R5992 per MB

LMAO :D

I rarely pay for these.. i'd say only like 25% or less of the sms's i send are ever via the firmware. I think its like voice + interconnect costs.. Its costs so much because they can get away with it! Its really that simple!
 
Let me state again that I think it will be great to hear from the cellular operators what the reasons for their SMS pricing are. It is certainly not as simple as applying data pricing to SMSes, but I asked them all for feedback and they are mum on the issue for whatever reason.
 
Well that is true.. you must remember that they have to use special hardware to do it... like a Short Message Service Centre (SMSC) to the network and then maintenance etc and that obviously costs money.. but the costs in SA must be said, costs atleast 10x the actual cost.
 
bah.. double post but i forgot to say this, with the new call rate structure e.g. 99% discounts, I found it funny the other day when deciding whether to make a 30sec to 1min call at night vs sending an sms, because it worked out cheaper and better to actually make the call!
 
rpm said:
Let me state again that I think it will be great to hear from the cellular operators what the reasons for their SMS pricing are. It is certainly not as simple as applying data pricing to SMSes, but I asked them all for feedback and they are mum on the issue for whatever reason.
Click to expand...

Really disappointing with no feedback. :( But like krycor said, they can come away with it. :rolleyes:
 
What is the overhead of an SMS message? 160 characters, there must at least be the recipients and sender's phone number over and above that. It may possibly also contain location information, length of message byte, synchronisation and check bytes.
It wouldn't surprise me if this adds 50% or more to the message.
I am just astonished that this could be overlooked.
 
The rest of the calculation on the actual data cost for SMSs is not difficult.
Click to expand...

And yet they still get it wrong...

What about headers - to whom is the sms going? That takes up data.

Remember that sms are uploaded, then downloaded, so the data usages is actually doubled. When you use mixit, it chargers you a data amount to send, and then charges the other person the data amount to recieve. They should have considered this.

Interconnection fees are ignored

Most people use delivery reports, which too should be added to the data bundle. So it's not R5992 per MB, it's closer to R3000.

Which is still terrible, yes but more correct than the R6000.
 
krycor said:
I found it funny the other day when deciding whether to make a 30sec to 1min call at night vs sending an sms, because it worked out cheaper and better to actually make the call!
Click to expand...

With per second billing you can say 160 characters worth of words faster than 80c worth of call. While I was on prepaid I noticed that calls under 3 seconds never seemed to register a cost - not sure if thats changed.
 
well, if u look at sms as a service, the lower the data used, the higher the price. Like with their 3G network, the lower the GB, the higher per MB price. The higher the GB contract, the lower the MB price.

I use TONS of sms's. It saves me a small fortune instead of calling to pass my message. it's an adequate price for the service their offer. you can buy sms bundles for 25c/sms anyway. so if you sms lots you can simply buy that bundle and stop moaning on this website. oh ja, then others start sms spamming you :(
 
JACOETZEE said:
well, if u look at sms as a service, the lower the data used, the higher the price. Like with their 3G network, the lower the GB, the higher per MB price. The higher the GB contract, the lower the MB price.

I use TONS of sms's. It saves me a small fortune instead of calling to pass my message. it's an adequate price for the service their offer. you can buy sms bundles for 25c/sms anyway. so if you sms lots you can simply buy that bundle and stop moaning on this website. oh ja, then others start sms spamming you :(
Click to expand...
Of course it does - call prices are also sky high but that doesn't justify the high price of sms'es.

Besides - if the operators didnt have something to hide why didnt they respond?
 
rpm said:
Let me state again that I think it will be great to hear from the cellular operators what the reasons for their SMS pricing are. It is certainly not as simple as applying data pricing to SMSes, but I asked them all for feedback and they are mum on the issue for whatever reason.
Click to expand...

Except that it's plain greed that stops them from integrating a gprs based sms service into their handsets. Sorry, but no buy from me - greed.
 
This article raised a very valid point. I think the old story of the hardware being very special and expensive, or the fact that the service needs to be guaranteed is a load of doody. The way forward is the instant message, I have not once sent an IM and not have it come out on the other side. Why does it cost so much?
 
Bradbowlllama said:
Except that it's plain greed that stops them from integrating a gprs based sms service into their handsets. Sorry, but no buy from me - greed.
Click to expand...
How would this differ from MMS?
 
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