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80,012 Text Messages In One Month
webguru4god writes "According to an article on AZCentral.com, a man in New Zealand sent an average of 2,580 text messages a day for a whole month to protest his cell phone provider cancelling their unlimited text messaging plan. I recently received a faulty cell phone bill for $2000 claiming that I sent 40,000 text messages in one month, which I thought was physically impossible. But apparently this man has doubled that number and managed to get 8 hours of sleep each night for the month!"
I think this entire 'unlimited' offering is silly...it seems we're seeing more and more cases of some group of customers that basically exceed whatever the company expects the realistic extreme to be, and the company simply creates a cap. An ISP might offer unlimited bandwidth, the the minute a few people start managing to pull down 20gig a day, or say, a phone company customer base starts sending 10,000 text messages a day, we start seeing things like this. We know there's a reasonable extreme to be expected in any service like this, and it'd be nice of the companies responsbile just gave a good limit (1 gig of free e-mail, anyone?) that most people won't get close to hitting, but is big enough to keep users coming in.
I know nothing
Little over a year ago, there was an MMS war between the telcos here in Norway and all MMS messages were free of charge. The price war continued for half a year and I save a lot on using MMS to send text instead of SMS.
What i've always wondered on my plan, is why text messaging costs more than phoning. I'm on pay and talk at the moment, while phoning costs like 5 cents per minute, and texting costs 15 cents per message. It's crazy! Texting takes longer to type, you can only get like 140 CHARACTERS per message, and yet it costs 3 times more! I dont know, but texting should be like internet, you pay a certain fee per month, and you get unlimited messaging. What cost for bandwidth does a little bit of words cost???
Text messages are less intrusive, people can answer them when they have the time. I don't like having people call regarding things which basicly isn't that important, seen me a text message and I can answer you when I have the time.
I don't call people if I can avoid it, I think it's very rude to assume that they will have the time to talk to me. Emails and text messages a is something they can deal with later. For important things or situations where you need the answer right now, sure a phone call it better.
I think he misunderstood the word "protest". To me it seems like he just proved the telecoms point.
I don't feel sorry for him that he can't continue to send a text message every 20 seconds. If it was me he was sending his "hi, how are you" drivel to, my response would probably be something in the line of "Shut the f*ck up dude"
IMO, the current chaos is created by the "all you can eat" mentality.
Which is wrong... exactly why?
Anyone offering flat rate, unlimited-for-fixed-price (all you can eat) takes on a risk. This is obvious for anyone with basic understanding of economy. The same happened with unlimited internet access - marketing made assumptions about usage patterns that turned out wrong.
However in this case it may be simpler, as it seems somewhat to be bait and switch thing. Honest limited time offers say they are limited.
The moon is not fully subjugated. I demand a second assault wave preceded by a massive nuclear bombardment.
I can't imagine why your wife would rather be with another man than with you. You sound like a total dreamboat.
Putting myself in her position, it might have been worth the $3,200 to receive absolute assurance that she was making the right decision.
Posted anonymously, lest you decide to take revenge against me too.
Land lines are so much easier,
My landline phone only remembers the last number I dialed. My cell phone remembers the last 10, and has 200 more in the address book. (I can also store numbers on my landline phone, but I can't attach names to them, so I'd have to make a separate record of what number is which person... too much hassle.)
So there's lots of times when it's easier for me to pick up my cell phone to make a call, even when I'm home.
you have unlimited calls to all your friends in your area code,
I live in Los Angeles. About three of my friends are in my area code. The city itself has four different area codes.
Granted, many of those are still not toll charges, but some of them are, and I can't tell by the area code which will be. My friend in Van Nuys (818) is local, but my friend in Reseda (also 818) is a toll call.
and you can sit and chat with them all day like it is nothing if you want, because it isn't going to cost you a dime more or less todo so.
While with my cell phone, I can do the same to my friend in San Jose or my mom when she's out of town in Detroit or Nigeria, and have the same experience... because it's a very, very rare occurence for me to go over my monthly minutes.
With a cellphone, you have all these funky plans, unneeded features, and hidden costs.
My cell phone bill is the same each month, within a few cents. My landline varies more.
I have no "unneeded features." I get a package that includes the features I want and will use. I don't want text messaging, so my package doesn't include it. I do want unlimited long distance, so my package gives me that.
A second landline can be had for $15/mo, so you can have two numbers, one for you, and one for the kids.
I can add a second line to my cell phone for $9.99/month. Oh, and, that $15/month doesn't include about $5/month in taxes, surcharges, and fees you'll be paying. (Same is true of the cell phone, but since many are a percentage of what you pay, it's even cheaper by comparison.)
All for about $35/mo, and you don't have to worry about "going over". If you have family in another state, just get a calling card, or get a good long distance plan.
Or, get a good cell phone plan for about $40/month, and pay nothing extra for long distance or "local toll" at all.
We cancelled long distance service on our landline, because AT&T started charging us $6/month even when we didn't use it. We never use it, because it's free from our cell phones.
So, it sounds like you're woefully underinformed about cellular service, and you're paying for your ignorance. Good on you.
Don't you wish your girlfriend was a geek like me?