I bet that total includes incoming and outgoing texts... if you're not on one of those "unlimited text" plans, they charge for both.

(I send/recieve about 8 to 10 texts per month...)

I hate texting. As the parent of a 21 year old and a 17 year old, I really really really really hate texting. We're thinking of having them pay for their own plans too, like the mom in the article you linked. First it was a big deal to give them each their own phones, and they were happy for that. Then they wanted more minutes and got them, and were happy for that. Then they wanted better, cooler phones, and got them, and were happy for that. Then they wanted a bigger texting allotment, and got it, and were happy for that. Now they want unlimited texting, and they can both just go fuck the hell off. :P

My plan has 100, and I use about 100 a month (that includes incoming and outgoing). I was thinking adding more, but it's $5 a month for 400 additional messages, and I don't think I could possibly use that many.

I have been charging my daughter for her texting. I have a stipend from my employer for a cellphone (after employer got smart about the hopelessness of enforcing a work only policy on company-owned phones), and added Daughter on the plan for about $10 extra out of pocket a month. But the data part of the bill, oh gosh. She pays for it, says that she'll cut it back, but never does.

I would never even consider texting (unless it were with, say, ico) but I also sorta understand that this is the culture kids swim in these days.

And personally, the fact that texts are charged individually makes me so mad- just another scam way for phone companies to take people's money.

I get charged 15 cents per message, so I hate them with a fiery passion of 1000 suns. I never send any, but sometimes my friends forget and will send me one, or something. I'm considering sending them a bill for every message they send me, or perhaps for the $10/month it would cost to upgrade to a data plan.

The cheapest text-message 'plan' (as opposed to a la carte) my cellphone provider offers gives me 300 messages a month. I've never even come close to that number.

And I think that bundling plans pales in comparison, scam-wise, to charging for incoming messages.

you lot should all move here (apart from seanyboy who is here already) - charging for incoming messages is indeed the pits, and, AFAIK, doesn't happen in the UK. I've been with two different providers and neither has charged me for incoming texts.

I'm on the 500 text bucket. I don't send a lot but I use it to get updates on flights, traffic, emails, bank notifications, etc. It is cool to be able to text google and get a result just a little easier in some cases than going to google with the phone browser.

One day I got 1000 texts within a span of an hour. The email checking thing at T-mobile that will send an SMS when I got a new email went haywire. On the day it happened, the CSR said, don't worry, you won't get charged. Of course it showed up on the bill. But they did take it off once it did show up on the bill.

I would think that SMS will get cheaper in the US, but at the same time, the big carriers have no incentive to do so. Fuck the customer is part of their standard operating procedure.

Whoah! 15 cents per text message, incoming? eek!

How much are you guys paying for your basic plans? I suspect that we pay more as a matter of course, but don't have those kinds of restrictions or extra charges. (I think we only get charged extra for sending photos.)

$29.99 for 300 anytime, 300 mobile to mobile, unlimited weekends, and 100 texts (incoming/outgoing). Picture texts are extra (15 cents each). Taxes are insane; that's usually an extra $10 a month.

I love texting -- Often my kids don't pick up their phones but they always read their texts. Texting is also cool for flirting.

We have unlimited texting on our plan here in SF.

how can somebody physically have enough time to send nearly 7000 texts in a monthly period

Broadcast function?

So, TPS, you're paying about $40, including tax? We pay 40 Euros altogether for my husband's plan (which is what? like around $50?), but it's his main phone, since he doesn't work in an office. I don't know what the limit is, but it's high, because he never goes over by much, and uses it all the time.

I have a super-cheap 10-euro plan, plus unlimited calls to two numbers. But we definitely don't get charged for incoming text messages; I don't think we get charged for outgoing, either.

I LOVE texting. The convenience of texting would be completely worth my friends' sending me bills for the 15 cents.

What I don't like is talking on the phone when the reception's bad or if you're on the street and it's hard to hear. I also hate listening to voicemail.

Also, if I was bored in high school, one text every 4 minutes would be nothing.

High school was torture. I spent most of my time serruptitiously writing notes and letters, drawing on my bookcovers, and reading novels. And wishing I were in bed asleep.

Feisty is right, too- you can send more than one text at once. Send the same text out to 5 people, they all respond- that's 10 texts, right there.

Couple thousand messages a month here. I'm fucking Chatty Cathy.

I had no idea that some people are charged for incoming texts. My friends must hate me.

I can see how... I know someone who has a tendency to send out bulk texts to pretty much everyone she knows at once, repeatedly. Funny comments, inquiries about who is going where, things like that. If each is counted seperately, well damn...

iconomy: When we gave our sons their cell phones, the guy at the sales kiosk was very clear that they charged per text message, and how much some people's bills were. We told our sons that if they used ANY text messages at all, they would have to pay out of their allowance. In two or three years they've had their phones, they've sent/received maybe 10-20 text messages each. And we made them pay up. So they know we mean it.

I send/receive about 100-150 a month, virtually all of them between my boyfriend and me to send goofy jokes while we're at work, say goodnight on evenings we're not together, etc.

