4 ms·

Now if only this could happen for the US cell phone SMS charges. Theres absolutely no reason why it costs 20 cents each way to send 140 7-byte characters.

• bprater 18y ago
  If we could all agree to use a messaging app that bypasses the traditional SMS app, we could do this ourselves!
  • josefresco 18y ago
    I know, if only there was some sort of network where 'instant' messages could be sent for free without relying on the phone network. We could call it "instant messaging" and people could have 'buddy lists' that allow them to easily converse with their friends. I think I'll start one and call it "I Seek You"
• davidw 18y ago
  I guess I'd have to side with the libertarians on that one. Yeah, it's some kind of ugly market failure, but SMS's aren't an essential service to which people have some kind of claim in a caring society, like food or shelter. Jacking those prices up is all the more incentive for people to jump at the first thing that approaches the true marginal cost of sending data.
• a-priori 18y ago
  Not only that but, at least on GSM, it's practically free for the cellular companies. They are sent over the same signalling protocol as other network control messages. They are only delivered in empty frames, and the networks make no guarantees about delivery. Thus, SMS messages may be delayed indefinitely when the air is busy or, under some conditions, dropped entirely. One SMS message, plus headers, takes up one GSM frame (this is the reason for the length limit). It's actually quite the interesting scam they have going. My understanding is that SMS was a last-minute addition, kind of a "hey, no one will probably use this, but let's throw it in just for the hell of it" feature. Then it turned into a huge money-maker.