Today is basic math day at CrunchGear where we discovered that if 160 bytes of SMS data costs twenty cents then 1MB (1,048,576 bytes) of data would cost 131,072 cents, or $1,310.72.
Check out the prices for a text message plan on AT&T, the exclusive carrier of the iPhone 3G in the United States. AT&T wants twenty cents ($0.20) per text message if you don’t sign up for a plan. A text message is nothing more than 160 bytes of data. The max is 160 characters, and one character equals one byte of data. Great.
In other words, if AT&T charged data downloads at the rate they charge text messages downloading 1MB of data would cost you $1,310.72.
that is highway robbery.
Not unreasonable?!
as adam sandler would say, “Fu** me in the goat a**
Way to make up some numbers and go for sensationalist blogging. This just in, just because the data only covers X amount of space doesn’t mean that’s all that needs to be transmitted. Think about overhead. Absolutely terrible train of thought. Yes, AT&T is probably charing much more than they should, but your numbers are pretty far off the mark.
Can you guys do an analysis of the family plans for the iPhone. The prices seem completely out of wack.
If you were to get 2 iPhones you would be way better off getting 2 individual plans ($69.99 x2) then getting the family plan (129.99) since you would get much more minute for only $10 more. Also how does a family plan work with 1 iPhone and 1 normal phone.
I currently have a blackberry and my wife has a normal phone. We are on a family plan (700 minutes) and I have unlimited enterprise data ($49.99) and our total bill is only $125. How is the data for the iPhone cheaper, but the family plan more expensive.
Why do they still charge for text messages in the USA. They are free and have been free for forever in Japan.
No Google Talk. iPhone sux.
@#4 Your a sensationalist commenter. Which is worse?
Like Dave said earlier, SMS also has overhead. Any data transferred over certain protocol, e.g. TCP/IP will have bits in the headers (at least) to indicate various status, messages, boundaries, etc. Each SMS will be well over the 160 bytes you are looking at, so it might cost about half of the original $1,310 per your calculation. It’s ok to show off your math skills but please get the facts straight first.
BTW, it’s ok to diss AT&T anytime they charge an incoming SMS.
SMS are not 160 Bytes, but 160 US-ASCII 7-bit characters long, which makes a SMS message 140 Bytes long.
AT&T also charges $0 per megabyte:
$20/infinity = $0
#4: overhead or not, it doesn’t change the order of magnitude. SMS is the secret sauce of “data revenue” today and you bet carriers are worried about mass-adoption of data-based IM or location based social services (why LBS? think about how many SMSs you send involve “where are you?” “you hear yet?”)
yep text message should be free
Ahhh, maybe this is why Comcast and other ISPs don’t like bittorrent traffic. They are using some sort of “special” internet that is WAY more expensive than the internet that gets into our homes. (Like a server internet?)
I’m envisioning diamond fiber optics wrapped in gold and over braided with platinum. Those things don’t pay for themselves you know…
This is the reason I don’t own an iPhone- AT&T has rapacious calling plans. After adding internet access and SMS, you’d better be ready to bend over for AT&T.
I’ll take my chances with a Gphone and Andriod from other carriers.
.net rocks talked about this on a podcast awhile back. Text messages are the most expensive data per byte for users, but it costs almost nothing for the carrier. They just tack on the bytes to the end of channel that they already have running. here is a link to the podcast http://www.dotnetrocks.com/def.....howNum=327
Or they cost $20 for Unlimited Megabytes. I guess you choose your negative perspective.
Pretty dissapointing to see on TC.
That is crazy ridiculous, never go with pay as you go plans! You end up paying much more than you think you will.
I character equaling one byte is why Web 2.0 is awesome.
Most of you won’t understand why, though.
I won’t argue that the price is a rip-off and not related to actual transmission costs and sure it’s crazy expensive. But it’s priced as a message/transaction. Not as bulk data. It’s a different animal that actually travels over a different network.
On the overhead theory all information coming from the phone is data now. Its all digitized. So a text message takes much less bandwidth than a conversation or an “real” internet data usage. How does that work? They should encourage text messages.
those bastards. what the hell is wrong with them. people aren’t going to take this crap much longer. I can’t wait for a web 2.0 company to knock them on their ass for fleecing consumers this way
Yeah like that’s a good strategy for growing the high end of the market… they don’t get that if they let it grow there are lots of other ways to make $ off a whole new class of applications & data. For all the excitement that has been generated among mobile developers & startups this certainly gives one pause (again).
it should be noted that in the graphic it actually says .20 cents, as in 5 messages for 1 cent.
but i’m sure they mean 20 cents, they’re just stoooopid. agree with @22 - somebody capitalize on this horrible inefficiency already!
if you consider the fact the person receiving the txt message also has to pay the same price, given that receiving a txt message isn’t free, then you are looking at up to $2621.44/Megabyte. this is completely ridiculous……
@19 I hear ya.
Using that same logic, on the unlimited plan infinity MB costs $0/MB
That’s wrong. Unlimited plans cost in the hundreds. So just divide that by infinity and you have the amount.
When have phone companies not been thieves?
There was a story a while ago about someone from the Uni of Leicester that worked out that it was more expensive per MB to send an SMS message than to download data from the Hubble telescope.
One of the reports on it here: http://www.physorg.com/news129793047.html
Are you crazies seriously defending the pricing?
