Texting delays a given on New Years, celebrate accordingly
It probably doesn't come as much of a shock to you that plenty of texting goes down midnight-ish tonight, and naturally the carriers are gearing up for just such an onslaught. Palm isn't so optimistic about the proceedings: according to a study it commissioned in the UK with lpsos MORI, 70% of people who send messages at midnight experience a delay in delivery, with places like London experience 77% delays, and 23% of Britons waiting over six hours for their text messages to arrive. Palm suggests an IM or email might be in order, and smartphone users will have better luck getting their messages delivered over the comparably unclogged data networks. Verizon seems more excited about the prospect, expecting the 284 million text messages sent last year on its network between 12pm New Years Eve and 4am New Years Day to rise to 300 million. Telstra expects to process more than 53 million messages across Australia, and will have a "small army" of techs on hand to monitor network performance. Canadians are expected to send 50 million texts this year, according to Virgin Mobile Canada, with the average canadian sending two text messages each -- double that of last year. However and wherever you party, stay safe out there -- friends don't let friends drink and text their estranged exes.Read - Palm study warns of delays
Read - Verizon predicts 300 million
Read - Canada doubles in texts
Read - Telstra's small army in Australia
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brent @ Dec 31st 2007 1:12PM
But drunk texting on holidays is the ONLY time I have any contact with estranged exes...
Chicksta @ Dec 31st 2007 5:50PM
Not only that, but if I actually had any friends around, then I wouldn't need to be getting drunk and sending said messages to my ex. So, therein lies the predicament, or the predictive text, as the case may be.
metal @ Dec 31st 2007 8:12PM
maybe this is a little too nerdy but when it said exes I was thinking other exes
like waking up the next morning and not believing that you reinstalled that emulator.
okay I'll shut up now
Neebs @ Dec 31st 2007 1:19PM
So many people texting it causes delays, now no one bothers anymore.
Eldiablo @ Dec 31st 2007 1:34PM
MMS is the way to go, the past couple of years I've sent them, they've arrived within a few mins of midnight.
SuperPrime @ Dec 31st 2007 1:34PM
Holy shit we had this problem... for one year. All the carriers upgraded their stuff because they figured out that *gasp* they make a hell of a profit if the service stays up during the holidays
Zak @ Dec 31st 2007 2:12PM
The moral of this story is that instead of texting, you should just shoot guns in the air.
paragraph @ Dec 31st 2007 2:23PM
I prefer smoke signals
----
Really, REALLY... Lazy people.... seriously, call someone like a normal person... better yet, don't, i'm pretty sure noone has ever TXTed or Called someone midnight on new years and acctually contributed an ounce of information, noone was ever shocked and suprised, and noone care -_-
*get off my lawn*
But seriously, i'll keep my $0.25 and use it to buy gum, atleast gum isn't stupid and useless...
Kurtis @ Dec 31st 2007 3:21PM
$0.25 for a text message? You are getting ripped!
Ellianth @ Dec 31st 2007 2:15PM
"Palm suggests an IM or email might be in order"
really now... who would take advice from palm?!?
paragraph @ Dec 31st 2007 2:23PM
Investors who were drawn but the Folio ;)
Ian @ Dec 31st 2007 2:24PM
"However and wherever you party, stay safe out there -- friends don't let friends drink and text their estranged exes."
ahh what good advice.
Eddie @ Dec 31st 2007 2:32PM
Damnit! Now how am I supposed to say "I know what day it is, I want YOU to know that I know what day it is, but I DON'T want you to know badly enough to pick up the phone and just tell you" ???
Wwhat @ Dec 31st 2007 2:50PM
If you can't be bothered to be with the people then simply forget about the whole thing I say :)
justin @ Dec 31st 2007 2:58PM
ENGADGET SPONTANEOUS COUNTDOWN!!!
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kurtis @ Dec 31st 2007 3:22PM
bads
Ty @ Dec 31st 2007 4:30PM
Ugh, nothing worse than on christmas and new years I get 20 txts from people I haven't heard from in ages with a txt they send to their whole contact list.
Brent @ Dec 31st 2007 4:36PM
Mine this year said "Nothing spreads real personal holiday wishes quite like a text message. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night."
In fairness to myself, my close friends all got individual personalized text messages, and the group one only went out to people I've talked to in the last two months.
Licotto @ Dec 31st 2007 8:30PM
I am totally with Ty on this! It's lame as lame gets when I haven't talked to someone in months, or YEARS, and I get a stupid generic text on New Years...or Christmas...or to tell me that "Angels are with me...send this to (insert #) people to get 20 more angels)....
blah blah blah.... texting is impersonal...only do it with close friends. Stop be so antisocial and afraid that people don't like you -they probably don't and that's ok...just get over it! haha
Matt @ Dec 31st 2007 8:56PM
Some IM clients on mobile devices actually use text messages underneath the hood, so Palm's advice is iffy at best. The IM client that came preinstalled with my Sprint HTC Touch uses text messages.
JayMonster @ Jan 2nd 2008 8:51AM
Verizon Wireless may have been exicited, but at least in some areas, I (and others I know) were actually unable to send text messages at midnight, receiving a message that "the message could not be sent because the service was not available."