Ok... this really had me confused yesterday. I hated Texting for the longest time. It was a waste of time, hard to do, and just plain pointless to do when you can call them and say whatever you wanted to write way faster. I also never did it since we were charged for every text. Then a year later I got a new girlfriend. My new lady Texted. Texted like mad crazy. So I got into it. She would text me paragraphs while I tried to type her sentence replies. But I got better and better. I started to text faster, and discovered typing helpers like T9 which will guess which words your typing. Easy. I got so good I could do it without even looking at my phone. Then the first phone bill came, I was so scared as I didnt even think of how many we had sent back and forth. I asked my mom, "So how much was it for all those texts?" And she said, "They didnt charge us. I think we get around 500 a month." I was relieved. Awesome, so I have a cool lady and we text whenever. Cool. We texted so much all the time, I was still scared of going over. But nope, never. I began texting everyone I knew, and I would send atleast 100-300 a day on average. No charges ever though... I asked if our plan ever had unlimited texting, but nope. It made no sense, but I rarely thought of it. Then one day I was fooling with my phone and my Sim card got rejected. It was because my phone kept asking me for a PIN number which I had no idea what it was. I tried defaults like 1234 and 0000 but nothing worked. I had to go to AT&T to get a new one. It was free of charge, awesome. So I popped the bastard in my phone, called up AT&T and got my phone reactivated. Nice. Made some calls, everything was good. Then I started texting... but nothing would ever get through. People began asking why I wasnt replying. I was like, "I dunno. Phone sucks." So I decided, fine, I'll call crappy AT&T. 5 days without texting was pretty nice actually. :icon_bigg So I call em up. "Hi. I was wondering why all of a sudden I cant text. I have been for awhile, but I got a new sim card and I cant text anymore" The chick says, "Hmm, ok let me check your account".... 30 Secs later, "Well it seems that your texting isnt activated, and hasnt been since December 2005." At this point... I was confused. "How was I able to text for the past 3 years then?" She says, "I have no idea *Laughs*" I said, "Well does my account have any record of sending texts?" She says, "Let me check... You have sent only 19 texts from Febuary till December 2005" ....... What?!?! I said, "Ok then, can you please activate texting for me?" She says, "Sure. Would you like unlimited texting? Its gunna cost you $40 a month more." WHOA! Great. What is this? I was able to for so long thinking it was included in our service but now its gunna be charged? Kinda pissed. How could I have sent texts when it was activated? How was I never charged? How do they have 0 record of me sending so many messages?! How would getting a new Sim Card all of a sudden disable it?!?! I dont understand... Sorry for large rants, hahaha. :lol:
I think at the point when she said 'We have no records of you having sent any texts' I'd have ended the conversation right there and not continued to press JUST in case 45,000 texts that needed paying for suddenly came home to roost ;-) P.S. I STILL hate text messaging - T9 or otherwise!
Sometimes software bugs can be friendly :thumbsup: shame it didnt last I heard a story of a woman who accidently put her stores points card into a cash machine and it spat out £20,000 !
1. Go to T-mobile. Bring a sidekick, any model. 2. Sign up for phone service. Sidekick plan (unlimited text message). 3. Stick sim into any phone you prefer. 4. Profit.
Oh gosh, hahahaha. It crossed my mind. If they seriously charge me for all those texts I would refuse to pay. Id say, show me the proof. :lol: And trust me, I hate it yet I cant stop. I know its dumb as hell... I just cant stop. :lol: Yeah apparently they can... I just still dont understand how it let me sent them when it wasnt activated... ahhh. Shame I had to messup my old sim card, hahaha. And wow, what a story. I also heard one where there was an ATM machine in England (I think) and it spat out double whatever you entered to take out! Hmmm, I have thought of this, but can you get that deal without purchashing a sidekick? And how much cheaper would it really be? :nod:
I'm with Parris on this - I hate texting, with a passion. On top of that, I fear the numbskulls I see round here texting whilst they're driving/cycling etc! OH: I've heard other stories of options like this being left on for ages without anyone noticing. On the other hand, you have to watch your bills for when they decide to charge for stuff you never wanted (or even have). I think some stuff relating to your account may get stored on the SIM itself, as I was once warned not to switch my SIM between too many phones to avoid messing up my data plan settings. No idea if thats a real risk or not, since I'm still using the same phone I got x years ago. I'm actually kinda suprised that they didn't turn the texting option on by default for you (since texting used to be a nice moneymaker for Cingular - if you weren't on one of their specific texting plans, they'd happily charge you 10 cents per text, both sent & received. I think nearly all plans come with some kind of texting now, though.).
Oh trust me completely, I hate texting as well, hahaha. I just sorta got into it due to having a lady who did it nonstop, hahaha. And Hmmm, I always wondered what the SIM stored... it cant be all that much. I dont know... And see, thats the weird thing, It was activated for me and cost 10cents each one... then all of a sudden, disappeared.
That's such bullshit. Know how much a text message costs your carrier to send? NOTHING, becasue it piggy backs on the normal signal the phone uses to declare it's location. That's why a text message can only be 128 characters long. It's pure profit for them. Such baloney. I get charged 10 cents per text, for something that my phone sends anyway.
That happens, I got unlimited long distance in 1999 for like 3 months, and no telco ever charged me for my sex calls to thailand:dance: Tell me about it, at the beginning those were free, the problem is that it became popular so telcos saw the possbilities (money) on SMS. I been trying to make a SMS startup for years, anyone interested?
I'm a text hater too, even when I got 200 free texts every month I rarely spend over 50 a month, and most of them are because I have no option. I know lots of people that always say texting is cheaper but most of the times you don't solve everything with a single message, you end sending 5 texts to say the same you could say in a single call, way faster and easier. I just cannot understand it. BTW, something similar to all those texts for free is happened to me some years ago with my phone company when I got 2 years of internet without being charged at all (the fee was about 2 dollars per megabyte in the moment), and in this moment a friend of mine is still having 12 hours a month of free calls with his prepaid phone, and it passed a year since the promotional service should have ended
I was reading the story and was thinking "HE'S GUNNA GET CHARGED FOR THEM ALL!!" I text ALL the time. I used to hate it. But really, it's convenient. You can just text your girlfriend <3 and get a cute little <3 back from her. You can't call and say "I <3 you" randomly and just leave it at that. I text at work a lot. And at school. If you were supposed to meet someone after a class, and something comes up during class rendering your plans for afterward useless, text them to cancel since you can't CALL during class. Really, if you think about it. texting comes in handy A LOT. HOWEVER, it is more dangerous to do while driving - people that do that make me lose faith in humanity.
Hahaha, apparently they still have no idea of all the texts I sent... Unbelievable! :banghead: And yep. All the reasons you stated are why I started to text so damn much... Stupid Girlfriend... I hate <3's! :110: Oh man, I totally agree. Just a big way for... "Telcos" to make money as Shadowlayer would say! :lol: Somehow, I knew youd come in here with that reply. :lol:
People text me and I never answer. I fucking hate texts and I hate people. Why do I even have a cell phone?
if you give me and kiki your number, since we all have verizon we can text each other like crazy for free.
No matter where you go and what you buy, the price you pay has nothing to do with the actual cost. People get charged what they are prepared to pay. Texting was cheaper, but too many people used it and the channel that they are sent on is also used for telling the phone to ring. So the answer is to reduce the number of texts by making it more expensive. They still make the same money, but now they can get phone calls through as well. As they spend a lot of money on infastructure that doesn't actually make them any money directly, you can't complain about something that makes money with no investment. I think it's good that the more you use your phone, the more you have to pay.
