SMS: Not In The US
from the same-old-story dept
Wired has a story about why SMS text messaging over mobile phones hasn’t caught on in the US like it has elsewhere – and why it’s less likely to catch on as much in the near future. It’s the same story they’ve been saying for years. The carriers haven’t made it any less expensive to send an SMS than to make a voice call – so there’s no incentive. Also, more importantly, there’s no cross-carrier SMS ability. So, if you have a Sprint PCS phone you can only SMS Sprint PCS users.
Comments on “SMS: Not In The US”
SMS rocks
I wouldn’t say SMS is particularly cheaper than making a call as SMS conversations can go on for ever. Mobile calls aren’t expensive now, or for heavy users aren’t even time limited. For ?75/month you can have unlimited free mobile calls. SMS is rather like email in that it’s non-intrusive. I can carry out a casual conversation with someone whilst I work via SMS, no matter where the person is, can txt a friend in a club where it’s impossible to hear anything, etc. It’s one of these things where you don’t see the point until you start using it, then can’t live without it. The USA was foolish not to go GSM when the entire rest of the world did.
Phillip.