Fred Harteis News Articles - Texting your boss that you'll "brb" (be right back) can save a lot of time and energy, but chances are it won't save you money.
Although teenagers have been driving the trend, nearly everyone is texting (also known as SMS, or "short message service"). According to Forrester Research, now more than one-third of all cell phone subscribers are on board with "txt" - and sending almost a billion messages each day.
But that convenience comes at a price. If you don't shell out for a texting package, which can cost $3 to $20 a month depending on the provider and the plan, most carriers will charge you for each message whether sent or received, read or unread, solicited or unsolicited.
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And the price per text is on the rise. Earlier this year, T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon raised their rates to 15 cents a text, from 10 cents, while Sprint upped the cost to 20 cents per domestic text, and those prices get even higher across the board for international messaging.
That can really add up. Especially with incoming texts - even spam - that you can't control. Paying per text can exponentially impact your monthly billl.
But that's the idea. Cell phone operators have invested billions of dollars in network upgrades that enable text messaging along with other mobile data services (MDS) like Internet access, hoping to offset the declining price of voice minutes, according to Forrester Research. And that's paying off handsomely - MDS has proved to be a cash cow for wireless carriers, driven primarily by text messaging.
In fact, text messaging takes up much less space on the network, explained a spokesman from AT&T, so it actually costs less money for the carrier than connecting a voice call. As for the rising cost to consumers, carriers want to keep the pricing competitive, cover the costs of the infrastructure and "make money on them - no surprise there," he said.
Mobile operators will rake in $52 billion in text messaging revenues in the
Source: Cnn.com
About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.