They are overcharging for an UNNECESSARY luxury on an nonessential apparatus.
You have a problem with capitalism? No one has a .44 at this young man's head.
Posted on 01/09/2005 2:51:02 PM PST by wagglebee
Chaz Albert, a freshman at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., is a passionate "texter," someone who loves to send and receive pithy text messages via cellphone. He does it at home, at school and at work. He often prefers texting over talking on his cellphone.
Last month, though, Mr. Albert's habit caught up with him. Only $80 of his $400 cellphone charges were his father's, and most of his own, he said, were for text-messaging.
"I was shocked, but I couldn't do anything about it," he said. "I didn't realize that I got charged for reading text messages. My dad was just like: 'Hey, it's your problem. Pay it.' "
In the last two years, text messages - which cell carriers generally limit to 160 characters - have become a rage among teenagers, who embrace the technology as yet another way to escape a boring class or stay in touch with friends.
But text-messaging, or texting for short, has a downside. It can be expensive. Although phone companies offer relatively inexpensive packages - like Verizon Wireless's $9.99 for 1,000 messages a month - industry experts say that carriers sometimes fail to draw customers' attention to the cost-saving deals, and that customers themselves, especially young people, often exceed the number of messages allowed. In those cases, sending a text message usually costs 10 cents; the cost of receiving one ranges from 2 to 10 cents.
The sticker shock is reminiscent of the early days of cellphones, when users often were surprised by how much they were charged for going over their allotted minutes or for phoning someone outside their calling areas.
Many high school and college students accustomed to sending unlimited instant messages on their computers do not adapt easily to text messaging's pay-per-message format, and end up with unexpectedly high bills when they get involved in keypad conversations that involve hundreds, even thousands, of messages a month. The results are angry confrontations with parents, long-term payment plans and the loss of cellphone privileges.
"It's relatively addictive, and it's only when that first massive bill comes in that you realize that a dime a throw can run up a large bill," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, a nonprofit group that studies the social impacts of the Internet.
Sometimes, the only way a cellphone customer can learn the cost of text messaging is to ask, according to industry experts. "They basically just hand you the phone and say, 'Here, have a good day,' " said Allen Nogee, the principal analyst for the wireless technology group at Instat, a market research firm in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Karina Gonzalez, a sophomore at Newtown High School in Queens and a regular sender of instant messages by computer, had her phone confiscated by her mother after her text messages resulted in a $150 phone bill, triple the usual amount. "I cried," she said. "I felt like I lost a piece of me. You can send a million instant messages a day, and it won't cost you anything. If you send one text message, it can cost you like a phone call."
Her friend Denise Lucero, 15, who has never owned a cellphone, surreptitiously used her father's phone for a while, she said, to text-message her friends. One month, those messages pushed his bill to $300.
Then her father started to hide his phone: on top of the refrigerator, under the sofa, behind the television set, in his pillow.
Both girls said their inability to text message made them feel left out of the action. "It's about feeling part of a little group with cellphones," Denise said. "You want to learn what is going on."
Text-messaging has flourished for years in Europe and Asia, where it is immensely popular among young people. In the United States, activity was limited until 2002, when a breakthrough in the wireless market allowed short text messages to be sent among customers of the major cellular carriers. Previously, customers could send messages only to those who used the same carrier.
The service, known as S.M.S. (for Short Message Service), has since taken off. According to a recent report from Forrester Research, a company in Cambridge, Mass., that specializes in technology, Americans sent 2.5 billion text messages a month in mid-2004, triple the number sent in mid-2002.
Teenagers are clearly driving the trend. "Younger people do text messaging a lot more than older folks," said Mr. Nogee of Instat. "They're more used to it from instant messaging on the computer, from growing up with it. Older people would rather call up and talk."
According to a recent survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 38 percent of all teenagers who use the Internet have sent a text message using a cellphone. "Text messaging is a way to take instant messaging on the road," said Amanda Lenhart, a Pew research specialist. "It's definitely growing."
Verizon Wireless, with 42 million customers, reported a fivefold increase in the number of text messages sent and received monthly, to almost one billion in the fall from 200 million in early 2003. A Verizon spokesman, Howard Waterman, said that people aged 16 to 24 represented the "leading customer segment." (He said he could not break out exact figures, for "competitive reasons.")
Even some young sophisticates who scoffed at the text-messaging craze have caught the bug - and been stung. "Before I started using it, it seemed like a really ridiculous way to communicate," said Emily Seife, a junior at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. "But then it became a way to send a funny one-liner to a friend."
Ms. Seife is on the family's cellular plan, and two months ago, her father did a double take when the bill arrived. The text-messaging feature had jacked it up - Ms. Seife would not say how much - and she was asked to contribute $100 and told to either curb her text-messaging enthusiasm or get a different plan. "I knew it was 10 cents a message," she said, "but I didn't really realize how much that would add up."
Some parents are sympathetic, saying young people are simply taking their cues from grown-ups. "It's hard to be critical, because of the way we use e-mail and BlackBerries and Palm Pilots," said Karen Engelemann, a freelance book designer and mother in Dobbs Ferry.
"I would have loved it when I was her age, so I have to put myself in that situation," Ms. Engelmann said, referring to the enthusiasm that her 12-year-old daughter, Lilly Ulfers, developed for text messaging.
