Is there any reason, beyond corporate greed, for SMS messages to cost so much?

If I get it right, an SMS message is just a short string of data, no different from a message we send in a messenger. If so, then what makes them so expensive? If we’d take Internet plans and consider how much data an SMS takes, we should pay tiny fraction of a cent for each message; why doesn’t that happen?

  • BigDanishGuy
    75 months ago
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    You had to pay to receive? wtf.gif

    So some rando could ruin you by sending a bazillion SMS messages?

    • skulblaka
      25 months ago
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      You could ignore them and not recieve. But then you’ve got a billion pending messages that you don’t know the content of.

      • BigDanishGuy
        15 months ago
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        The messages weren’t pushed to you? You got a notification and then had to request the actual message? That would be even more stupid, as it’s using twice the bandwidth.

        • skulblaka
          15 months ago
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          That’s how it worked on my old phone, you got a message notification but it cost you to actually read it. No clue if they sent the message content before the paywall or if it pulled it down afterward.

          But it also meant you could use your phone basically as a beeper without paying for texts. Just see who sent you a message, ignore the actual message and call them.