Since 2005, rates to send and receive text messages on all four major carrier networks have doubled from 10 cents to 20 cents per message. The percentage increase for a couple with similar prices for gas pump as oil prices skyrocket. In 2005, Americans paid an average of about $ 2.27 per gallon of gas compared to more than $ 4 gallon today.

In October last year, Sprint Nextel became the first to submit a new price of 20 cents per text message. AT & T and Verizon Wireless soon followed their prices occurs because of this spring. And this week, Engadget reported that T-Mobile USA will be in line with the three other major wireless operators in lifting activities SMS texting rates to 20 cents per message. The increase in prices comes into force on 29 August.

On Tuesday, AT & T announced that texting will cost new iPhone users more than it was before. Old iPhone plan included 200 text messages for $ 59.99 voice and data plan. But plans for the new iPhone 3G, which hits stores next week will cost $ 5 extra for 200 text messages, for a total price of comparable voice and data on the new iPhone 3G to $ 74.99 a month. (This is with a $ 69.99 “450 people” kit, plus $ 5 for 200 text messages.)

A new wave of price only a year after all the major carriers raised individual text messages at a speed of 10 cents a message to 15 cents per message.

So a 100-percent price increase for two years? Well, nothing has changed in terms of costs associated with delivering the service. In fact, text messages cost carriers are very few pass. And when compared with what carriers charge for the transmission of other data services such as music downloads and Web surfing, text messaging rates seem excessive.

Carriers limit the number of characters that can be transmitted in a text message to 160 characters. Each character has about 7 bits, which works with a maximum of about 140 bytes of data per message. This is peanuts compared to the size of sending or receiving e-mail or download MP3 songs over the mobile network.

One blogger made the math. If the pricing has been applied to the per-byte basis for downloading a 4MB song will cost you nearly $ 6000 to download a song through SMS texting.

It’s easy to assume that the margin to a text message to several thousand times what it actually costs carriers to transmit the data a bit, considering that mobile operators are only charging $ 30 to $ 40 a month extra for mobile data plans that offer 5MB worth of data per month.

The reason that carriers charge so much for text messages because they can. Even at 15 cents and 20 cents a pop, people are willing to pay for it. Carriers are also trying to get consumers to sign up for text messages and packages unlimited plans that vary in price from $ 5 a month extra for 200 messages to $ 20 a month extra for unlimited texting from AT & T network, for example.

The massive price markup on texting and the growing popularity of texting have resulted in great benefits for mobile operators. Verizon reported that for the first quarter of 2008, its wireless customers spent $ 11.94 a month for data services, an increase of about 33 percent from a year earlier. The airline did not break out what percentage was spent on text messaging, compared with other services, but a good guess that most of the additional revenue from data from texting. In total, mobile data accounted for about 20 percent of all sales for Verizon Wireless in the first quarter.

Unfortunately, it does not look like consumers have more legal protection for a carrier to adjust their prices to more reasonable rate. There is nothing illegal about charging as the market will bear for any services.

But that does not mean that consumers like it. What do you think about the high cost of texting? You want the feeling in your wallet yet? I would like to hear your thoughts in the “Talk Back” section below.