AT&T Raises Pay-Per-Use Message Rates Again

AT&T is once again raising its rates for pay-per-use messaging over its network. Text message pricing will go up $.05 to $.20/message sent or received. Multimedia message pricing go up $.05 to $.30/message. Subscribers with a monthly messaging package will not be affected by this increase, as overage rates remain unchanged. The new message pricing is set to go into effect on March 30th, 2008.

The U.S. carriers have raised pay-per-use rates for messaging repeatedly in recent history in an attempt to pressure subscribers into signing up for a monthly messaging bundle. AT&T currently offers a Messaging Starter bundle that includes 200 SMS or MMS messages for $5 per month. At the new pay-per-use rates, those same 200 messages would cost $40. Customers that send over 25 text messages or 17 MMS messages per month would save money by subscribing to the $5 monthly bundle. [via EngadgetMobile]