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The most expensive resource for a cellular provider is RF spectrum. You use that up when you receive a call or text too, so it might actually make more sense to
by shenberg 14y ago
The most expensive resource for a cellular provider is RF spectrum. You use that up when you receive a call or text too, so it might actually make more sense to charge for both, but consumers are so used to only paying for outgoing calls that they don't care.
- jacquesm 14y agoText messages are piggy-backed onto status/control messages that would be sent regardless, and the slot length is fixed so a shorter / longer message does not change the bandwidth requirement at all. This is the origin of the limited length of these messages.
- shenberg 14y agoYou need to get an active channel with the network, which means to tell a cell that you want to talk to it, have it allocate resources for you, get the SMS and send an ACK. It's true that if you already have a data channel active (e.g. you're talking to someone) then you piggy-back the SMS and ACK on it (with audible degradation in audio quality in 2g connections), but that isn't the case most of the time.