What is Digg?394 Comments
- hokie47, on 05/04/2009, -13/+766I go over 160 all the time. Really it is ***** 2009 and we are limited to 160 characters of text. I guess they can't handle all that massive bandwidth, never mind the huge profits they make off their pound you in the ass text package fees.
- shazbot, on 05/04/2009, -2/+324The most impressive thing about this article is the fact that his book costs $255.
- mjm65, on 05/04/2009, -2/+317The book is expensive because he charges 25 cents per 160 characters.
- Owno, on 05/04/2009, -13/+213I've never even noticed theres a char limit. Haven't phones been automatically splitting and merging texts that are too long since...forever?
- mr5150, on 05/04/2009, -1/+160and that people is the reason why i text like Tarzan speaks
- jcaino, on 05/04/2009, -1/+159That's two messages there, bub.
- fallore, on 05/04/2009, -6/+156This is interesting. I've wondered for a while why it was set to this, and now I know. I've actually got my own little theory that frequent-texters start to formulate their thoughts and messages in ways that fit under 160 characters. I find myself frequently wording something just right to fit it in under 160, but maybe that's just luck.
- shiftyroach, on 05/04/2009, -20/+152***** twitter
- hokie47, on 05/04/2009, -2/+96It works when I text other Verizon phones but as soon as I send a message to an outside network it gets cut off to 160 characters.
- bearcat8543, on 05/04/2009, -7/+84i always thought that if you were typing more than 160 characters on a tiny ass numberpad, it would just be easier to call the person. since you know, it is a phone and all....
- inactive, on 05/04/2009, -1/+68Its because if it was more, then the text message would actually cost the phone company more than the 0.00 it costs now to piggy back it on a signal that is used anyways.
- wretcheddawn, on 05/04/2009, -2/+69BS. Text messages are limited to 160 chars because of the way the protocol works.
Your phone sends out messages every few seconds polling the network to determine signal strength and so the network knows where to find you. Someone discovered that you could attach a 'text' message to the end of it, but the maximum packet length limited the length of the message to 160 characters. Text messages are nothing but extra data attached to the control messages your phone already needs to send, so they cost the company $0.00 to send, but can't be any longer than 160 chars. - Chooxo, on 05/04/2009, -1/+56From: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/business/28digi. ...
"....Mr. Kohl’s letter of inquiry noted that “text messaging files are very small, as the size of text messages are generally limited to 160 characters per message, and therefore cost carriers very little to transmit.”
A better description might be “cost carriers very, very, very little to transmit.”
A text message initially travels wirelessly from a handset to the closest base-station tower and is then transferred through wired links to the digital pipes of the telephone network, and then, near its destination, converted back into a wireless signal to traverse the final leg, from tower to handset. In the wired portion of its journey, a file of such infinitesimal size is inconsequential. Srinivasan Keshav, a professor of computer science at the University of Waterloo, in Ontario, said: “Messages are small. Even though a trillion seems like a lot to carry, it isn’t.”
Perhaps the costs for the wireless portion at either end are high — spectrum is finite, after all, and carriers pay dearly for the rights to use it. But text messages are not just tiny; they are also free riders, tucked into what’s called a control channel, space reserved for operation of the wireless network.
That’s why a message is so limited in length: it must not exceed the length of the message used for internal communication between tower and handset to set up a call. The channel uses space whether or not a text message is inserted.
Professor Keshav said that once a carrier invests in the centralized storage equipment — storing a terabyte now costs only $100 and is dropping — and the staff to maintain it, its costs are basically covered. “Operating costs are relatively insensitive to volume,” he said. “It doesn’t cost the carrier much more to transmit a hundred million messages than a million.” - lemur, on 05/04/2009, -3/+55160 chars is quite sufficient, eh? Just like 65k of RAM?
- osoroco, on 05/04/2009, -4/+54"no one will ever need more than 160 characters for a text message"
sound familiar? - Jade10145, on 05/04/2009, -0/+47Dugg you up because you are right in the fact that the text package/individual fee's are of the pound you in the ass variety. It used to be with Verizon at least that you would pay 10 cents for sending and 2 cents for receiving. All of a sudden the prices went up to 10 cents just to receive a ***** text message. I think the prices have gone up even more since the last time I checked. I can see no reason for this increase except for greed. Yes I do understand that their is a high demand for texting, but this is robbery. Albeit tiny robbery but robbery none the less. What a scam.
All that being said, I do understand that texting is not a necessity. Hopefully the "free market" will lower the price eventually. - GuitarHeroDenn, on 05/04/2009, -4/+50Omg srsly? Thx 4 gvng us shrt msgs nd txt spk!
/s - NJank, on 05/04/2009, -2/+48it's a protocol. for one to change, they all have to change. that ain't happening anytime soon.
- Boyce, on 05/04/2009, -0/+45FTA...
