Texting is more expensive than the Hubble ... NEXT

Every now and again, some bright spark, somewhere, mentions that it’s cheaper to get data from the Hubble Space Telescope than it is to send 160 characters via a text message charged at 5p/text. Here’s a story from Yahoo, via TechDigest, via The Register:

Even getting information from the Hubble Space Telescope only costs a maximum of £85 per MB, 42 times cheaper than SMS. It’s not hard to see why an ex-mobile industry supremo described texting as as close to pure profit as you get.

Yes it’s an ‘absolute con’. But no one cares.

No one gives a toss any more.

Point me to someone who has actually changed operator because of text charges recently. If you’re being screwed by the cost of text messages, you’re on the wrong service plan. It’s your problem. Just change. Change to one of o2’s unlimited text plans that allows a whopping 10,000 messages per month, for example. Or get a T-Mobile five day pass on Pay As You Go for 7.50 — gives you unlimited texts.

Yes, text messages are stupidly priced.

Yes there’s quite a lot of profit being made — there’s also a lot of administration and technical work required.

But the market bears it. If we all swapped to using instant messaging tonight at midnight, we’d kill demand for texting and the operators would have to adjust accordingly.

But ultimately, not enough people care at the moment.