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Thumb-tapping teens rack up text bills
Forget minutes. Today's thumb-tapping teens are racking up huge text bills
| Wednesday, May 30 2007 10:25 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 30 2007 11:09 PM
Bakersfield High junior Meagan Nance says she sends and receives up to 150 text messages on her cell phone a day -- at a cost to her parents of upwards of $500 a month.
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Meagan Nance, 16, a junior at Bakersfield High School, has unlimited text messaging and said she couldn’t live without it. “That's how I communicate.”
Bakersfield High students Jonni Regaspi, 16, and her boyfriend, Adam Collom, 15, say they text message each other throughout the day including at school.
Nance, who text messages "all day," exceeded the allotted number of messages on her cellular plan by 1,000 for the month, and was charged 15 cents for each additional message sent or received.
"I got my phone taken away for like two days," she said, shyly smirking. "I didn't text that much after that."
Nance's story is not uncommon. Many cell phone users, and particularly parents with teens, are finding their cell phone bills astronomical from text messaging fees. No longer are teenagers just calling each other anymore; cell phone users are sending each other text messages, pictures and videos through their mobile devices, often with steep monetary consequences.
"Parents will come in with a phone bill $100 or more," said Danae Martinez who works at the Cingular kiosk in Valley Plaza mall. "They will usually start out with the lowest plan and come back in a month and say 'Little Suzie went over; how do we fix this?'"
Parents just don't understand.
Daisy Noldon, the grandmother of a Wasco High School senior whose phone bills have reached $300, finds it "ridiculous" to rack up messaging bills when he "has a phone and can just call people."
"Usually he's got three or four pages of messages, each 10 cents each," she said. "Those add up."
Her grandson, Jovan Debbs, does not have a cellular plan that allows for unlimited text messaging, and his grandmother pays for it, 15 cents at a time. Many cellular parents, burned with enormous text messaging bills, are beginning to embrace the trend and invest in plans with unlimited text messaging.
Carol Cavanaugh, a registered nurse, uses her unlimited text messaging to communicate with her children attending college across the country.
"I didn't know what it was and (my kids) showed me how to use it," she said. "It's short and sweet, and you don't have to visit."
According to the CTIA Web site, the international nonprofit organization that tracks wireless statistics, more than 158 billion text messages were sent in 2006, climbing 95 percent since 2005.
"There are people who will send four or five hundred text messages a month," said Ken Muche, spokesperson for Verizon wireless. Three billion text messages are sent every month on Verizon's network alone, he said.
Driving up the bills to even greater heights are premium text messaging services. Want to send one of the 64.5 million messages to vote for your favorite "American Idol" crooner? Standard messaging rates apply. But message a psychic or chat service found on late night television and the price per message can be dollars, not cents.
And remember old-fashioned chain letters? They've gotten high tech and have gone electronic also, increasing the number of text messages sent monthly. Users can forward text messages like e-mails and send messages to many different people at a time, racking up larger bills.
"Go back 2 the day U met ME!," reads one chain letter Nance received via text message. "What was the 1st thing that came to your mind & dnt lie. 4ward & c how many crazy messages you get."
As well as updating and revitalizing an old form of semi-binging annoyance, text message users have employed a creative and unique language for writing text messages. Cal State Bakersfield communications professor Judith Pratt called this "lazy man's English."
"I have students who will try to incorporate it into scholarly papers," she said.
Pratt noted that a group of Australians have translated the Bible into text messaging language.
"I wonder if you have to have your inspirational verse, you could call it up on the bus," she said.
Because text messages are discrete, students will often use text messages in class and other restricted areas. Pratt said the reason students use text messaging is for privacy.
Debbs, who gets his phone taken away "every month" as punishment for expensive bills, says he text-messages in areas where using the phone would be difficult.
"(I use text messaging) only if I have something important, like 'where are we going to go to lunch,'" he said.
Comparing text-messaging plans
Don’t want to spend $500 on your next cell phone bill? Here are some rates for unlimited text messaging of leading cellular providers in the Bakersfield area. Remember, many cellular plans do not include any text messaging, and messages sent or received can cost up to 15 cents per use.
Sprint: Unlimited text messages added to a basic plan will set you back $15 a month, or $20 to add to a family plan. With no message plan, messages are 15 cents apiece.
T-Mobile: Unlimited texts on a basic plan will cost $14.99 a month and $19.99for a family plan. With no message plan messages will cost 10 cents per use.
Verizon: An upgraded plan that includes unlimited text messaging for one individual to other Verizon customers, and 5,000 text messages to anyone else, will cost an extra $20. An upgraded family plan will cost an extra $30. Additional messages are 15 cents apiece.
Cingular: An upgraded individual plan that has unlimited text messaging will cost $20, while each phone on a family plan will have to be individually activated at $20 a phone. With an existing text messaging plan, unlimited text messaging can be added for $5. Additional message cost varies with the plan.