Sprint Nextel ups SMS fees "Again" ETF to be charged for cancellations

Glad I still have my grandfathered unlimited sms.

 

It looks like SMS rates with follow that of postal stamps...

At least the carriers offer better SMS/MMS bundled packages to offset the ever-climbing price increases.

 

OMG! I though 15 cents was abusive already.

 

I didn't think any carrier would have dared to raise the SMS fee to 20 cents. Wow, that's a lot when just two years ago they were all about 5 cents each..

 

We can blame the SMS price increases across the board on Sprint. They were the ones who started this whole trend last year by raising it from $0.10/msg to $0.15/msg. Did they feel that wasn't enough? I can see AT&T following them to 20 cents by the end of this year, and then Verizon early next year. So maybe by October 2008, Sprint will be talking about going to $0.25/msg? I guess that's what they mean with "Sprint Ahead"

Here's how I recall it:

Sprint started by going to $0.15 in October 2006
Cingular followed them in January 07
Verizon followed them in March 07
T-Mobile ended up doing the same thing by June 07

Anyone correct me if I am wrong on those dates.

So essentially, in just one year, Sprint has doubled the price per SMS. Obscene! And what makes them think that last year this change allowed people to get out of their contracts for free and this time it doesn't? When did they change that? They said last year that people could get out of their contracts without paying ETF. What happened now? They can't handle the churn?

 

You're right, and T-Mo went from .05 to .10 in March 2006, IIRC.

As noted above, it's really an effort to increase ARPU on a recurring monthly basis. They might only average $1-2 of revenue from causal text messagers, but if they raise those rates enough, they will start convinving people to spend $5 per month extra (or whatever their package rate is).

 

only difference is that the cost of delivering the mail actually has increased.

 

Good point. Especially when we know carriers only do this to help their "poor" profit margin...

 

Mine is not grandfathered but it is nice to have.

 

OK what is next in line for a price increase? ANy one would think that Vocie plans will remain at teh same price but with reduced minutes? It is for sure becoming highway robery by the providers.I also think Sprint should not have made that move and if none of the others follow then it is going to hurt them if they back out of the SMS rate hick. I realy do not think Cingular or VZW orT Mobile will follow them on this this time.

 

I hope it's not "Nights start at Midnight"...

 

LOL... I hpoe not either. Red already has few included extras as it is.

Maybe no one will follow this absurd trend with the SMS increases.

 

Yeah, when I signed up with Verizon 2 years ago, I just missed the $0.02 for incoming and $0.10 for outgoing SMS by mere days. Too bad the only way to get cheap SMS is to go prepaid or get messaging buckets. I agree with the other poster, it is just a ploy to get more money out of the customers.

 

SMS is big money for operators. Usually in the ballpark of 10-30% of their overall revenue. If they can double the price of a SMS they can increase their overall profits by about 10-30%. Since they figure most people either: a) won't really notice, or b) just grumble a little, I guess that's acceptable to them in return for the sizeable cash-grab. :hero:

PS- Since when do people in the U.S. say "SMS"? I thought it was "text message"?

 

People on this board say SMS, normal (non-phone dork) Americans mostly say 'text messaging.'

It costs a fraction of a cent to send or receive an SMS so it is unconscionable to me that Sprint would charge $0.20 a message. I hope other providers do not follow suit but they're already bad enough at $0.15.

I know the point is to drive people to messaging plans for a set fee but Sprint already has an image problem and this isn't helping. They need to figure out what they're doing before it's too late.

 

If people are willing to pay the money for it you can expect all carriers to raise it. If more mergers and acquisitions are allowed to happen in the industry we can all expect to see more increases in prices.

Remember that Sprint has some of the best deals for Unlimited sms plans so it's advisable for customers to just break down and get one instead of paying the per message fee.

 

i don't see what the big fuss is.

for those who text constantly, it doesn't really matter... we're already on the unlimited plans.

for those who don't text, no big deal.

for those who only send 10 or so messages a month they are looking at an extra fifty cents on their bill.

we've all got bigger stuff to worry about.

... a coke is now 1.49 at 7-11, gas is 2.50 down the street, and i'm pretty sure a gallon of milk was 3.39 at giant last night. prices go up... life goes on!

 

Excellent point. Especially with the way gas prices are, you're right, there are bigger things to worry about...

 

A gallon of milk is $3.99 on my end of town.....but its great that you have put this into perspective.
Doesn't seem so bad after all!!

