Many mobile prepaid service plans in the US still require a per SMS charge. Most charge for sending and receiving and include a premium charge for sending to other countries. Have you ever sat down to figure out how much you’re really paying for this frictionless and convenient mode of communication?
The Plans
- ATT
- $.15 send & $.15 receive - domestic
- $.20 send & $.15 receive - international
- $4.99 200 message bundle
- $19.99 unlimited messages
- Verizon
- $.10 send & $.10 receive domestic to other Verizon phone
- $.15 send & $.15 receive domestic to other carrier
- $.25 send & $.10 receive international
- no bundles
- Sprint/Nextel by Boost Mobile
- $.10 send & $0 receive
- $5.00 unlimited messages
- Virgin Mobile MVNO via Sprint
- $.05 send & $.05 receive
- $4.99 200 message bundle
- $1.99 50 message bundle
A Bit of Math
SMS max message size is 160 characters. One character equals one byte. There are 1024 x 1024 or 1,048,576 bytes in 1MB.
So there are 1,048,576 / 160 or 6553.6 SMS messages in 1MB of data.
NOTE: this assumes you use all the characters available in every message which none of us do. Some examples of really short messages show up on my phone frequently like “Ready?” “You home?” “Let’s go.” For illustration purposes and easier math, I’m assuming all 160 characters per message are used.
Calculating message traffic per MB these prepaid subscribers are paying the following rates.
Fun Facts
- ATT
- $983.04 per 1MB of message data - domestic
- $1310.72 per 1MB of message data - international
- $163.84 per 1MB of message data - 200 message bundle
Note the unlimited amount depends on how many are sent, but for illustration lets’s say you sent and received 1000 SMS. You’re per MB charge is $131.07.
- Verizon
- $655.36 per 1MB of message data - domestic to other Verizon phone
- $983.04 per 1MB of message data - domestic to other carrier
- $1638.40 per 1MB of message data - international
- no bundles
- Sprint/Nextel by Boost Mobile
- $655.36 per 1MB of message data
- $32.77 per 1MB of message data (assuming 1000 messages per month)
- Virgin Mobile MVNO via Sprint
- $327.68 per 1MB of message data
- $163.84 per 1MB of message data - 200 message bundle
- $260.83 per 1MB of message data - 50 message bundle
No wonder the Internet is jealous of mobile data! Oh! and Happy 15th to SMS.
April 8th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
@John Webb - I read somewhere that SMS messages are embedded as part of the call control and phone registration overhead. IE it costs them 0 extra bandwidth to send SMS messages. I also remember a case where during a hurricane (I think Rita) several carriers ask everyone (and quit charging during this period) to use SMS messages because it is actually more cost prohibitive to send a phone call which if you do the calculation using GSM codec (RPE-LTP) comes out to 13,000 bits a second, or 1,625 bytes per second, or 10.15625 SMS messages per second. Given a 10 minute call is equivalent to sending 6,093.75 SMS messages it makes you really understand just how profitable SMS is to the carriers and how badly the consumer is getting ripped off.
December 26th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
use email…its free…Twitter too damned expensive
November 10th, 2008 at 2:11 am
My guess is that the biggest true expense to the carrier in the transmission or reception of an SMS message — assuming that all ’services’ the carrier provides share an portion of the infrastructure and ‘overhead’ business costs based on bandwidth consumed — is the costs that can be directly attributed to the _billing_ of the SMS service. (I am lumping into ‘billing’ all the expenses of assigning the sender and receiver and counting the # of messages, besides the printing of the invoice).
September 7th, 2007 at 3:04 am
@Justin,
Well, laying fibre and copper isn’t free (neither are Cisco routers) … should we pay 15 cents a KB to access the Internet?
BTW, most SMS are routed entirely through the cell networks and PSTN, with only a very small fraction ever hitting a satellite.
August 24th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
SMS is nice as an option. Sometimes it’s more expedient and cheaper to send ‘leaving now’ or something terse than to voicecall. (esp with prepay) It’s no bargain, still it can be the best available option. It’s eye opening to see the numbers presented this way. Thanks for this post.
August 22nd, 2007 at 3:10 pm
This is wrong, you are actually paying nothing per each MB stored, the cost you pay is for sending the message through the airwaves via satellite, the storage is completely free, considering it costs millions to launch a satellite and control it, what you pay is not much.
Not to mention, the size on disk is double that of what it is to type out the message.