Data is data is data. If I’m paying $30 a month for “unlimited data”, I should not be paying one f’ing red cent more for text messaging. AT&T is not the only carrier screwing us, by any means, so I don’t mean to single them out, but paying for SMS on TOP of an “unlimited data plan” is bullshit, plain and simple.
We won’t be paying for text messages after July 11th. Just as with my blackberry I always used bbm which works internationally for free, iphone will have the same thing in the app store. Hopefully its not just chat though. I want something thats attached to my contacts as another option besides Test message or email.
1MB/Month = 6000SMS/Month = 200 Per Day If you send/receive that many, get the unlimited plan.
@31 (=jason):
You’re assuming Apple won’t block all those sorts of apps.
Can you say bend over with a smile!
iPhone fanbabies are oblivious to pricing or getting ripped off. Wait until they start surfing with their new 3G and get a bill for $10,000.
Is it possible to disable incoming SMS ?
I never send any SMS, and don’t want to receive any.
I’m with @32. Gotta say this is a pretty ridiculous post. It’s simply an option for those that don’t want to commit to a monthly amount. A handful of individual messages a month is still less than the lowest monthly subscription amount.
It doesn’t say 20 cents. It says .20 cents, or 1/5 of a cent. Who knows whether they know their math or not, though. See “verizon math” debacle for context.
The article and author’s findings are absolutely rubbish. What’s next? How much does 1MB of voice cost over the phone? ha-ha. Article while saying something means nothing. If one goes shopping for SMS plan, he never keept/keeps/will keep in mind cost of 1MB. Because of why? Because this doesn not apply to SMS. $$$ per message - the only numbers that matter. Cheers!
What’s even worse about the SMS:es, is that they’re sent on the free (read: unallocated) bandwitdth. So, it doesn’t cost the carrier anything more than keeping track of the message itself. And as we know, keeping harddrives is cheap.
Price gouging, price collusion (all major US wireless providers are now at 20 cents) - sounds like a perfect grandstanding opportunity for a congressperson up for re-election this year. Except that all of them most likely have sweetheart deals courtesy of a very profligate telecommunications lobby. Don’t want to call attention to that, nosirree.
Quick reply to 38 Guest.
Appearently you haven’t done your math.
For a 2G network, a voice call uses 57600 bytes/minute. If the carrier decides to charge, lets say $0.2 per minute, the SMS should cost 1/360:th of that (approx $0.0005). Anything more than that is overchargin the customer. And yes, they are more or less comparable, since voice talk has lots of demands that the sound isn’t interrupted, whilst text messages need to be kept and tracked on some harddrive in the carriers network.
Oh yeah? Well I’ll be sending all my text messages in unicode. There’s no way they’ll still make a profit when I’m sending twice as many bytes! Take that, AT&T!
C’mon, guys, give us a break.
Yes, the rate they charge is ridiculous. And Verizon charges the same rate, which is equally so. But the very fact that they will sell you an unlimited plan for something in the $15-$20 range (granted, only a good idea for heavy users) shows that they aren’t charging per data block.
I happen to agree that the rate they charge is unconscionable. TOTALLY. And I’m not going to go into a long thing about “the price the market will bear”. But . . . no wait, I AM gonna talk about that. People pay it, they charge it. Duh.
What’s REALLY problematic is that when you start receiving spam texts and go to them for help, there is none. Verizon, for example, will let you “vlock” certain addresses. The quotes are a reference to the fact that the blocking doesn’t work reliably. Leaving you with three choices: pay for spam texts, go unlimited, or turn off text capabilities altogether. Oh, and they aren’t exactly forthcoming with the fact that choice #3 is available.
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@Mark,
No it’s not highway robbery, it’s “iWay” robbery, the 21st century equivelent.
Operators have know this for years - even when GPRS was launched there was talk about IM like services cannibalizing SMS revenue. Now with 3G, Edge etc. the majority of operators have hung on to SMS revenue by enticing customers into attractive sounding bundles. Which does really reduce the average cost per message but not to the value you will get via data.
I think the iPhone is really going to change peoples behavior such that they will not text in the traditional sense.
Do you know if there is any application yet launched which will allow me to send an IM from my phone and then send it to the recipient on their preferred app i.e. IM, Email, SMS, or Text to speech…..
Patrick
Guys, aren’t you forgetting one more thing i.e. the new reduced price is applicable only if you are eligible for upgrade. Now isn’t that a robbery as well? How many ppl who bought iphone last year are applicable for upgrade ?. Last year when they released iphone they never had such pre-condition. Whats the point in reducing the price when half of the them are not going to be eligible for iphone …suckers !
This just in: Cell phone companies in the US overcharge for their services.
Film at 11.
It’s not as bad as it looks. If you read it literally (and I don’t know why nobody doesn’t), .20 cents per text message is pretty cheap. That’s five SMS messages for a penny, 500 for a dollar, and 2500 for $5. Why pay the $5 for 200 messages plan? It’s much cheaper without the plan.
Oh, btw, AT&T?
They suck.
In other, other words, if AT&T charged data downloads at the rate they charge text messages downloading 1MB of data would cost you $20. Not $1,310.72.
Why is this a story?
THAT IS PRECISELY WHY iCHAT IS NOT ON THE IPHONE!
Just a theory, but think about the revenue lost if people use chat instead of SMS.
Lets see a multi-platform BBM killer.