Carriers make 6500% markup on text messages

[RedTomato]

Texting's effectively almost free in the UK.

Unlimited text plans are easily available on monthly contracts / pay as you go for around £15 per month. Sometimes cheaper. Some people send 5000 a month on these plans. Note that £15 sometimes also includes unlimited data as well as unlimited texts, all in one package.

If you want to pay less, you can get 500-odd texts for between £5 - £10 /month which is more than enough for most people. That's around 1p per text.

If you're foolish and dont get a package or just don't text much then you end up paying around 10p-15p per outgoing UK text max, which I think is similar to USA prices.

 

[Sargiel]

Texting's effectively almost free in the UK.

Unlimited text plans are easily available on monthly contracts / pay as you go for around £15 per month. Sometimes cheaper. Some people send 5000 a month on these plans. Note that £15 sometimes also includes unlimited data as well as unlimited texts, all in one package.

If you want to pay less, you can get 500-odd texts for between £5 - £10 /month which is more than enough for most people. That's around 1p per text.

If you're foolish and dont get a package or just don't text much then you end up paying around 10p-15p per outgoing UK text max, which I think is similar to USA prices.

Or if you mostly text overseas and therefore don't have any packages available that are of use I was with a carrier years ago that let me use free sms's internationally - however they got bought out by Vodafone which put paid to that quickly enough Maybe if my handset wasn't so many years old I could look at getting some sort of funky data package and use some kind of online website to send sms ?

 

[guifa]

It's one of those things that the US is so far behind on it's stupid. There is no way a mobile company in the EU would be allowed to do that.

Are you kidding? In Spain text messaging was MUCH more expensive than in the US. The concept of unlimited messages didn't exist. Sure, incoming were free, but at 8c or more a message, even a hundred outgoing messages makes it as expensive as an unlimited American plan.

 

[Eraserhead]

^^ When were you in Spain? I expect they have similar plans to the UK now. Especially as Telefonica owns O2.

 

[alphaod]

The worse part is incoming messages cost money here in the US; I have to get an unlimited messaging for that sole reason alone. Everyone messages me and assumes I have a texting plan; now I do, but it's not what I really need.

 

[guifa]

^^ When were you in Spain? I expect they have similar plans to the UK now. Especially as Telefonica owns O2.

I left June of last year. That was disgusting thing. Orange, Telefónica, and Vodafone are all in other EU countries with better rates.

Here are the current Movistar SMS offers:

Megabono SMS Día: 100 outgoing from 8am to 8pm for 4€ ($6)
Megabono SMS Noche: 100 outgoing from 8pm to 8am for 4€ ($6)
Megabono SMS finde: 100 outgoing on weekends for 4€ ($6)

Otherwise, text messages at other times of the day are 0.15€ ($0.20)

There is also an offer to have texts to Movistar clients at half price, for a 2€ ($3) fee. They also have one contract for 9c a message at all times.

Either way, by the time I've reached 1000 outgoing messages, which isn't common, I've spent more just on messages than someone in the US with unlimited minutes, SMS/MMS, and data. (with all three Megabonos, which I think are mutually exclusive anyways, and the cheap message contract, and presuming all messages to Movistar only, 1000 messages would be 31.5 (700x0.045) + 4 + 4 + 4 + 2 = 45.5 €*($62.27). If they weren't movistar it'd be 76.5€ ($104.69)

Vodafone, while having the most attractive voice rates, offers 200 SMS for 18€ but otherwise charges 15c a message, or for 1000 messages 18 + 120 (800x0.15) = 138€ ($188.86).

Yoigo with it's Tarifa del Ocho gives messages at 8c a pop (including int'l which is nice), or 80€ ($109.48) for the 1000 messages.

Orange can give you 1000 for a mere 20€, but only as long as you don't do more than 300 to another carrier. So, if they're all to Orange, 1000 messages is 20€ ($27.37), but if they're all to another carrier, it's 15c a message, or 20 + (700x0.15) = 135€ ($184.75) at which point you'd probably just as soon stick with their 9c a message option to leave you at 90€ ($123.17) for the 1000 messages.

That's current rates. Compare to T-Mobile where the unlimited text runs you $10. $10 for 4000 messages, or 8000 messages, or 16000 messages. God help the person in Spain who sends several thousand.

 

[Blinkwing]

For a technology that's 25 years old, I'm surprised that it costs so much in some countries.

 

[instaxgirl]

Texting's effectively almost free in the UK.

Unlimited text plans are easily available on monthly contracts / pay as you go for around £15 per month . . . Note that £15 sometimes also includes unlimited data as well as unlimited texts, all in one package.

Indeed. I pay £10/month (payg) for unlimited text and data (well I think there's a data cap but I've never hit it). I should be paying £15 but it's an iPhone payg sim so free data for the year, but I'm sure T-Mobile's doing a text and data for £10/month thing just now. I could probably find a plan with a few hundred minutes included as well for £15 on a 30 day contract.

I love the phone deals in the UK. The real beauty of the UK market is the good payg and 30 day plans. I'll never take out another contract - buy a phone, unlock and switch carrier when there's a better deal

I left June of last year. That was disgusting thing. Orange, Telefónica, and Vodafone are all in other EU countries with better rates.

I spent the last half of 2009 in Austria. I just stopped using my phone because unless I took out a contract the plans were useless. The contracts didn't look all that spectacular either, nothing like the sort of deals I've had here.

Although Orange Austria did offer a porn plan for your phone for €5/month which I've yet to see here.

 

[0092762]

The worse part is incoming messages cost money here in the US; I have to get an unlimited messaging for that sole reason alone. Everyone messages me and assumes I have a texting plan; now I do, but it's not what I really need.

Well, you can have incoming texts turned off, and when people don't get any responses from the texts they've sent you, they'll get used to it real quick.