In the
beginning, many mobile phone users simply did not use SMS. Maybe they
were too lazy to punch in all the characters, perhaps the uncertainty
if the receiving party really got the message was too big, a problem
that was encountered with email messaging in the beginning of the
internet communications. Whichever the reason, people did not use the
feature, but gradually warmed to the idea; by the turn of the century,
mobile phone users sent messages in the amount of one message a day.
The use today is beyond comparison, for instance in some Scandinavian
countries, three fourths of the population is using SMS daily. Free
text messaging has been introduced by some providers as a part of a
package. The SMS to a recipient within the same network is not being
charged, but outside messages were charged the same way as before. Some
networks extended the offer to other providers, just to be competitive,
but just for certain packages and for a limited amount. Since the
introduction of services like email to SMS and internet to SMS, it is
possible to send SMS messages all over the world, with some providers
even for free. But the amount of the SMS messages is limited. Some
providers ask for a monthly fee, but the messages are free,
some other
providers do not charge the fee, but some amount is charged for every
single SMS. Some internet providers offer for their subscribers a
certain amount of free SMS messages at no charge, further SMS credit
can be purchased. The amount of messages depends on the subscriber
package, the more expensive the package, the more SMS are provided,
whereby the more expensive packages are with paired with more speed and
more traffic for the internet connection as well.
In recent times, there are certain internet services that provide free
SMS to phones, whereby countries are limited, but there are plenty of
countries covered. If you try Googling for a free SMS service, you get
over fifty six million hits. It is very probable that you will find a
provider supplying even the most remote country you can think of. Most
of these providers finance their operations either by ads, or by
providers who charge for receipt of such messages, which largely
depends on the provider of the recipient. These free text messages are
truly free of charge, at least for the sender. Interestingly enough,
many people still do not use these free services in as such a large
amount as it was expected, possibly because of being wary of looming
misuses by third parties.
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