In all the uproar over AT&T no longer offering an unlimited amount of downloading for the new customers (people switching from another carrier, mainly to get an iPhone 4), Somara and I decided to re-assess ours. Back when we got our 3G iPhones (aka generation two, the new ones are generation four), $30/month for unlimited data was the only option. I reassessed how much we actually use; it was under 200 MB because we tend not to download anything large unless we’re on a Wi-Fi network.
So we went to the AT&T store near our weekly breakfast routine and tried to get a clarification of what made little sense online. In the end, without having to sign a new contract or anything, we had our data plan curbed which cut that part of the bill in half. Afterwards, we moved the “money” over to the text element with an unlimited part there. I still hate the “texting” aspect because all too often it is used rudely during meetings at work, especially when those people should be paying attention to the person lecturing. One friend said, welcome to the 21st century. HA! It’s still a Nineties technology since the American telecom industry refuses to innovate. They’d rather squandered the money they should be reinvesting to make refinements into stadium naming rights. At least I won’t be getting tagged 20 cents a pop for this anymore.
Fear not, there will be no deluge from me. I will only respond to those I receive or received in the past.
Somara was ready to say forget it if they couldn’t amend the contract without strings. My Plan B was to then get in queue for the new iPhones. I still want an iPad first though.
Again, send me an e-mail if you never want me to cost you money sending you one of those text messages.
Believe it or not, it’s actually an Eighties technology, though the first commercial implementation wasn’t until the Nineties. At any rate, there’s not much room or need for innovation in SMS; it does what it does very well across all carriers worldwide (it’s technically one of the very earliest protocols under the auspices of GSM, which has been around a lot longer than you’d probably believe.)
That said, the US was and still is waaaaaay behind the rest of the World in SMS utilization. SMS is more of a case of the US public refusing to get on board with the rest of the World, not US industry refusing to innovate.
My friend welcome to texting. I do not do that much but I do some. I find it easy to get a quick message in and out. E-mail works better for me. I do not check texts in meetings, never fear. Take care my friend.