Hidden Costs of "Free" Text Messages

No text message is free. Either you pay $0.10 or $0.15 every time you send or receive one, or you pay a monthly fee to your cell phone provider for unlimited text messages. Therefore, anyone who advertises "free" text messages is lying---there are hidden costs.

You've probably noticed the increasing number of commercials on television for text message services. They'll send you your daily horoscope or a joke or perhaps a dating tip. And perhaps the service only costs $0.05 for every message. The problem is that you probably haven't read the fine print at the bottom of the screen, which is merely a flash of muddy type unless you have DVR and pause the channel.

What are the hidden costs of these "free" text messages? For one thing, when you subscribe to these jokes or dating tips, you are automatically subscribed to a host of other text message services, most of which are purely commercial advertisement. If you don't have unlimited text messages on your phone, you'll be charged for each incoming message.

Even worse? These text messages can be very difficult to stop, particularly since your subscription often authorizes the company to obtain your billing information from your cell phone provider. These hidden costs might show up on your next bill or it might be invoiced to you next month.

The hidden costs of "free" text messages aren't limited to opt-in offers from the television, either. Have you ever purchased something online and seen the already-checked boxes at the bottom of the screen? They have automatically opted you in to receive "marketing offers" from their "affiliates", and you'll be subscribed unless you manually un-check them. Recently, companies that do business online have included check boxes for text message marketing, as well, so make sure you read the fine print before clicking the "Buy" button on the Internet.