T-Mobile is hiking their per-SMS rate up to 20 cents per (for those not on unlimited plans) starting August 29th. This brings them in line with most of the other carriers' costs. SMS rates have climbed steadily over the past couple of years, which makes it clear to us that the technology is just plain untenable and needs to be abandoned. Clearly, each character in these 160 character messages needs to be wrapped in plastic and driven by truck between cell towers. This explains the rate hikes -- the rapidly increasing price of gasoline is taking its toll on cell phone companies. See, it's the gas....
Oh, wait, that's not how it works. As carriers build out their network and their infrastructure it actually costs them less to deliver a text message now than it used to and the per-message infrastructure cost to them is likely still decreasing. We know that you're corporations in it to make money, guys, but raising per-SMS costs is starting to feel egregious. Why not follow Alltel's example? They've made SMS's within your “fave 5” free.