And yep, I'm charged for both outgoing and incoming, so after a few months of getting charged 15 cents for every one, I subscribed to an add-on to my bundled plan that gives me 400 messages for $5.

It's one of those things I don't really get. Unless it's similar to something I just thought of - the mister and I email back and forth all day while he's at work. Yes? No?

But I can't really see hundreds, let alone thousands, of text messages per month just to ...chat. But then, I'm phoneaphobic. I hate hate hate talking on the phone and I think my inability to understand the fascination with texting stems from that.

Eh, don't mind me. I'm just rambling.

The concept of charging for incoming text messages (and calls, I assume) is a disgrace, considering they are charging the sender/caller as well. I pay AU$29 per month and very rarely go over the allotted calls (we don't get "minutes", but $20 worth of calls is included). I do get charged .24 for each text sent and I pay an extra $5 a month for a paging service that has some anonymous human answer my phone (with my name, even) if I don't answer or if I reject the call and I get a text with the message. I hate voicemail with a passion and, if someone doesn't answer their mobile, I will hang up and send a text instead of leaving a message.

When I gave my eldest daughter a phone, we managed to find a plan (no longer available, alas) that had no charge for the service and she had to pay for calls/texts (outgoing only, of course) herself. Once she was 18, though, she was an adult and had to organise and pay for her own phone. I don't understand why people give their adult children things like mobile phones when they can get a job and pay for it themselves. But then, I don't understand people who let their 30 year-old kids live at home, cook their meals, wash their clothes and don't charge them board and there seems to be more and more people who do that, so it's likely that I am just a grumpy old bastard.

No, you're not a grumpy old bastard, dg. I agree with you.

Our daughter sent/received 1200 text messages last month, going over her plan by 200 messages, which she has to pay us for. She just started a summer job, and once it becomes full-time for the summer, she'll be paying her entire cell phone bill. She can't wait (when she pays for it, we'll no longer be able to take it as punishment) and neither can I - wait until she sees how much she really racks up. *cue evil laughter*

I don't understand why people give their adult children things like mobile phones when they can get a job and pay for it themselves.

I can beat that. A friend of my boyfriend was just given -- outright -- a million-dollar funky mid-century modern house in the hills that his parents bought as "an investment" here in L.A. He doesn't have to pay a penny -- not a single house payment, not a cent of property taxes. They handed it to him.

And that's not even the kicker. A couple of nights before all the paperwork was finished and he could move into said house, he called my boyfriend and me at 2 in the morning asking if he could come over to crash on the couch. Seems that once he found out he was getting a free house, he'd stopped paying his rent on his apartment and had gotten evicted.

When asked why, for fuck's sake, he couldn't just go to a HOTEL for the night, he replied, "dude! It's like a hundred bucks! No way am I paying for that!"

Yeah, that is completely fucked up, scody. I hear whining all the time from people at work how much their kids are costing them - I was speaking to a co-worker last week who was in the brink of retirement, winding down his workload etc. They had put their house on the market, bought a new caravan and a new 4x4 and made plans to head off and join the "grey nomads", when their daughter (at 23 years old) announced that she had decided to go back to uni for a masters degree, was moving back home and, by the way, Dad, the uni fees are about $20k per year, so you will need to pay that. Seemingly without hesitation, the house came off the market and all their plans to head off into the sunset were cancelled. Now, he has a $40k debt because he borrowed against the sale of the house to buy the car and caravan, he has ramped his workload up to higher than what it was previously and is now supporting his fit, healthy, fully work-capable 23 year-old daughter for the next couple of years and paying her uni fees into the bargain. I told him he's a dickhead, which wasn't nice, but I just couldn't help it. Also, it's true.

gads, that's fucked up, too. And the worst part is, I bet she'll have a whole host of other expenses she'll demand they pay after she's done with her degree. "Dad! I need a new car!" "Dad! I need a house!" "Dad! I need a work ethic!" Oh, wait.

When I got my master's, I worked my way through grad school with two jobs at a time, lived on rice & beans, and walked uphill both ways, in the snow, year-round...hey you kids (etc.)!

And that's not even the kicker. A couple of nights before all the paperwork was finished and he could move into said house, he called my boyfriend and me at 2 in the morning asking if he could come over to crash on the couch. Seems that once he found out he was getting a free house, he'd stopped paying his rent on his apartment and had gotten evicted.

When asked why, for fuck's sake, he couldn't just go to a HOTEL for the night, he replied, "dude! It's like a hundred bucks! No way am I paying for that!"

The phrase "solid pair of brass ones" comes to mind.

My niece sends/receives 24,000-30,000 text messages a month. (She is 15.) She's pays the $15 a month for unlimited texting from her babysitting gigs. Her dad watches her activity like a hawk and she does not use the phone at school or at basketball or soccer practice. She really only has access to the phone from home and before she goes to sleep. I have NO idea how she finds the time.

Also, does it crack anyone else up that on the (maybe at&t?) cell commercial where the girl's mom is screaming about the bill and her daughter is talking to her in txt that they write out OMG as Oh my gosh? Cause that cracks me up. I wish the mom said something filthy at the end when she's speaking back in txt but she does not.