Texting is more expensive than data from space

http://www.physorg.com/news129793047.html

A University of Leicester space scientist has worked out that sending
texts via mobile phones works out to be far more expensive than
downloading data from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Dr Nigel Bannister’s calculations were used for the Channel 4 Dispatches
programme “The Mobile Phone Rip-Off�.

He worked out the cost of obtaining a megabyte of data from Hubble – and
compared that with the 5p cost of sending a text.

He said: “The bottom line is texting is at least 4 times more expensive
than transmitting data from Hubble, and is likely to be substantially
more than that.

“The maximum size for a text message is 160 characters, which takes 140
bytes because there are only 7 bits per character in the text messaging
system, and we assume the average price for a text message is 5p. There
are 1,048,576 bytes in a megabyte, so that's 1 million/140 = 7490 text
messages to transmit one megabyte. At 5p each, that's £374.49 per MB - or
about 4.4 times more expensive than the ‘most pessimistic’ estimate for
Hubble Space Telescope transmission costs.�

Dr Bannister said it had been difficult to work out exactly how much
Hubble data transmission costs. So he contacted NASA who gave him a firm
figure of £8.85 per megabyte (M for the transmission of data from HST
to the Earth.

“This doesn't include the cost of the ground stations and the time of the
personnel along the way, but it is an unambiguous number for that part of
the process. So that's £8.85 to get each MB from Hubble, to the first
point of contact on the ground, but no further. Hence we need to go a
little bit further to estimate exactly how much it costs to transmit data
from Hubble to the end user - i.e. to the data archive which scientists
can access. This is difficult, so I had to make some conservative
assumptions.�

Dr Bannister estimated the cost of the data from Hubble could vary
between £8.85 and £85 per MB- much cheaper than the £374.49 per MB cost
of transmitting one MB of text.

He concludes: “Hubble is by no means a cheap mission – but the mobile
phone text costs were pretty astronomical!�

Source: University of Leicester

Will Kemp <Will@xxxx.Swaggie.net> wrote:

> http://www.physorg.com/news129793047.html

> A University of Leicester space scientist has worked out that sending
> texts via mobile phones works out to be far more expensive than
> downloading data from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Its a lot more expensive than the marginal cost of emailing on the net too.

Just more utterly silly shit that only a mindless academic could spew.

> Dr Nigel Bannister's calculations were used for the Channel 4
> Dispatches programme "The Mobile Phone Rip-Off".

> He worked out the cost of obtaining a megabyte of data from Hubble -
> and compared that with the 5p cost of sending a text.
>
> He said: "The bottom line is texting is at least 4 times more
> expensive than transmitting data from Hubble, and is likely to be
> substantially more than that.
>
> "The maximum size for a text message is 160 characters, which takes
> 140 bytes because there are only 7 bits per character in the text
> messaging system, and we assume the average price for a text message
> is 5p. There are 1,048,576 bytes in a megabyte, so that's 1
> million/140 = 7490 text messages to transmit one megabyte. At 5p
> each, that's £374.49 per MB - or about 4.4 times more expensive than
> the 'most pessimistic' estimate for Hubble Space Telescope
> transmission costs."
>
> Dr Bannister said it had been difficult to work out exactly how much
> Hubble data transmission costs. So he contacted NASA who gave him a
> firm figure of £8.85 per megabyte (M for the transmission of data
> from HST to the Earth.
>
> "This doesn't include the cost of the ground stations and the time of
> the personnel along the way, but it is an unambiguous number for that
> part of the process. So that's £8.85 to get each MB from Hubble, to
> the first point of contact on the ground, but no further. Hence we
> need to go a little bit further to estimate exactly how much it costs
> to transmit data from Hubble to the end user - i.e. to the data
> archive which scientists can access. This is difficult, so I had to
> make some conservative assumptions."
>
> Dr Bannister estimated the cost of the data from Hubble could vary
> between £8.85 and £85 per MB- much cheaper than the £374.49 per MB
> cost of transmitting one MB of text.
>
> He concludes: "Hubble is by no means a cheap mission - but the mobile
> phone text costs were pretty astronomical!"
>
> Source: University of Leicester

"Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> writes:

>Will Kemp <Will@xxxx.Swaggie.net> wrote:

>> http://www.physorg.com/news129793047.html

>> A University of Leicester space scientist has worked out that sending
>> texts via mobile phones works out to be far more expensive than
>> downloading data from the Hubble Space Telescope.

>Its a lot more expensive than the marginal cost of emailing on the net too.

Goes to show how much consumers are ripped off to send text messages.

--
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On Wed, 14 May 2008 06:21:08 Will Kemp may have written:
> A University of Leicester space scientist has worked out that sending
> texts via mobile phones works out to be far more expensive than

University of The Bloody Obvious more like it... And this is UK
tax-payer's research funding hard at work?

PD

--
Paul Day

Bavid Anonymous Dromage <bdromage@lios.apana.org.au> wrote
> Rod Speed <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> writes
>> Will Kemp <Will@xxxx.Swaggie.net> wrote:

>>> http://www.physorg.com/news129793047.html

>>> A University of Leicester space scientist has worked out that
>>> sending texts via mobile phones works out to be far more expensive
>>> than downloading data from the Hubble Space Telescope.

>> Its a lot more expensive than the marginal cost of emailing on the net too.

> Goes to show how much consumers are ripped off to send text messages.

Nope, it goes to show how completely mindless that sort of 'comparison' actually is.

"Bavid Anonymous Dromage" <bdromage@lios.apana.org.au> wrote in message
news:g0d8j9$fku$5@yoda.apana.org.au...
> "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> writes:
>
>>Will Kemp <Will@xxxx.Swaggie.net> wrote:
>
>>> http://www.physorg.com/news129793047.html
>
>>> A University of Leicester space scientist has worked out that sending
>>> texts via mobile phones works out to be far more expensive than
>>> downloading data from the Hubble Space Telescope.
>
>>Its a lot more expensive than the marginal cost of emailing on the net
>>too.
>
> Goes to show how much consumers are ripped off to send text messages.

It shows nothing.

Big difference between a computer and a tiny little portable device that
fits in your pocket

On Wed, 14 May 2008 09:35:05 in aus.comms.mobile Bavid Anonymous Dromage may have written:
> >Its a lot more expensive than the marginal cost of emailing on the net too.
>
> Goes to show how much consumers are ripped off to send text messages.

Goes to show what your average punter is prepared to pay for the
service. Remember, we live in a capitalist world here.

PD

--
Paul Day