{"id":235,"date":"2005-01-10T06:49:09","date_gmt":"2005-01-10T11:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scaredpoet.com\/wordpress\/?p=235"},"modified":"2005-01-11T18:56:23","modified_gmt":"2005-01-11T23:56:23","slug":"read-the-fine-print-damnit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/?p=235","title":{"rendered":"Read the fine print, damnit!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It never ceases to amaze me how people can be so incredibly stupid about managing expenses, and yet they somehow have the intelligence and skill level to operate devices like mobile phones. Yet, it seems that SMS messaging<\/a> is now the big driving loss-leader among American teens and families. According to the New York Times (link <\/a> by way of LA Daily News, full story<\/a> requires registration), text messaging addicts are running up $400 to $800 cellular bills (!) on text messaging alone.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Last month, though, Albert’s habit caught up with him. Only $80 of his $400 cell phone charges were his father’s, and most of his own part, he said, were for text-messaging.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So $320 for text messaging?! That comes out to about 3200 SMS messages, using some of the highest prices charged by wireless carriers. Exactly how psychotic do you have to be to sit there and tap at a tiny phone keypad, forming each letter and word meticulously, 3200 times in one month?! Granted, I use text messaging quite a bit as well (although for me it’s much easier<\/a> to compose them than for the average phone user), but they’re really more appropriate for quick questions, one-liners and brief little notes. if I exceed the threshhold of having to exchange, say, 20 messages with the same person in a single conversation (and even that’s a little overboard), then I’ll generally decide it’s time for a phone call… you know, the thing that cell phones were originally<\/em> intended for?<\/p>\n

Such idiocy just deserves such horrendously high bills… it’s almost like the perfect tax on the stupid, and a way to discourage idiots from using cell phones. Why? Because all of these people used text messaging without bothering to realize that they could have easily reduced their costs with text messaging bundles. Verizon Wireless offers packs of up to 2,500 text messages for $19.99<\/a>, pricey but still a paltry sum compared to the $250 those same messages could have cost without the add-on. Sprint is even less stingy: $10 gives you the right<\/a> to send and receive as many text messages as you can possibly wear your fingers down to nubs with (and it’s only $5 if you’re a data service subscriber).<\/p>\n

What stuns me even more is that all of the folks interviewed acted as if they had absolutely no clue that using their cell phones would incur charges. I guess these people can’t read<\/a>? I visited every<\/a> cell phone website<\/a> I could think<\/a> of off the top<\/a> of my head, and all seem to be pushing text bundle packages, and mention the price you pay if you don’t subscribe to one and still expect to use SMS.<\/p>\n

Three-figure bills for text messaging are just inexcuseable. Mobile carriers offer solutions; one only needs to look up the relevant information. And besides, even with the plans… if you need to text message THAT much, then maybe you should consider “texting” less and engaging in phone calls or even face-to-face conversation just a little more. If you have a son or daughter that is racking up a high bill, then they’ve failed to show some responsibility and need to have it taken away from them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It amazes me how dumb people can be and still be capable of using a cell phone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gadgets-widgits-and-whatzits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}