But that did not stop Ms. Engelmann from reprimanding Lilly when a recent cellphone bill arrived with a $40 text-messaging charge.
High schools and colleges have struggled with cellphone use in general and text messaging in particular, with many insisting that phones be stowed away during class or banned altogether. But students manage to send text messages anyway, pressing buttons discreetly (or not so) behind books and under desks. "Everyone does it in class," said Meredith Negri, 18, a freshman at the University of Hartford.
School officials also know firsthand the widespread financial duress caused by cellphones. At Mission High School in San Francisco, where three-quarters of the 975 students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, the principal, Kevin Truitt, says that many students were blindsided by costs associated with text-messaging and other features, like customized ring tones.
"It's causing family fights; the kids are broke, and a lot are graduating with debt because of cellphones," he said. "The carriers just seem to be adding new features that cost more and more and more. The students are not reading the fine print. No one understands the contract until they get the first bill and it's $800."
Clay Owen, a spokesman for Cingular Wireless, the nation's largest carrier with 46 million customers, said that "in an ideal world" the sales staff would explain the text-messaging feature and its cost. "They are trained to go through the packages with the customers," he said. "Does it happen every time? Obviously, with various salespeople and depending on the situation, there could be times it does not happen."
Mr. Waterman of Verizon Wireless advised young people to explore cost-effective packages and to track their messaging activity during the billing cycle by reviewing accounts online. The company also has a new service that allows customers to dial their cellphones for an up-to-date tally - delivered by a free text message.
Cingular customers can monitor how many phone minutes they have used in the middle of a billing period, but cannot track their text messages, Mr. Owen said.
For some young people, the cellphone ordeals, though painful, have proved valuable. What is left, it seems, after the bills are paid and the family tensions subside is the emergence of a new maturity when it comes to money.
Brian Colas, a student at City as School in Brooklyn, said he reined in his habit after his mother stopped paying his bill. "When you start paying, then you don't have money to spend on other things," he said. Mr. Albert's stepbrother, Judan Lynk, a junior at Mercy College, decided to cancel his text-messaging service after receiving a $400 bill in August. (His monthly plan, before taxes and surcharges, was $50, and he had no text-messaging package.) He paid the bill in installments, working extra hours as a sales clerk at Restoration Hardware. "At the end of this month, I'll be cut off," he said with a swish of his hand.
But there was still time to check his phone for the latest text message. It was from a friend in Ohio, telling him to answer his cellphone.
Harhar. It's their first REAL introduction to debt, rather debt. It's a good lesson. One, apparently, they can't seem to learn from mom and dad.
This seems to be more of the same.
Post this under "DUH - 101!"
He does it at home, at school and at work.
Anywhere, any time and in any position.
From what I can tell, text messaging is the new "gold mine" for cell phone companies. They are no longer able to generate the huge profits from phone calls the way they were a decade ago. Text messaging is a very inexpensive feature for the companies, but they can charge huge fees for its use. An added benefit is that this feature is most popular with young people who lack the "clout" to force a reduction in prices like they were forced to do with their phone services.
Welcome to the real worl, sh**-for-brains.
I don't send many text messages but my kids sometimes text me when they know I can't make a call at work, and I was annoyed to find out that the messages cost ten cents apiece. Now, one or two messages a day don't make any difference to me or my cell bill, but again, the cell companies see this as a cash cow and they don't warn you anyplace that there is going to be a charge for this.
Come on, gang, you know this is true. This kind of behavior is characteristic of cell companies. Raise your hand if you have a phone company billing horror story. Ah, as I thought: it's unanimous.
When I see some of these people with a cell phone permanantly affixed to their ears I really am tempted to ask sarcastically them how it is that they ever survived without it. I made it through the first 30 years of my life without any need for a cell phone and to this day, I wouldn't know how to send or receive a text message on one.
Didn't know teenagers could spell well enough to text message.
You have a problem with capitalism? No one has a .44 at this young man's head.
My kind of Dad.
I work for Nokia in an R&D recovery lab. I don't have a cell phone. I don't want one.
Ironic, isn't it?
Hey Cap, it's a Service. Services cost money. If they don't go want to look into the costs of vtext, and abuse it, then they have to pay for it. And if they don't get a clear explanation of costs associated with their phone, again, their wallet will be opened. Let the buyer beware.
I get 2500 on mine (work requirements) and it's only about 25.00 per month. 'Chaz' and his father didn't look at their contract, and/or made false assumptions. Too bad. I specifically asked for business sake. But even if it wasn't required for work, I'd have asked.
Simply put: Buyer Beware. Nothing is free anymore, so ask ask ask.
I'm on the road a lot with my job, other than that I could care less, at the end of the day and on weekends I don't even turn it on.
Um... I have one because I don't like to travel in the car without it. But my minntes used last month - 0.
Every now and then I"ll get a call from the cell phone carrier asking me if I'd like their newest and greatest plan only a zillion minutes a month for whatever. I usually ask them to look at how many minutes I've used over the last 3 months and see if they think I need a zillion minutes.
Why not discontinue text messaging?
On the other hand, that fifteen-year-old who was stealing her father's cell to text her friends needs her butt whipped. The idea that he should have to hide it from her is outrageous.
I got rid of the land line and just have pre-paid wireless that I hardly use. Never use the text message stuff.
Unfortunately, today's youth (and I suppose it has always been this way) is far more focused on image than they are on responsibility.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.