What_Carriers Aren't Eager to Tell You About Texting [Telecom]

Not sure if this has hit our Telecom Digest yet but if it hasn't, here is the link to the article from The NY Times regarding the subject:

In the article, which indicates that this issue had been initiated by (from the article): "...Senator Herb Kohl, Democrat of Wisconsin and the chairman of the Senate antitrust subcommittee, wanted to look behind the curtain. He was curious about the doubling of prices for text messages charged by the major American carriers from 2005 to 2008, during a time when the industry consolidated from six major companies to four...", there is quite a detailing about how the carriers limit the size of the text messages (SMS) to have it fit in the data "stream" and then indicates that:"...Once one understands that a text message travels wirelessly as a stowaway within a control channel, one sees the carriers' pricing plans in an entirely new light... "

According to an on-line Yahoo! techie blog which has picked up on this

"...What's next? The price-fixing lawsuits which allege that the carriers are illegally colluding to set messaging prices artificially high. 20 such suits have already been filed around the country."

This could be one of those areas which the Wireless guys will wish that they did differently when history about this is read "down the road" a ways.

I'll want to follow this issue so I can make sure I get on any possible resultant lists for refunds!

John Stahl Aljon Enterprises Telecom/Data Consultantcy

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