How to Avoid the 'Twitter Tax'

When I mentioned three hidden dangers of Twitter, one of the things I mentioned was the hidden cost of text messages. Here's a more in-depth look at the problem and how to get around this 'Twitter Tax'.

A few days ago, The Consumerist noted the following,

Verizon and other cellphone companies mark up the cost of text messages by at least 7314% when compared to their rates for data transfer services.

According to their calculations,

Verizon's max text message size is 160 characters. At 7 bits per character, that's 1120 bits or 140 bytes. Without a text messaging plan, those 140 bytes run you $.15 (fifteen cents), according to Verizon's website.

When comparing this to the cost of regular data transfer, we see,

That's $.015 per data kilobyte versus $1.09 per text message kilobyte. In other words, a markup of 7314%.

Given this markup (partially a result of how text messages work), no wonder people are going broke while they Twitter away. In light of this, I thought it would be nice to point out a little application based on FlashLite 2.x technology (supported on Nokia S60 3rd Edition and Windows Mobile 5.0 based Pocket PC/Smartphones) that allows you to access and update Twitter through a GPRS/3G internet connection instead of text messages. Simply sign up for a $20/month unlimited data access plan and you're set.

Do you know of similar applications for other phones (platforms)?

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Doug, April 3, 2007

I believe that you have coined a new term.

Twitter Tax

Nice. :)

engtech, April 3, 2007

Great, great tip.

Now I only wish my provider had $20/unlimited instead of a draconian per kilobyte fee. Even when we had unlimited it was $50/month, before the providers teamed up to cancel unlimited plans.

Noah Everett, April 3, 2007

I was contacted by the Tulsa World, our local newspaper, to do an interview for an article about local Twitter users. I didn't think the service was that well known yet.

chrispian, April 3, 2007

But don't most cell service providers offer expanded and/or unlimited for a flat fee too? I'm pretty sure Verizon does, as well as T-Mobile ($14.99 for single line, $19.99 for family plan). Doesn't that get around the Twitter Tax too?

David Dalka, April 3, 2007

Your post has implications for SMS based mobile search versus browser based mobile search - my current hypothesis is that SMS based mobile search is more expensive, though I've not seen a complete study of the issue. Your post adds validation to this concept.

Great post.

NeoTechie, April 4, 2007