"... the creators of Twitter capped the length of a tweet at 140 characters, keeping the extra 20 for the user's unique address." - Ragzouken, on 05/04/2009, -1/+44A text can be read when convenient, is saved to your phone for later reference, takes less time as your don't have to enter into a dialogue and can also be sent discreetly.
- jwolcott, on 05/04/2009, -2/+42That's because the other 20 always get frozen.
- yottskry, on 05/04/2009, -0/+40You what? You guys have to pay to RECEIVE messages? Lol, in Europe we just pay to send them (apart from when we're abroad) and in fact the EU has just stepped in to limit how much providers can charge for messages sent/received from one EU country to another and the cost of mobile calls from one country to another.
I'm still on pre-pay cos I hardly use my phone. It's £10 about every 6 weeks and I get 300 free messages with that. After that it's 10p / message to send. I don't think there are any providers in the UK at all who charge to receive from within the UK! - LonesomeFighter, on 05/04/2009, -0/+38my favorite is when the second half of the long text reaches the person a couple minutes before the first half. It leaves them confused.
- scarwars, on 05/04/2009, -6/+44I hate it when people constantly call with nothing to say.
Just text me and that's fine.
Short & sweet. - Pxtl, on 05/04/2009, -1/+34And yet they charge me 25 cents EACH.
- erohen, on 05/04/2009, -0/+33Yeah I love how they charge so much for texting, and their cost is the same if you text or not. The whole thing is a racket.
- nytrokiss, on 05/04/2009, -0/+32They can make more money so they do it...
- Scira, on 05/04/2009, -1/+31dey lmt us 2 160 chars n wnder y we hav bad gramar.
Ow, it hurt to type like that! - Ravatar, on 05/04/2009, -2/+32Twitter uses 140 so that they can send you device updates to SMS and include the name of the person who sent the message (which can be up to 15 characters long).
- Wavemancali, on 05/04/2009, -0/+29He's monosyllabic not loud buddy.
- brad2sox, on 05/04/2009, -0/+27Someone needs help with To, Too, and Two.
- pimperj, on 05/04/2009, -5/+31It costs 4 times more to send an SMS than to receive data from the Hubble telescope!
***** telcoms!
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2216462/texting- ...
Btw, in South Africa (a third world country) you have been able to do banking on your cell phone for the past 8 years already.
And the US is only getting MMS now?! (stifles laugh) - inactive, on 05/04/2009, -1/+25And there is the page fee, administration fee, opening of book fee....
- Sangreal2007, on 05/04/2009, -0/+22That's funny because your name is mctom987 and 987 is the seventeenth fibonacci number...what the hell are you trying to prove?
- brandnewx, on 05/04/2009, -1/+23Ignorance is not cool.
- spepin, on 05/04/2009, -1/+23Mine are limited to 140 but MOST of the time I manage to fit things in, without using annoying lingo. Sometimes there's occasional word squishing.
- lemur, on 05/04/2009, -0/+20There is no "physical" limitation on the length of a data transmission from a cell phone, save possibly for when the handset runs out of power.
- charters14, on 05/04/2009, -1/+20My old LG used to split them no problem to Verizon users but now my Blackberry storm stops me at 160 no matter what and I have to open a new text message to finish my thought. Its a pain in my ass to send a text mid thought and have the other person have to wait until I can finish typing the second half. Its medieval quackery in a technological age.
- euphoria860, on 05/04/2009, -2/+21Useless comment :)
- ChayD, on 05/04/2009, -0/+19Generic supporting reply regarding humorous comment :)
- btrues, on 05/04/2009, -0/+19It's the exchange rate
- highlatitude, on 05/04/2009, -4/+22Yeah, it's 2009. Doesn't every1 kno that ppl use more lttrs 2 communic8 now?
- nkassi, on 05/04/2009, -4/+22Just email, it's even better and a lot of phones support it now. Texting is just another scam to increase your monthly payments.
- LilJimmyNordin, on 05/04/2009, -0/+18Metric
- Zyphron, on 05/04/2009, -6/+24Your phone still has a numberpad? Thats cute...
- Zaeboes, on 05/04/2009, -0/+16We've had MMS for a while now. You must be thinking of the gimpy iphone.
- fritzek, on 05/04/2009, -3/+19It's good to know, that it was some ancient restriction based on technology limitation(although I doubt it). But can someone explain to me, why do they still charge for every 160 characters? If I send longer text, I pay for every part. This is ridiculous. SMS needs only a tiny amount of data compared to voice communication, so it could be almost free.
- scarwars, on 05/04/2009, -0/+16I bet the whole time he wrote the book he was thinking "Why the hell didn't I patent sms, now I need to finish this book before I can retire".
- mhuggins, on 05/04/2009, -1/+17No one will ever need a computer in their home. No one will ever need more than 64k RAM. Everything that can be invented already has been. etc., etc.
- SteveMax, on 05/04/2009, -0/+16SMS spam on the USA is much more painful than anywhere else.
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