I don't do texting... and it's not just because I'm some crotchety old fart, either. My phone supports texting, but I have it locked down to where I only receive messages from my phone provider... because texting is absurdly expensive. Even back at 10 cents a text (I didn't know general prices had gone up until just now), the rate, compared even to still-too-pricey data transmission rates, was so much higher that I couldn't see how it could be justified on technical terms. Now, I gather, the cost of texts is closer to 20 cents per... whatever the market will bear, I guess.
The funny thing is, if the cellular providers had just stuck with 10 cents, they might not have drawn the attention of one of Wisconsin's senators (link). Now, he's asking the major carriers to send him their justifications, by October 6th, of how the price on texts needs to double, in spite of all the network improvements they've been touting recently... oh, and include comparisons to your per-minute voice and per-kilobyte data charges, while you're at it. Mind you, the timing's a bit suspicious... I don't know if his seat is up for election this cycle, but a month or so of "I'm defending you against the big, bad telecoms" could do wonders for a re-election campaign... however, it could also be the beginning of something good, from a consumer point of view. We'll just have to wait and see, I suppose.
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