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Forums - Gaming - Texting: One of the biggest scams of all times? Yay or Nay

Munkeh111 on 06 April 2012
Scoobes said:
In the modern era of smartphones, it's a total scam. It used to be quite a useful service, but there are suitable alternatives now.

There are suitable alternatives, but only if everyone you want to contact has the app, and given most of my friends have dumb phones, texting is a lot easier



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Rainbird on 06 April 2012

It's only a scam if you pay overprice for it. I have a fairly cheap plan and unlimited texting is just one of the high points in it, so I can't say I'm getting scammed. I might be, but I doubt it.



NiKKoM on 06 April 2012

neh, go look up how much phone companies pay the goverment for the use of the frequencies.. if anything that part is a scam.. selling air..



 

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Lostplanet22 on 06 April 2012

^^' I have unlimited texting and calling for free thx to work.



 

cloud1161 on 06 April 2012
kain_kusanagi said:
Yeah it's a total scam. But what I don't understand is why so many people text back and forth all day long. What's the point. If you need to talk to someone call them. If you just need to say you'll be late text them. But don't text a conversation back and forth. It's like people can't be along with their own thoughts anymore so they have to connect with someone else to entertain them. I hate phones and texts and e-mails. When I'm alone I enjoy not having to interact with anybody.


Yes, total agreement with you.  That's why I have the minimum texting for my phone.



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camaro52391 on 06 April 2012

texting isn't too bad but, its only 10 bucks. just think of how many people pay 30 a month for data also



BlkPaladin on 06 April 2012

I didn't bother to read the replies since I'm just going to add my worthless penny to the conversation. It is a scam. Most time a simple phone call can cover what a txt does and usally at a "lower" rate and time. I don't even bother with texting never seen the point.



NintendoPie on 06 April 2012
thetonestarr said:

It's unlimited texting and data for $30 on T-Mobile.

Oh! Well there, it's even cheaper than I thought. It's not a scam in my eyes. 



famousringo on 09 April 2012
Munkeh111 said:
Scoobes said:
In the modern era of smartphones, it's a total scam. It used to be quite a useful service, but there are suitable alternatives now.

There are suitable alternatives, but only if everyone you want to contact has the app, and given most of my friends have dumb phones, texting is a lot easier


Exactly. You're paying money to access a network. A very extensive network that almost everybody has access to. It's very powerful to be able to send a near-instant message to almost anybody with a phone.

Voice is not a complete substitute. It's often more expensive to deliver a message over voice (despite how profitable text plans are), often slower (think of how much time you spend waiting for the other end to pick up, exchanging pleasantries, going off topic),  and more likely to interrupt whatever the recipient is doing.

Texts are a massive profit generator for carriers, true, but people wouldn't keep paying for them if they weren't a valuable service. Your professor who refuses to pay for such a service is limiting his communications tools. Maybe he doesn't need another another communication channel, but that doesn't make the rest of us suckers for paying for a cheaper, faster, and more courteous way to send a short message.



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Munkeh111 on 09 April 2012
famousringo said:
Munkeh111 said:
Scoobes said:
In the modern era of smartphones, it's a total scam. It used to be quite a useful service, but there are suitable alternatives now.

There are suitable alternatives, but only if everyone you want to contact has the app, and given most of my friends have dumb phones, texting is a lot easier


Exactly. You're paying money to access a network. A very extensive network that almost everybody has access to. It's very powerful to be able to send a near-instant message to almost anybody with a phone.

Voice is not a complete substitute. It's often more expensive to deliver a message over voice (despite how profitable text plans are), often slower (think of how much time you spend waiting for the other end to pick up, exchanging pleasantries, going off topic),  and more likely to interrupt whatever the recipient is doing.

Texts are a massive profit generator for carriers, true, but people wouldn't keep paying for them if they weren't a valuable service. Your professor who refuses to pay for such a service is limiting his communications tools. Maybe he doesn't need another another communication channel, but that doesn't make the rest of us suckers for paying for a cheaper, faster, and more courteous way to send a short message.

I totally agree, but I just don't think you understand how to do phone calls. I phone, say what I want to say, say goodbye, none of this pleasantry rubbish! (it is probably why 200 mins per month is more than plenty)

I don't actually think texts are a very big profit generator, but maybe the difference is US vs UK. Here, it is fairly standard to get unlimited texts with any reasonable contract, I think they have just got so competitive, and they are moving onto data charges (though even then, they encourage wi-fi use because of too great a burden being put on the network)