Text Messaging
 

I don't get it. I use it very occasionally. My college-aged daughter? How about 2606 text messages in 19 days? Surely, that was a billing error. So I stopped by Verizon to straighten it out. I was informed that not only was that the accurate total, but they did not consider the volume unusual. Say what? :eek::eek::eek:

I use about 2K a month.

Remember, they count all the ones she receives as well as sends in that total.

I also don't get it.

I text all the time. If I know or suspect the recipient cannot pick up a phone, I will send a text. That way, I have a record of the communication. I've sent messages to my son while he is in class and to co-workers who may or may not be in meetings. I also text Google for address and phone number info.

That's not even 9 msgs per hour (assuiming ~8 hrs of sleep). Casual texting, at best.

My parents won't pay for it, so I do not have but...however, it is useful for quick things when you aren't necessarily in situations where you can talk. But most people use them in lieu of actually talking on the phone. They turn in a 2 minute phone call into 30 minutes and 100 text messages back and forth to each other.

Not unusual as all. Not certain how many I go through a month, but I am sure it isn't far from that number. Most chicks now a days just text, they really don't talk on the phone all that much. Especially when your trying to get them to come over to your place. Calling won't work, texting is the way to go.

2 in the past six months

+111111

I used to use it with a talkative GF because for some reason I thought it would make the "conversations" shorter. HOW WRONG I WAS. It just made a 2 minute conversation last 2 hours instead.

I have never sent or received a test message. Must be my age (46)....

it's like using a modern day homing pigeon...cell reception is far from consistent so a text will go through when calls will not.

I just sent a 'I love you' text to my wife.

It's the little things... :D

>>>>Casual texting, at best.<<<<

That's what she said. :D:rolleyes:

Some kids text so much that they wear the numbers off of their phones. They can T9 type without looking too.

2K messages is in and out. The cell companies love teens that text a lot, since they charge insane fees when you are over the limit.

>>>>cell reception is far from consistent so a text will go through when calls will not.<<<<

How can that be? Is that true?

I do use text messaging. My office can text me from their computers with an new appointment or whatever. It is definitely useful. And I've used the Google search function a few times too - that's an amazing little gimmick. We're also trying out the Google Calender for scheduling and it sends a text message reminder of appointments.

But still, 2600 in 19 days!?

2600 in 19 days is extreme, I agree.

Joe - that's how I became aware of this. I had an 'extra charge' of $300 for 1 month! Verizon to Verizon is free unlimited. But only 250 non-Verizon messages were allowed. For $15/month, I've upped that to 1500 non-Verizon per month. Hopefully, that will work :mad:

I don't text, but I do use the company Blackberry device off hours to send emails to other co-workers. <-- does that count?

-Z

Only if you're paying the bill! :D

My employees think it is funny to text while they are at work. There are going to be a lot of unemployed little suckers.

Nope! And the emails are 99% work related anyway...

-Z

Txting to ppl that are with you in the same meeting is great. endless possibilities.

Of all the forms of matter, gas has a unique ability to expand to the volume of the container.

Similarly, teens have the ability to use up every cell minute and text message... and then some. :lol:

Good luck with that! :D

I do lots of texting and emailing from the cell phone.

If you're doing business with me and you have a cell phone, you're gonna get a text, plain and simple. I love all forms of communication. My cell phone has a slide out keyboard that makes it easier to negotiate the keys.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1201053125.jpg

If it doesn't I can think of a real good plan B :) I've sent a few, mostly pics of cars or stuff I think is funny.

Texting is convenient i think, just depends on how it's used. If you need to say something to someone who is in class or at a job where they frown on cell phone usage, you can just text them. Then at their own leisure they can read the message when they are free without drawing attention to themselves by talking on the phone. However 2000+ texts is insanity.

You'd be amazed at the volume of text messages that pass through the hardware that handles the routing of the text messages. My brother-in-law writes (a lot of) the code that handles it. It's pretty amazing, to say the least.

Fun-fact: There is so much volume, to avoid delays, the entire DB of phone numbers is loaded into memory on the severs so the disks don't trash themselves to death. They had to think up a clever way to store the acct. information in memory because there are so many records.

2600 texts is NOT insanity.

Regardless of the length of the message, one character 200, it counts as a message and both incoming and outgoing count.

Right, so typical teen/college person with say 5 friends that she texts with regularly. 30 days in an average month.

2600/30 = 86 messages per day.
86/5 = 17.3 messages per person.
17.3/2 = 8.6 (remember to count both in and out messages)

A simple exchange that takes 2 minutes with each of her friends easily yields this number.

YMMV

My college aged stepson averages 5,000+ per month. Girls use 2-3000/month. Thank god for unlimited texts on our plan.

Wife and I use 3-400/month each mostly touching base with the kids (3 teens).

From what I can tell they outgrow it in their early 20's per other parents.

Less than 20 this month. Guess I am slipping...

My daughter got "into" texting a few years ago. The brakes slammed hard on that little adventure when she and her (moron) cousin took two of our cell phones and sat in the bedroom (on the floor together) texting eachother...

This went on for several weekends. I got the bill and hit the roof. Over 6,000 texts... The moron cousin was 17 at the time and had already her phone taken away for "text-abuse."

Our daughter got her phone taken away for several weeks. Mostly for being stupid enough to do anything her moron cousin thought was a good idea. When she got it back, the text feature had been disabled on ALL the family phones. Been that way ever since.

angela

I suggest very strongly that any parent that gives a phone to a kid should get one of the unlimited text plans. You can guarantee that few kids will keep track of their usage and make sure they don't exceed their allotment of texts. My 16-year old has done as many as 10,000 in a month. He can have half a dozen conversations going at once, all with girls.

No, he won't call them on his cell phone.
No, he won't call them on his free house phone.
No, he won't chat with them using his computer.

Kids do what they see other kids doing and right now, they text each other for no good reason. You won't likely change their mind.

Being an older fart, I wouldn't send a text message to save my life. Calling is faster.

JR

One text message in the eight yrs I've had a cell phone. If I have something to tell someone, I'll pick up the phone and dial. Life has become impersonal enough as it is.