As SMS-messages are usually cheaper than a phone call, it's a way more convenient method of communication than the pay-per-second call.
That's actually crap. I have had the use of SMS messages for over 4 years now, ever since Orange started trialling them in the UK. They were cool then because hardly anyone used the, and they were free. Nowadays I hate them. They are the most obnoxious, instrusive, tedious, annoying and expensive way to communicate in the modern day.
Some of my friends seem to insist on having whole conversations via SMS messages. At 5p a time, a conversation can easily cost a quid. But because writing text messages is slow, tedious and restrictive (160 chars max), we could have the same conversation by actually PHONING each other for far less cost, because it would take a fraction of the time to say what we wanted to say. This is especially acute when you take into account the large numbers of free minutes of airtime which is often bundled into contracts.
It is for this reason why I have stopped responding to text messages, which has brought new problems. People demand to know why you haven't responded, which is the intrusive part. If I don't want to accept a form of communication, I won't! I've already got too many damn phone numbers and e-mail addresses, I certainly don't need something as lame and annoying as text messages. I've dumped ICQ in a similar way. In my opinion, any form of "instand message" is bad. Get in the queue, cos there are 20 other people who wanted to contact me before you.
Returning to the cost, I did sums once and worked out that it costs over £400 to send 1Mb of data over SMS. It costs £1.50 to send the same amount of data through your mobile through a 9600bps Nokia data suite (at peak times, assuming a cost of 25p per minute). And we all know how much it costs to send 1Mb of data over a 28.8kps modem and a land line.
This cost is unacceptable considering it costs mobile providors absolutely nothing to send these messages. Phone calls use far more bandwidth and cost them far more. The odd text message is often more economical than a phone call, but a conversation of 15 messages each way is not. It's just annoying, and I *hate* typing out messages on a 12-button keypad.
Down the pub, everything's changed. People constantly have their phones glued to their hands bashing out text messages under the table. And while this is going offtopic a bit, will people please note that it is NOT necessary to cycle through all the tunes that your phone can possibly play whilst in the pub.
So please, don't SMS me. I long for the day when Orange introduce a service that automatically replies to people sending text messages with a message like "This person does not accept text messages, because they are lame, tedious, intrusive, expensive and annoying. JUST BLOODY PHONE THEM.
Slashdot Mirror
As SMS-messages are usually cheaper than a phone call, it's a way more convenient method of communication than the pay-per-second call.
That's actually crap. I have had the use of SMS messages for over 4 years now, ever since Orange started trialling them in the UK. They were cool then because hardly anyone used the, and they were free. Nowadays I hate them. They are the most obnoxious, instrusive, tedious, annoying and expensive way to communicate in the modern day.
Some of my friends seem to insist on having whole conversations via SMS messages. At 5p a time, a conversation can easily cost a quid. But because writing text messages is slow, tedious and restrictive (160 chars max), we could have the same conversation by actually PHONING each other for far less cost, because it would take a fraction of the time to say what we wanted to say. This is especially acute when you take into account the large numbers of free minutes of airtime which is often bundled into contracts.
It is for this reason why I have stopped responding to text messages, which has brought new problems. People demand to know why you haven't responded, which is the intrusive part. If I don't want to accept a form of communication, I won't! I've already got too many damn phone numbers and e-mail addresses, I certainly don't need something as lame and annoying as text messages. I've dumped ICQ in a similar way. In my opinion, any form of "instand message" is bad. Get in the queue, cos there are 20 other people who wanted to contact me before you.
Returning to the cost, I did sums once and worked out that it costs over £400 to send 1Mb of data over SMS. It costs £1.50 to send the same amount of data through your mobile through a 9600bps Nokia data suite (at peak times, assuming a cost of 25p per minute). And we all know how much it costs to send 1Mb of data over a 28.8kps modem and a land line.
This cost is unacceptable considering it costs mobile providors absolutely nothing to send these messages. Phone calls use far more bandwidth and cost them far more. The odd text message is often more economical than a phone call, but a conversation of 15 messages each way is not. It's just annoying, and I *hate* typing out messages on a 12-button keypad.
Down the pub, everything's changed. People constantly have their phones glued to their hands bashing out text messages under the table. And while this is going offtopic a bit, will people please note that it is NOT necessary to cycle through all the tunes that your phone can possibly play whilst in the pub.
So please, don't SMS me. I long for the day when Orange introduce a service that automatically replies to people sending text messages with a message like "This person does not accept text messages, because they are lame, tedious, intrusive, expensive and annoying. JUST BLOODY PHONE THEM.
xxx Stuii!