http://mynewsjunkie.com/2009/06/15/c...g-price-hikes/

Who wants to bet they'll talk about this for a while, then all the bought off senators and congressmen will just let it die.

You'd think that people would have been up in arms way back in 2007 when this article ran and they announced that text messages were marked up 7314%.

They've gone up since.

There's two rules when it comes to cellular service, or human nature for that matter.

1. People are naturally gullible. You feed them enough BS, they'll believe anything.
2. The ones who actually care about this make up the extreme minority. The rest don't feel like they can do anything about it, so they don't bother.

I run into these all the time in the FOSS world. It makes it a bear to convince people they're getting taken to the cleaners. At the same time I wonder if it also doesn't have something to do with people not wanting to admit they got suckered, and thus they shut up and don't say anything so as to pretend like they're the smart ones and not the suckers.

or they have a "good" life already and do not see a need to rock the boat...

They could cut their bill by 60-80% and they don't want to rock the boat!? Dude, if I had a chance to save 60% and still get the same amount of service, I'd be shaking that sucker like a cat 5 hurricane!

i never said the reasoning would be perfectly rational...

Do not use SMS messages. Use IM (GTalk, ICQ, MSN, etc.). Whatever puny advantages SMS has over IM do not justify the price.

I don't know where you live, but here:
- Everyone has a mobile that can SMS, but not many have a smartphone that can IM.
- There is only one protocol, you can reach all other phone owners.
- You don't need to have a separate IM account, just use your phone number.
- No setup, it just works.

These features make it "priceless" for many. Even when the costs are outrageous when calculated in cents/byte :-)

Well, you can voice-call ones who cannot IM. Or send them an email which they will read once they get to a computer.

Given the cost, I would rather voice-call than use this "one protocol".

Pretty much everybody, except retirees and toddlers, has at least one IM account now. IM accounts are free.

Setting up an IM client takes about 5 minutes, including the download time. I have no problems spending these 5 minutes once, if it saves me money for months afterward.

Sorry, but I do not see this as "priceless". All I see is service providers fleecing consumers who are too lazy/stupid to keep track of their own money.

I can't justify SMS costing me 60 bucks a year extra simply because my friends don't listen to me when I say "don't text me" and makes a higher bill for me if I didn't have the ability to send/receive.

For me, SMS is... wasteful. Personally, I would rather IM. But since my phone doesn't support IM's in the background (iPhone 3G) so I'd have to be either tethered to my desktop/laptop or wifi network or in the app not using my phone.

And IM's while away on their network still counts as data.

It's not like that for all phones; however I need something that does work and not cost me an arm and a leg.