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Cellular Phone Forum / Providers / Cingular / June 2005Text Messaging, Why?
I just got a new phone and was hit with a bill for text messaging and direct bill because of my son and Cingular not telling me I signed up for this garbage. This brings me to my question. Do you use Text messaging and if you do for what and Why? This seems like the most pointless and expensive feature ever added to a Cell Phone to me. It is a PHONE!, if the person can get your text message they can get your phone call. Why not just call the person? You could say more in a two minute phone conversation than you could spending thirty minutes sending 4 or 5 text messages back and forth and the phone call would cost less. So I ask Why Text Message? Joe > I just got a new phone and was hit with a bill for text messaging and direct > bill because of my son and Cingular not telling me I signed up for this [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Joe I dunno, Joe... SMS is a service that I use for automated message notifications when warranted. As to why people use this over-blown hodgepodge network for person-to-person communication is beyond my comprehension. Of course, considering the additional billing thay get to do, Cingular pushes it like a weekend sale at the corner cocaine store, and a good number of their addicted customers are in a line that wraps around the block. I've had one or two people text me, and I simply ignored the events like I always do when something occurs that doesn't interest me in the slightest. If their intent to communicate with me is so damned important, they need to call me so we can pretend to be real humans. Of course, they'll likely get voice mail anyway because I'm usually occupied with some other critically important task at hand - like finishing my beer. Once the burping has concluded, I might call them back.  Signaturejer email reply - I am not a 'ten' > I just got a new phone and was hit with a bill for text messaging and direct > bill because of my son and Cingular not telling me I signed up for this [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Joe There are times when a text message is better than a voice call. For example if you're in a meeting it's much less disruptive to read a text message than to take a phone call (and the phone can be set to a quiet beep or none at all or vibrate). I've a friend who teaches and can't take voice calls until break--but a quiet beep will let him know a message arrived and he can always fit in time to read a message--even respond if needed--without disrupting the class. Also text messaging can be used like a pager--I've got two email systems set to send me the from and subject line of every email I receive--very useful. Over the years I've had several hardware devices (servers etc) and answering machines set to send me a status "page" via text messaging. Those are just "my" reasons. Apparently most late teens wouldn't agree with you anyway. According to a TV news report the other day the US has moved to #1 worldwide in text messaging driven mainly by teenagers. I haven't verified that--the last time I saw a comparision Europe and Japan was WAY out ahead but... By the way, you can get one of several packages that include hundreds of text messages so cost can be kept down to a reasonable level. I agree though ad hoc text messaging for 10 cents coming and going should NOT be active by default. SignatureJud Dallas TX USA I like to send the same message to several people at once, text message is the best way. Just like voice mail you can send a message when it is convenient for you and get a reply when it is convenient for the other party, this is very good for people on the other side of the world. Several text messages is cheaper than a short international call to a cellphone. If I want to send a url or phone number it is better to text it than hope the other party has pen and paper. Text messaging is a tool just like email or snail mail works good for some uses. >I just got a new phone and was hit with a bill for text messaging and >direct bill because of my son and Cingular not telling me I signed up for >this garbage. This brings me to my question. > > Do you use Text messaging and if you do for what Ummm.... To send a text message > and Why? Ummm ... cause I needed to pass a quick message to someone like 'be a few minutes late' , that did not neccesitate a voice call. > This seems like the most pointless and expensive feature ever added to a > Cell Phone to me. It is a PHONE!, if the person can get your text message > they can get your phone call. Why not just call the person? Ummmm... maybe they are in class or in a meeting or some other place that you do not want to interupt them, but need to get a message to them. >You could say more in a two minute phone conversation than you could >spending thirty minutes sending 4 or 5 text messages back and forth and the >phone call would cost less. > > So I ask Why Text Message? Cause I can > Ummm ... cause I needed to pass a quick message to someone like 'be a few > minutes late' , that did not neccesitate a voice call. You could not punch 7 digits and call the person and say "Hey not going to be there on time" faster that all the punching you would have to do to send the same text message? >> This seems like the most pointless and expensive feature ever added to a >> Cell Phone to me. It is a PHONE!, if the person can get your text message >> they can get your phone call. Why not just call the person? > > Ummmm... maybe they are in class or in a meeting or some other place that > you do not want to interupt them, but need to get a message to them. Don't these phones have voice mail and caller ID? Leave a message and they will know how to call back. >>You could say more in a two minute phone conversation than you could >>spending thirty minutes sending 4 or 5 text messages back and forth and [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Cause I can Now we have got to the root of things it is a toy for people that want something different. Joe >> Ummm ... cause I needed to pass a quick message to someone like 'be a few >> minutes late' , that