are a heavy texter, there are much better plans on other carriers. For instance, Virgin Mobile has unlimited text and data and 300 minutes for $25 a month.
- jokermatt999 16y agoJust to add, Android phones have the same issue with SMS/Google talk interfaces being the same. Luckily I have an unlimited plan though.
- brownleej 16y agoSMS and iChat may have the same interface, but they are not mixed in a single client. In fact, Apple does not provide an IM client. The central complaint in this article is that the same message was being communicated over email and SMS, without the sender being able to distinguish between the two in any way. I did not read this article as complaining that the interfaces for SMS and email were too similar; I read it is complaining that they were in the same client. The only complaint about the interface I saw was that it grouped all messages together, independent of the subject. [Edited to clarify which part of the parent I was responding to]
- JoeCortopassi 16y agoTechnically you can get some nominal charge per text, but most people have an 'unlimited texts' plan. It's like buying a phone and not having minutes now days
- JoeCortopassi 16y agoSeriously? Get downvoted for this?
- jakevoytko 16y agoIt's absolutely true - foregoing a texting plan in the US saves a few dollars every month. This is popular enough that it's impolite to assume that all recipients will appreciate text messages. When I signed an agreement in college, I texted so infrequently that I saved money by paying for individual messages. Now that I can afford it, I still pay per message as an excuse - I can ask people to call or email without sounding rude.
- seldo 16y agoEuropean carriers charge each other to receive SMS as well, they just don't customarily pass it on to the consumer. The mobile network "Three" used to have a program where they'd pass on the money received to consumers, and it became a scam, popular in Italy, to send yourself hundreds of SMS (from "free SMS" websites) to get free money.