Is there any reason, beyond corporate greed, for SMS messages to cost so much?

If I get it right, an SMS message is just a short string of data, no different from a message we send in a messenger. If so, then what makes them so expensive? If we’d take Internet plans and consider how much data an SMS takes, we should pay tiny fraction of a cent for each message; why doesn’t that happen?

  • @WorxEnglish
    5•7 months ago

    I spend about £15 per year on my phone. No way that could be beaten with a contract. I’m still annoyed at how expensive it is though

    • @[email protected]
      2•7 months ago

      Where did I say anything about a contract? I spend $1800/year for 4 lines, 3 personal and 1 work line. In the USA at least, prepaid beats postpaid/contract every day of the year. Every time I price moving all 4 lines over to postpaid to get easier access to esims, a little leeway on payment, etc, I always end up staying with prepaid.

      • @WorxEnglish
        2•7 months ago

        I assumed it was the same thing. In the UK, all our phones are prepaid. You can either get a contract for a set monthly amount, or you buy credit which you spend over time (which presumably is what you mean by prepaid).

        While we’re on the subject, is it true that you have to pay to receive calls in the US?

        • @[email protected]English
          1•7 months ago

          is it true that you have to pay to receive calls in the US?

          I’m not certain what you’re asking. Are you asking if someone can call you and make you pay for it? Not that I’ve ever seen. With the exception of jails/prisons- inmates can collect call you. I imagine it’s a thing in other contexts, but not that I’ve ever experienced.

          Generally, ime pretty much everyone has unlimited calls and texts these days. It’s pretty dirt cheap. Data is much more expensive and limited. Even “unlimited” data plans are only technically so- after some arbitrary but generally high amount of data they’ll throttle the absolute hell out of you.

          • @WorxEnglish
            2•7 months ago

            I’ve got this weird half-remembered thought in my head that you don’t have a separate set of phone numbers for mobile / cell vs landline (in the UK, all mobile numbers start 07… ). Therefore you don’t know who you’re calling so it wouldn’t be possible to charge extra when calling a cell phone, therefore the owner of the cell phone has to pay that extra amount.

            Like I said, it’s just a vague half-memory and I could have completely made it up. That’s why I’m asking