 

I agree with you as well. The only thing is, as Wumpusva stated, most people who text a lot have a plan allowing for as many texts as they need. This increase only really affects the occasional texters, such as myself. These companies are going to continue to do this. It sucks, but I know it won't change anytime soon.

We do have a right to our opinions, but it still won't change the outcome, not unless Sprint loses millions and millions of customers over this. When it hits their bottom line is when they'll react.

 

It is not the 50 cents more that one has to pay, it is the fact that they kkep raising it and if this continues and that 50 cents will become many dollars and there are people that those ear their dollars the hard way and can barely afford all the real needed costs like milk and food and we get the constant push by providers to commit into a package. At the rate it is going it will not be long before they make the price at one dollar or each. Now if they did what the old AT&T wirless used to do, charge more for sending an SMS (I beleive it was 20 cents back then) but incoming was always free that could make it a bit more bearable (even if this goes up a bit more). In this case it a pure greed and if we as consumers do not revolt and speak up now then we in the end would have told them it is OK to keep on doing it. Yes we are getting more and more but now the minimum price has increased. Any one forgot those $19.99 plans which just served people with the right amount of minutes? Those users now must bear a plan of $39.99 just to use the same amount of minutes as before but for $20 more. Options are vanishing and the consumer's bill is getting larger and larger. The bootom line with them offer unlimited or packages at an inticing rate it only shows that it is greed and the cost factor per SMS is no more than it has been and my bet is that it is now even cheaper than ever.

 

I have to agree. While I'm all for the idea of free market/free enterprise as free market/free enterprise is what keeps innovations coming, we cannot forget the infamous 'g' word....Greed. Money can and usually does change people. It has been shown time and time again when companies are given a free hand they in turn start screwing the customers for that extra dollar. Exhibit A would of course be none other than ol' Ma Bell. Exhibits B & C which are debatable would be Oil Companies and Microsoft? With that in mind its obvious that some kind of regulation is needed to keep Greed in check. The problem is usually we don't know how much regulation would be the right amount and we usually end up doing it too much. Its a fine line.

I think that Sprint is upping the cost of casual SMS to get those once in a while txters to freak out at the high cost of per SMS and thinking that it would save money to get on a SMS plan when in actuality its costing the customer more on the plan then it would to be on a per use basis causing Sprint to be taking in additional income......higher ARPU.

 

It's completely innaccurate to compare an increase in costs of SMS to the rising cost of consumer products like milk or bread. Especially since there is no "cost" to the operator per SMS. Their network allready exists and SMS puts such a minimal strain on the network that it's barely noticable.

Actually, it should be the other way around, normally network tarriffs decrease as the network ages. Usually when a mobile network is first launched, prices for voice and SMS traffic is high, since the operator is in debt and needs to pay off the initial cost of the network infrastructure, which usually takes a few years. Once they are "out of the red, and into the black" they can start to reap the profits they dreamed of. Then, usually competition increases as more operators join the game, and this causes them to lower their rates to remain attractive to consumers by being cheaper than their competitors, which they can now afford to do since they aren't as much in debt as they first launched.

If long-time operators start raising their basic tarrifs, that raises some eyebrows, because that's not normally how things work. This means that either they are losing money somewhere else that they have to compensate for, or it's just a cash-grab. Or if all the operators start doing it, then you have to wonder if it's a coordinated effort on all their parts. Maybe they are trying to offset the costs of new 3G equipment, but then they should be doing that with "Data Plans" or something relating to the high-speed network. SMS is really more considered a 2G service and they shouldn't be financing their 3G network with that (if that is actually what they are doing)

 

I agree 100% with esto. To send/receive an SMS doesn't cost any more money today than it did 5 years ago. So I'm sure corporate greed is playing a big role here. It is possible they are trying to help finance the 3G upgrade costs with this extra money. Sprint is in special need for this since they are pouring so much money into WiMax and racing against Verizon to complete EVDO upgrades, plus the Nextel rebanding and integration. They have a lot going on now and someone has to pay for it.

It's like these huge recent increases in property taxes that we as homeowners will have to swallow. Someone has to pay for the war!

 

Well said esto.

Yeah, it might only be an extra 5 cents, but it is a move meant to squeeze extra money out of the consumer, either through the extra charges or by "forcing" them onto bundled messaging plans.

Sort of like Sprint's Navigation program. It is $2.99/day or $9.99/month. How many people think "well if I use it just 4 times a month it is cheaper, so I will pay the $9.99" yet in reality they maybe use it a bunch when they first sign up for it, then they use it less frequently, but keep paying the $10 "just in case" they need it in the future.