did not neccesitate a voice call. > > You could not punch 7 digits and call the person and say "Hey not going to > be there on time" faster that all the punching you would have to do to > send the same text message? Sure I could and I could even disrupt there meeting, class or what ever at the same time, but why it is more polite and convenient for both parties to text them. >>> This seems like the most pointless and expensive feature ever added to a >>> Cell Phone to me. It is a PHONE!, if the person can get your text [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Don't these phones have voice mail and caller ID? Leave a message and they > will know how to call back. Why, I left a text message. Now they do not need to take time to call their voice mail to see a simple 'running about 15minutes late' message. >>>You could say more in a two minute phone conversation than you could >>>spending thirty minutes sending 4 or 5 text messages back and forth and [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Now we have got to the root of things it is a toy for people that want > something different. No it (text messaging) is a tool for many business people and others that did not get a phone/plan thinking it was a toy with an 'all features included for one price' Perhaps you do not need or find text messaging useful, millions of others do. >> Ummm ... cause I needed to pass a quick message to someone like 'be a few >> minutes late' , that did not neccesitate a voice call. > > You could not punch 7 digits and call the person and say "Hey not going to > be there on time" faster that all the punching you would have to do to > send the same text message? This depends on who you call. Some people you can't get off the phone once you've gotten them on. I use it mainly as a replacement for the pager I used to wear for work to receive automated alerts. I rarely send but have on occasion when I'm in a meeting or a class and want to send a question of someone or need to forward an alert to someone else without having to dusrupt the meeting by getting up and leaving. In general I think texting someone for a quick message is much less disruptive in a public place than calling. I supposed you'd rather I called the person while at dinner and yelled into my phone because they can't hear me? It's just a natural progression of communicating that you haven't embraced yet. I know people who would argue over why you would want a cell phone in the first place. At least you've made it past that phase. It is alleged that Joe claimed: ; You could not punch 7 digits and call the person and say "Hey not going to ; be there on time" faster that all the punching you would have to do to send ; the same text message? My current and previous phones, both with txt/sms messaging, have a set of "quick text" items. "I'll be a few minutes late" is one of them. Makes it real easy to send such. ; >> So I ask Why Text Message? ; > Cause I can ; Now we have got to the root of things it is a toy for people that want ; something different. It's a toy or a tool, depending on how it's used. SignatureJeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol "Is there something wrong with your hearing?" "No, it's just for a moment I thought I thought I had entered an alternate universe or something." (Amb. Mollari and Vir Coto, B5 "Chrysalis") >>Ummm ... cause I needed to pass a quick message to someone like 'be a few >>minutes late' , that did not neccesitate a voice call. > > You could not punch 7 digits and call the person and say "Hey not going to > be there on time" faster that all the punching you would have to do to send > the same text message? Not always. Let's say they can't get to their phone right away. Well, now I have to wait for the voicemail to answer, go through the voicemail greeting, wait for the beep, speak my message, and hang up, hoping tat th message is even relevant by the time they retrieve it. Then the person at the other end has to see the voicemail icon on their phone, dial voicemail, enter their passcode, and retrieve my message. OR, I could type out "hey, gonna be a few minutes late" and flash that message on their phone's screen. All they have to do is glance at the phone, and they've got the message. >>Ummmm... maybe they are in class or in a meeting or some other place that >>you do not want to interupt them, but need to get a message to them. > > Don't these phones have voice mail and caller ID? Caller ID doesn't convey the urgency level of a message, and a voicemial message might require an immedaite response, something that will be more disruptive if I have to call them back, then to jsut send a text reply and be done with it. >>Cause I can > > Now we have got to the root of things it is a toy for people that want > something different. More like, we have a luddite on our hands. But that's fine; you don't HAVE to use text messaging. Just because a phone is equipped with a feature doesn't mean taht you MUST make use of that feature. After all, do you feel you HAVE to use the airbags on your car, because it'a feature that's there? SignatureE-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. Well, I don't know about cingular phones, but on the phones I have owned, all I had to do was hold down the voice mail button for two seconds, to hear my voice mail. If they can't get to their phone right away, a voice mail message and a text message will have the same relevancy. >..snipped> > So I ask Why Text Message? > > Joe Remember in high school...when the teacher turned around to face the board...and all the little notes and wads of paper would fly around the room? Now it's much easier...with less chance of getting caught! I imagine that's why texting is #1, as someone else mentioned. It's easy, covert and safe...in that the chances of a teacher or another student intercepting the note flying across the room are much less, and chances of being embarrassed by that note are practically nil (not counting losing your phone, a thief, and/or hacker activity). I rarely text anyone...but it is useful to forward your home/office email to buzz your phone when you receive important communication. Technology is great, but it sure