Ummmm no. Text messages are 160 characters because they free ride on the control channel used by towers for internal communication and handsets to set up a call. That packet of information used by the towers to let everything know they are okay happens to be enough for 160 characters of message plus additional information necessary to deliver the text.
I don't know who created the idiotic reason of .... "some dude said it should be so", but people are gullible I suppose. I am just surprised the editor of this site actually believed it. It sounds like an April Fools joke in May!
@Christopher Cox: Right, but the effort to get them up 160--from the 128 they originally were able to cram in--is because this guy thought 160 was perfect.
"I've said some stupid things and some wrong things, but not that. No one involved in computers would ever say that a certain amount of memory is enough for all time... I keep bumping into that silly quotation attributed to me that says 640K of memory is enough. There's never a citation; the quotation just floats like a rumor, repeated again and again."
@zenpoet: That's the second most misattributed quote. The first one is "Those who would trade liberty for security" which was originally by Richard Jackson, but came down to us through Binjamin Franklin.
The 640K quote is one of the oldest urban legends of the internet.
@stokessd: Whenever my dad sends me a text that exceeds 160 characters from his iPhone it shows up on mine as multiple messages. And, naturally, they're in the wrong order.
And each message is stored in part of the signal that's not even used by most communications. It's essentially 100% profit for the phone company to transfer text messages.
@sugardeath: That's not exactly true. Yes, the upload/download process doesn't require any additional bandwidth, but it does have to bounce through the servers, and it often would need to be transferred to another provider's system. Not quite pure profit, but it certainly does help explain why cel-phone companies eventually relented and offered free texting packages.
@manyou07: What the article doesn't mention is that the two men are pathetic fucking losers. So much so, that they can legally be considered one person as their combined brain power matches closely to that of modern Bonobos.
did they setup some kind of texting program or did they do it all by hand? seems like a huge waste of time to have your name in the news for a few seconds.
@Jake Shaw: The only other network you can get the iPhone to work on is tmobile. Of course, you either have to software unlock the 1G or buy a sim attachment for the 3G, but it can be done.
Also, as mentioned above it is Giz, and after that I wonder if anyone would really care what phone they use. Sort of like how TV shows will have a kid playing with Gamecube controllers but a Dreamcast is sitting above the TV. It's just for effect.
06/15/09
06/15/09
06/15/09
06/15/09
06/15/09
06/15/09
05/04/09
05/04/09
I don't know who created the idiotic reason of .... "some dude said it should be so", but people are gullible I suppose. I am just surprised the editor of this site actually believed it. It sounds like an April Fools joke in May!
05/04/09
05/04/09
Guess they were both wrong.
05/04/09
"I've said some stupid things and some wrong things, but not that. No one involved in computers would ever say that a certain amount of memory is enough for all time... I keep bumping into that silly quotation attributed to me that says 640K of memory is enough. There's never a citation; the quotation just floats like a rumor, repeated again and again."
[en.wikiquote.org]
05/04/09
The 640K quote is one of the oldest urban legends of the internet.
05/04/09
05/04/09
05/04/09
05/04/09
-1 internets for me today.
05/04/09
Sheldon
05/04/09
05/04/09
05/04/09
And each message is stored in part of the signal that's not even used by most communications. It's essentially 100% profit for the phone company to transfer text messages.
05/04/09
That's not exactly true. Yes, the upload/download process doesn't require any additional bandwidth, but it does have to bounce through the servers, and it often would need to be transferred to another provider's system. Not quite pure profit, but it certainly does help explain why cel-phone companies eventually relented and offered free texting packages.
05/04/09
05/04/09
04/22/09
04/22/09
04/22/09
04/22/09
Hey ma'! Look at me!
04/22/09
04/22/09
04/22/09
Also, as mentioned above it is Giz, and after that I wonder if anyone would really care what phone they use. Sort of like how TV shows will have a kid playing with Gamecube controllers but a Dreamcast is sitting above the TV. It's just for effect.
So stop askin' questions ya' hear???!?!!?
04/22/09
04/22/09
i hope it was worth setting the record...
04/22/09
04/22/09
/puts on glasses
04/21/09
guuuuh!