More about cellphones

One of the things I look forward to every day is reading the Wall Street Journal. To my mind, it brings back the days when the first thing I did every day was to read the newspaper. (The Times of India, before they morphed their print edition into a tabloid and also created one of the worst ad-infested websites I've seen) The downside is that if I find a great story, I can't send it to my friends since the online version is subscriber-only. Thankfully the Mossberg columns are available on his blog, so if you haven't seen or read his timely rant about the state of the cellphone service industry in the US, please do so now.

Apart from all the usual criticisms of the way cellphone services operate in the US, there's one that is strangely accepted - the fact that incoming text messages are charged! Leave aside the fact that text messaging is ridiculously expensive (when it is so cheap for the carrier to provide the service) - it is strange that folks are charged for incoming messages when there is no way to block text messages from appearing. At least you can refuse to answer an incoming call - there is no way to decline a text message, and if you have friends who love their unlimited text messaging plans (I know, I was one of them until recently), you can rack up charges for no fault of yours.

I can't wait for the rumored gPhone to shake up the way the cellphone industry works.

Labels: cellphones, mobile, telecommunications, wsj