Claude M. Schrader on 28 Dec 2008 21:12:15 -0800


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Re: [PLUG] [OT] NYTimes article: What Carriers Arent Eager to Tell You About Texting


On 23:44 Sun 28 Dec     , john@essenz.com wrote:
> I guess my point is, the cost of providing a service is not the only 
> factor in setting the price, nor should it be. The fact that SMS costs the 
> carrier nothing does not hold any weight in the decision of how to price 
> the service. As a raging capitalist, I feel a company should price 
> services as high as they want - regardless of how much it costs to 
> produce. The only exception being true utility services, but SMS messaging 
> on wireless phones is really pushing the limit of the definition of 
> "utility". 
> 

The SMS messages are traveling through bandwidth that we collectively
own. If we could switch SMS providers independent of a wireless voice
provider, I would agree with you. Talking about capitalism in such a tightly
regulated and controlled industry as Telecommunications is not fair. We do
not live in a truly capitalistic society, and never have. If we did, there
would be so many competing cell phone companies on the same frequencies that
nobody would get a signal. This happened in the early days of radio.
Claude
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