Try typing a text message into notepad then saving it, not only are you saving the text characters, but you are also saving the formatting which is a hell of a lot more than the message itself.
The storage on your phone is free, thats why you can save messages or notes you write for nothing.
This is like saying you are paying 30 dollars for 5mb of email space with an ISP, when in reality you are paying for the internet access, the email comes free with it.
Also:
‘and no wonder that despite the ease of email and that it could easily replace text messages text messages are still around’
Email is sent via the internet, it does not cost anything to use the channels avalible, ISPs do not have to pay for satellites.
‘I must say, I’ve never seen a charge quite that high - 10p or 12p is the standard charge for text messages over here.’
15 cents is cheaper than 10-12 pence.
‘That still means it’s a higher cost than in the US; but it balances because we don’t have any incoming charges.’
There are hardly any services in the US that charge for incoming calls.
August 17th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
Hi,
I would like to know if Sprint or Cingular mobiles have a contract with Tim Mobile (Italy mobile operator).I am not able to text from here(L.A.) to Florence,Italy. I have both Sprints and Cingular cell., and as I know Verizon is not compatible with Tim Mobile. Could you tell me if also Sprint and Cingular have the same Verizon problem about txt?
Thank you very much
ciao
Giada
August 16th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
I was not aware that SMS are actually that costly per MB. However, SMS is a very convenient method of communication and is attractive as a means of keeping contact with lots of people. I wonder if email phone-to-phone is going to be anywhere as popular in the future? Phone companies won’t want email to take over from SMS because they make too much from SMS. What ways can we get around phone companies spoiling the email traffic phone-to-phone?
August 16th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
SMS would be super useful if the phone companies weren’t so damn greedy. 15 cents for a message. No wonder they cripple email, and no wonder that despite the ease of email and that it could easily replace text messages text messages are still around. WTF!
August 11th, 2007 at 11:14 am
For comparison, my mobile plan in Taiwan gives me 200 free sms plus 3 cents US per sms afterwards. International is 5 cents. It’s possible to have plans that cost less.
August 8th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Your math is correct, but inaccurate. While the amount of text sent with an SMS is 140 bytes, there is substantial overhead. (It seems to vary somewhat depending on the specific network technology being used, but the overhead and handshaking can be 10+ times the data contained in the message.)
Of course, the basic point remains valid — wireless carriers are often charging data rates that far exceed the equivalent voice traffic.
August 2nd, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Wow you have to pay to receive texts?! Harsh.
And the above poster is right - texts are never as much as 20p in the UK! Typical is 10 or 12p and often less (e.g. Tesco Value Mobile is 5p/text).
This seems quite reasonable. You aren’t paying for bandwidth really - you’re paying for communication.
August 2nd, 2007 at 6:43 pm
I’m happy that I live in Sweden.
With my operator (Halebop), if I charge my card with 200SEK (or more), that’s about $30.
I get free SMS for a month to any phone/operator in the world (caps at 3000 though) - plus I call free within the operators net (opening charge .6SEK, ~8¢, applies).
I have to use up 49SEK (~$7) per month, or they will charge me what’s left at the end of the month, but that is not a problem ;-P
I’ve never heard that you have to pay to /receive/ SMS before… that’s greedy.
August 2nd, 2007 at 4:53 pm
I recently was forced to upgrade my phone as AT&T is shutting down their old analog network. In the process, I saw that they’re now charging 15¢ per message, up from 10¢ a while back. I vented at the customer service person that this was an OUTRAGEOUS price increase.
The only recourse I see to this price gouging is to not use the service!
July 31st, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Not sure if you are aware, but Verizon has had an unlimited SMS package ($19.99) for over a month now.
July 31st, 2007 at 7:21 pm
In the UK the service providers have just got on to the idea that offering ‘unlimited’ bandwidth is a good thing - at long last.
By unlimited, most of them mean 1gig a month, and for the first couple of months of my contract, I was only using ~80MB. Then I discovered the whole streaming media thing and it’s shot up to ~500MB.
Still a pretty good deal for £7.50 a month though.
Before getting my data bundle the only real cost effective way (ie free) to get data to or from the phone was Bluetooth or USB. I’d recommend it to anyone wanting to put mp3’s on the phone. Especially if they already own the tunes they want. I’m amazed at some of my friends who still pay silly prices for ringtones. WHY!?!