makes it more difficult to keep up with what your kids are doing, who they are talking to, and what they are planning. Good Luck! Shell >>..snipped> >>So I ask Why Text Message? [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > by that note are practically nil (not counting losing your phone, a thief, > and/or hacker activity). If I was a teacher, those cell phones would remain put away during class, and for the students that can't handle that, they'd be depositing theirs in a box just inside the door during class, and retrieved on the way out after class. No way I'm putting up with any of that nonsense in my classroom. > I rarely text anyone...but it is useful to forward your home/office email to > buzz your phone when you receive important communication. For my business, important messages don't travel by email because they're too important to be trusted to an automated transport system. When I'm expected to know something, I get called so receipt is confirmed and an opportunity for a response is provided in real time. > Technology is great, but it sure makes it more difficult to keep up with > what your kids are doing, who they are talking to, and what they are > planning. Actually, with detailed usage records, it's next to impossible to not know something. To repeat a phrase by R. Reagan, "trust but verify". My brother gave his teen-age daughter a phone for her use, but she doesn't know about detailed billing records. Yet. > Good Luck! > Shell Signaturejer email reply - I am not a 'ten' > For my business, important messages don't travel by email because > they're too important to be trusted to an automated transport system. > When I'm expected to know something, I get called so receipt is > confirmed and an opportunity for a response is provided in real time. Funny, where I work, e-mail is preferred in certain circumstances BECAUSE it is comfirmable, and a record of details in a particular agreement or conversation can be documented and verified. A phone call, on the other hand, is more for informal communication, because no record exists thereafter. If I alert a vendor to a serious problem with a contract they've drawn up that needs to be fixed NOW, I can shoot an e-mail to them, and have a record of my sending the message, with all included details. With a return receipt (or a reply), I can document that the other party received the message. A phone call, on the other hand, can be easily denied, or the details of the conversation obscured. Even with a cell phone call record, a person could say we simply we talked about the weather. Even this article I'm posting to usenet will far outlive anyone's memory of any phone calls I might have made today. Any business worth their salt will have backup and recovery strategies in place for their e-mail. SignatureE-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. >> For my business, important messages don't travel by email because >> they're too important to be trusted to an automated transport system. [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > Any business worth their salt will have backup and recovery strategies > in place for their e-mail. I suppose it depends on the particular level of employment and tasks involved. I'm certainly not an attorney of any stripe, but my communications with my peers and the office are mission critical and require absolute confidence that the message is not only delivered confidently and completely understood at the time of delivery, but any replies are held to the same immediate standard. All the people involved with this level of communication are executive in nature and considered trustworthy to the nth degree. Having said that, there may be some that discount my professional take on that issue, and that's okay because I'm certainly not going to tell anyone how to run their business - but I will tell them how I'm going to run my business. In my hood, falsifying details among peers is painfully expensive on a good day, but will instantly threaten a long-standing career on a bad day. Willful errors or omissions that jepardize one's professional and/or personal integrity are not forgivable. I'm currently unaware of any exceptions to this policy. Now, with regard to email, yes, there are standard processes in place to deal with both legal and logistical issues related to internal retention policies, and I presume that if the legal beagles felt they needed to access a backup, they're certainly within their mandate to do so. Considering the nature of that particular issue, I can't say I'd even be aware of any such event because other, more capable, staff have their own mandates, and I have it on fairly good authority thay're a lot more busy than I am. It sounds as if our professional communications are quite likely dissimilar, but also we both seem to have the right tools to accomplish our tasks. Signaturejer email reply - I am not a 'ten' I use my phone as a pager for work and get automated alerts for system outages and important notifications. Beats having to carry a phone and a pager. MG >I just got a new phone and was hit with a bill for text messaging and >direct bill because of my son and Cingular not telling me I signed up for [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Joe I'm a heavy text message user. My office sends me service calls throughout the day. After I finish the calls, I send them a message back to tell them which ones are done. It beats calling into the office, being put on hold etc. I can text message my dispatcher and she can keep in contact with me throughout the day. . >>I just got a new phone and was hit with a bill for text messaging and >>direct bill because of my son and Cingular not telling me I signed up for [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >> >> Joe > So I ask Why Text Message? Why MSN/AOL/Yahoo Instant Message? Why eMail? Why Post-it notes? You could just call instead... Barry - NY >> So I ask Why Text Message? > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > >You could just call instead... It's called personal preference. If you don't want to use text messaging *don't!