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?

  • usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca
    2·
    8 months ago

    Wait, I haven’t paid for text messages in probably 15 years. Where do they still charge for SMS? It’s usually unlimited with any plan that I’ve seen

    • tiredofsametab@kbin.run
      1·
      8 months ago

      I think my phone plan (in Japan) charges for outgoing SMS. I don’t think it’s much. I think some plans maybe include it. We all use LINE here (like much of Europe uses Whatsapp) so most people aren’t sending text messages regularly if at all.

    • morrowind@lemmy.ml
      0·
      8 months ago

      Really basic plans still charge you. When I was in school, my parents gave me a dumb phone with a plan that cost 10 cents per minute of calling or 10 cents per sms. MMS didn’t even work. Ridiculously expensive, but at the amount I was using still cheaper than anything else