July 31st, 2007 at 12:42 pm
This is why I don’t text. It’s fun and handy if it’s included in your plan but I just can’t justify the expense (even when looking at it per-unit). Plus, unless I have a keyboard - such as when I was test-driving a Treo 750 for work - outbound SMS takes too damn long. It’s easier to just call someone. Incoming can be handy, though, if you have an automated system sending you alerts that your network is down or something.
One other note - I’m exceedingly CHEAP when it comes to ringtones. If there’s a way to get an MP3 or MID from my computer to my phone for free, I’ll find it. There are web-based tools available for Sprint (not sure if they still work) and even third-party data cables can usually get you at least that functionality.
July 31st, 2007 at 6:25 am
How long does it actually take to send 1000 messages in a month? That’s ~ 33 SMS messages / day, every day.
How much time do you spend triple-tapping out SMS on your Razr?
– f9a
July 30th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
I wish this blog had a better theme…. the color scheme is so hard to read, how am I supposed to hope that my wife would actually read it and get it when I send her the link?
July 30th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
While fun, there is more to it than pure bandwidth. I don’t think they are making 10,000% on SMS, or else there would be trillions left over for new fiber runs and giant bonuses to executives.
July 30th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
You’re right in your math, and here’s another fun fact. AT&T is reasonably open about what you can and can’t do on their network and with their phone. Verizon and Sprint only let you access what’s on their network, AT&T lets you access the internet. By default the charge for AT&T is $0.07 a kilobyte. Best data rate I got from my phone was 48.8 kbps. At roughly 48 kbps that’s $3.36 a second. with AT&T you can put whatever you want on your phone as long as you have the right equipment. Sprint and Verizon cripple their phones and only let you put things on from their network. With my Razr I can put an mp3 on my phone and set it as my ringtone for free as long as I have the data cable and software from motorola. Sprint/Nextel charges up to $2.00 per ringtone. Verizon charges between $0.89 and $1.99 a ringtone. Average mp3 file is 2.5-3 MB. Sending it to a friend to use as a ringtone costs the sender and the receipent each $179.20. That’s a total of $358.40 brought in from a ringtone. Spend the extra $30 a month on unlimited data, you’ll be glad you did
July 30th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Actually, Verizon does offer bundles. I have a $10/mo for 500 out-of-network and unlimited in-network, and those also include picture messages.
July 30th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Someone has lots of time on their hands….:)
July 30th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Actually, a message can contain 160 7-bit characters, which is only 140 octets. Those prices, already ridiculous, should be 14% higher.
July 30th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
I must say, I’ve never seen a charge quite that high - 10p or 12p is the standard charge for text messages over here. That’s not to say it doesn’t exist, we have so many operators one of them is likely to be trying it on like that. (Most contracts include a good number of messages too - my £25 contract includes unlimited messages, for instance.)
That still means it’s a higher cost than in the US; but it balances because we don’t have any incoming charges. (I like it that way - it doesn’t seem hugely fair that someone else has the power to spend your money!)
Can’t help but notice how Sprint seem to blow the other companies away with their pricing. How come the likes of AT&T, Verizon et al aren’t haemorrhaging customers?
July 30th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
What’s really odd about the AT&T thing is that their prepaid plan only charges 5 cents per text message, but the people who have plans get charged 15 cents. My guess is they are trying to get people with regular service to buy a messaging plan.
July 30th, 2007 at 11:30 am
Nice analysis!
FYI, wikipedia says:
Maximum is 140 * 8 bits = 1120 bits.
This can be encoded as 7-bits characters (160), 8-bits characters (149) or 16-bits characters(70).
July 30th, 2007 at 9:28 am
Almost correct - GSM SMS uses a 7bit character encoding, so one (Latin) character is slightly less than a byte and one SMS is 140 bytes not including transport metadata (like the number to send to, port number, etc). That makes 7489.8 messages per Mb…
July 29th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
The math applies to all plans for SMS and not just in the US. You have to plug in your particular rates or charges and do the calculation.
One common example in post-paid accounts is unlimited SMS for $10 per month. So, if we apply the same formula the results are as follows.
Assume: 1000 messages
$9.99 unlimited
.
$9.99 / 1000 = $.00999, $.00999 * 6553.6 = $65.47/MB
So certainly the price is not as extreme as the prepaid charges, but $65.47 for 1MB of data is still shocking. Don’t you think?
Some plans in the UK charge 21p per message. For a UK subscriber this rate results in a per MB charge of $2796.14 USD. The value to cost ratio here is disturbing.
July 29th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Hi,
Does this apply only to prepaid service? Or does it apply for all us cell service?
dss902