Paying out the nose...

If you're ever seen a cellular commercial - you always see people talking, accessing the internet, sending text messages... and so I thought it would be fun to take apart the costs they charge you.

First, lets talk voice. You're paying a few cents per minute... roughly 2-12¢. A minute of voice calculates out like so: 64 KBits/second * 60 seconds / 8 bits per byte = 480 KBytes. Lets say the average is 6 cents per minute.

Now, lets talk SMS/Text messaging. An average text message is 160 Bytes. For this, you're typically paying a flat rate of 25¢. Wow... pretty expensive?

Now lets talk about Data... IP packets routed over the internet. They charge 10 bucks for 4 MBytes (if you prepay) or 1¢ per KByte (always rounded up).

So, to leverage this all out:
Voice = 81920 bits per cent
SMS = 51 bits per cent
Data = 1024 bits per cent (by the kilobyte)
Data = 419430 bit per cent (prepaid... use it or loose it)

It's all the same to the network. It's simply "multiplexed data" from the phone to the central office. Only there is it separated to the switching network (phone) or internet (sms & data).

I wish I could just buy bits instead of minutes, special packages, add-on offers, et cetera. It would be a lot less smoke and mirrors.