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Senators Take Network Operators to Task Over SMS Charges

Article Comments  47  

Sep 9, 2008, 6:55 PM   by Eric M. Zeman

Sen. Herb Kohl, chair of the antitrust subcommittee, sent a letter to the four major U.S. wireless firms, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. The letter expressed his concerns that the rates for sending text messages has doubled over the last three years to 20 cents, while the cost of sending them has not increased. Senator Kohl is formally requesting the network operators to explain the reasons for the price increases and to justify them compared to the rates of sending / receiving emails and other services. The network operators have yet to respond.

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the Communist Manifesto

Sep 11, 2008, 12:05 AM

What's his mobile number?

I want to send him a text message asking him how much he just paid to receive my question.
🤣 🤣 🤣
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Humdizzle

Sep 9, 2008, 10:34 PM

While he's at it...

Why not dig into why it costs more to get your hair cut, car washed, lawn mowed, taxes done? Let's tap into why it would cost you to hire a plumber at $65/hour? 🙄

You all get my point. It is none of the governments concern as to what a company charges for an OPTIONAL service. If they want to charge $1/SMS, that's there right as a business in the US.
Good point
Because if fair competition is involved, then the consumer will make or break the company they choose to do business with.
The reason they are increasing the prioces is to obviously make more money. More and more people are sending texts as oppossed to calling so it causes more strain on the network. Plus, if another companies price is higher then theres then why not rais...
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aTextbookTypo

Sep 10, 2008, 9:34 AM

i think...

his kids were doing way too much texting... and so now since he has a 2000 dollar phone bill, he gets his job involved since he knows that if just he complained by himself, and not involve congress, no one would listen...
I've said it once and I will say it again. phones should come packaged with condoms so everyone can practice safe text! 😁
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SCTelephoneMan

Sep 9, 2008, 7:46 PM

Kohl needs to leave free enterprise alone

Text messages cost what the market will bear. The government has no business stepping in here. People can choose to pay it, not pay it, block it, get a plan, whatever.

The government has no business setting prices for services.
However, it is quite odd that the providers would increase the messaging rate and the cost to send messages stay the same, knowing full well it constitutes a "material change" of the contract, thereby allowing people to cancel without penalty.
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I agree that the govt has no right in setting prices for services, but the basis is true. The prices have increased for customers, although the cost for using these services for the carriers have not changed. I'm tired of having to explain this to c...
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Someone wants an answer for the reasoning why...the justification...

People are sending more messages, people are willing to pay more for them, and the infrastructure costs more to keep using more messages, then previously.

I remember when Texts...
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Seriously, could you be any more of a shill for the teleco's?
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It's not exactly free enterprise. Remember the government put these businesses into play by allowing them to merge and giving them money from the USF. Therefore, they have to make sure that the people who they represent are not screwed by these same ...
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The biggest problem I forsee happening to all of us down the road is getting hit with crazy monthly charges from receiving text messages we didnt solicit. More importantly for spammers and advertisers. As anyone with a clue know that your cell # is th...
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Slammer

Sep 9, 2008, 11:01 PM

You know whats really ironic?...

Next to cigarettes and credit cards, the cellphone subscribers already pay some of the highest taxes on their bill because of the government.
If the government could get a cut they wouldn't care how high the SMS charges go.
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mosherkl

Sep 9, 2008, 10:46 PM

Costs

At least on a CDMA network like VZW, Sprint, Alltel, etc use, the format for delivering an SMS hasn't changed in well over 10 years. However, the number of SMS messages has exponentially increased since then. Go to a major sporting event during playoffs or a big concert and see how long it takes to send an SMS, if it even goes through.

The carriers are charging more for SMS because they may need to spend more money to add capacity to their networks in areas just for SMS.
Aren't they also getting more money in return from these sms's?

Do the math.
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mycool

Sep 10, 2008, 7:57 AM

Gas prices

While he's at it, can he figure out why gas prices have gone up so much in the past couple of years. I hate paying $4/gal!
Byrd

Sep 9, 2008, 7:42 PM

hmmm

I would love 2 know what the answer is gonna be
The answer should be it is none of your business. But since we are on the subject why don't we have a probe into why all the Senators have their own social security system that is so much better than the one that they have in place for the rest of the...
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T Mobster

Sep 9, 2008, 8:39 PM

TYPO....

He said "send" when he meant "receiving".....also i think it's a good idea carriers get probed. Why can't we make life easier for Americans. Why must it be so bad especially with prices going up everywhere. Whats their excuse? It cost more fuel these days to send SMS's? 🤣
 
 
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