* No one is forcing you to. Many people find it convenient. If you don't then simply don't use it! That was pretty simple wasn't it?! Here's a flash: Everyone's not you! - - I agree. No one is forcing me to text anyone. I guess that is why I never do. I'm not sure what I would do if I started getting text messages, other than call them to tell them to stop. If they don't want to talk to me, then they can send e-mail or drop me a card. However, I would be somewhat insulted by them not wanting to talk to me. > Here's a flash: Everyone's not you! True. I assumed everyone understood sarcasm (ya might want to look it up). Evidently not! :P Barry - NY Per Joe: >Do you use Text messaging and if you do for what and Why? I don' use it - but if I did, there would be two scenarios: 1) Automated Alerts. Set up some software to monitor some condition and send me a text message if the condition is met. 2) eMail Light: I don't know or care of a certain person is available on their cell phone at the moment and have no need for a two-way conversation. I just want to send them a quick notification/fact and be done with it. SignaturePeteCresswell It is alleged that Joe claimed: ; I just got a new phone and was hit with a bill for text messaging and direct ; bill because of my son and Cingular not telling me I signed up for this ; garbage. This brings me to my question. If you got a phone with txt messaging possible, you got the service on a pay-per-use basis. If you want to block it, get an uncapable phone, or see if Cingular can block it on the network end. Otherwise, bill your son for the use, and maybe add a txt package to reduce the cost. ; Do you use Text messaging and if you do for what and Why? This seems like ; the most pointless and expensive feature ever added to a Cell Phone to me. ; It is a PHONE!, if the person can get your text message they can get your ; phone call. Why not just call the person? You could say more in a two minute ; phone conversation than you could spending thirty minutes sending 4 or 5 ; text messages back and forth and the phone call would cost less. ; ; So I ask Why Text Message? For the kids, because it's cool. For the adults, because there may be times you need/really want to tell someone something where it would be inappropriate or disruptive to talk out loud. Me, I don't have much use for it, but I can see where it would be useful. SignatureJeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol "Love? What does love have to do with marriage?!?" (Amb. Mollari, B5, "The War Prayer") > It is alleged that Joe claimed: > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > or see if Cingular can block it on the network end. Otherwise, bill > your son for the use, and maybe add a txt package to reduce the cost. The only text messages I've received were from Cingular and they charged .10 each. So I had it turned off on both my phones. bamp > ; Do you use Text messaging and if you do for what and Why? This seems > like [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > Me, I don't have much use for it, but I can see where it would be > useful. > I just got a new phone and was hit with a bill for text messaging and direct > bill because of my son and Cingular not telling me I signed up for this > garbage. This brings me to my question. First: how did your son manage to modify YOUR account? I'd change all account passwords and make HIM pay for his add-on, and until he does, no cell phone for him. > Do you use Text messaging and if you do for what and Why? I do. Text messaging is an excellent substitute for passing on messages in situations where talking on a cell phone is inappropriate (meetings, restaurants, movie theaters...). I think if more people did it in those situations, there'd be less of a backlash in regards to cell phone ettiquette. SMS also works quite well for automated systems that need to make their troubles known. If I have a server that's suffering a hardware issue, I can either have it send an e-mail to inbox, which I might not check for a while, OR send it to my cell phone, which I'll check immediately, and determine whether it's something I need to act on right away. > This seems like > the most pointless and expensive feature ever added to a Cell Phone to me. > It is a PHONE!, See, people very commonly make the mistake of assuming that their "cell phone" is a "phone." In the strictest sense, it really isn't. Instead, it's a radio that happens to have a very elegant interconnect to the public phone network. And that radio can do a lot more than just transmit voice. So why not build that functionailty in? > if the person can get your text message they can get your > phone call. Not always. If the other half is making the phone ring persistently while I'm in the middle of a meeting at work, that's going to cause problems on so many levels, that could all be avoided by me sending a text message saying "I can't talk now, what's up?" and then getting a response. > Why not just call the person? You could say more in a two minute > phone conversation than you could spending thirty minutes sending 4 or 5 > text messages back and forth and the phone call would cost less. Wow, you type slow. :) > So I ask Why Text Message? Well, why use usenet? You COULD have called up family members and friends and asked them the same question, but isntead you chose to type out a rant on here. Why? SignatureE-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. > if the person can get your text message they can get your phone call. Here's an example of why a text message is preferable over a call. I often MMS message my co-worker in Argentina (he has a Miami cingular account). It costs me pennies. A telephone call to Buenos Aires would cost me a minimum of $3.00 and probably a lot more. Barry - NY not sure, but there was some reason I had 1800 of them last month! lol sign up for one of the media plans, it's much cheape well it would seem that way, but for most people text are cheaper than minutes. I know if I'm over on minutes, that 1 minute to check my voicemail would cost me .37 cent where text overages are only .5 cent! Of course if all else fails send me a dern MMS since I get unlimited! lol Signaturetroyboy30 |
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