iMessage is Apple's enhancement of Text Messaging (SMS). Some are saying that SMS is cheaper than data, so iMessage would cost more money. Who's right?
They both are... and they are both wrong.
if a user has unlimited texting for $5/month, then a data plan for $30 or even $15/month is more expensive. You get a lot more for the money, however, it's obviously more expensive to get a data plan... if you don't already have one.
On the other hand, if you already have a data plan, the scenario is reversed. If you’re paying for unlimited data, then it’s a no brainer, iMessage is no extra charge to another iMessage enabled phone. If you have a bandwidth limit like AT&T’s $15/month for 200 MB. That’s $0.075/MB (7.5¢/MB). It’s way cheaper.
They both are... and they are both wrong.
if a user has unlimited texting for $5/month, then a data plan for $30 or even $15/month is more expensive. You get a lot more for the money, however, it's obviously more expensive to get a data plan... if you don't already have one.
On the other hand, if you already have a data plan, the scenario is reversed. If you’re paying for unlimited data, then it’s a no brainer, iMessage is no extra charge to another iMessage enabled phone. If you have a bandwidth limit like AT&T’s $15/month for 200 MB. That’s $0.075/MB (7.5¢/MB). It’s way cheaper.
How much cheaper? Customers get about 500 messages for 7.5¢ (seven and a half CENTS). And it’s even more messages if you’re messages aren’t all 160 characters long. So customers get at least 100,000 messages for $15 per month, and they can use any extra data for other things, like email, or browsing the web, or using apps that send data like high scores in games.
Here’s the math for messages per megabyte. First things first, there’s a limit on how much text you can send in each SMS message, 160 characters. Each character is 1 byte (8 bits), so that’s 160 bytes max. There’s routing data adding an additional 20 bytes (160 bits) of TCP header size, and let’s round way up for good measure and say and say each Text Message has a max size of 200 bytes. So 500 messages = 1 MB (approx). If a user sends 500 messages or less in a month, then their unlimited texting plan would be $5 for 1 MB or less of data.
In short, there is an argument to be made for using SMS Text Messaging if you’re on a limited budget, because the overall cost is lower, but you’ll get way more bang for your buck with a data plan and iMessage (or even email).
source: appy geek
No comments:
Post a Comment