Tata DoCoMo launches per-character SMS pricing, and this headline just cost us close to a rupee
Never mind "nickel and diming" -- Indian joint venture Tata DoCoMo is now rupee and paising (a paise is a hundredth of a rupee) customers who sign up for its new "Diet-SMS" messaging plan. Unlimited and ultra-high-allowance messaging plans are now commonplace in some parts of the world, but on the other end of the spectrum, Diet-SMS is actually a regression from the old practice of charging by the message -- you get charged by the character. The good news is they don't charge for spaces and characters are just a single paise each, which works out to about two-hundredths of a US cent at current conversion rates -- but still, the fact remains that a 160-character SMS costs Tata DoCoMo exactly the same to handle as a 1-character one. What's worse, you just know this is going to give rise to a new ultra-efficient shorthand notation that makes "LOL" look like a novella.[Via textually.org]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
diddleon @ Sep 10th 2009 11:07AM
Are Q's worth 10 points?
krishawnical @ Sep 10th 2009 11:17AM
ok, well in doing the math... LOL that's not so bad.
3.2 cents for a maxed out 160 character text message?
how much do domestic carriers charge for the same thing? 15 cents? 20 cents?
... not that i want to move to india and use an old siemens phone, but seriously?
mordechai @ Sep 10th 2009 5:45PM
actually, that's not that bad,
do the math, 1500 text messages with 160 characters each would be $12.00 US dollars, at&t charges $15.00 for 1500 messages a month, and they count messages by sms sent or received, even if its only 1 character....
Amit @ Sep 13th 2009 4:52PM
I doubt this will fly. A 160 char SMS, even with lets say 20 space characters, will still cost Rs. 1.40 while the other carriers charge between Rs. 0.25 & Rs. 0.50 for an outgoing message. Heck, a local voice call costs between Rs. 0.50 & Rs. 1 per minute, so nobody would like paying more than Rs. 1 for a local SMS!