Verizon Wireless Gets More International Texting Flavor

Pushing forward their efforts to let subscribers send text messages around the globe, Verizon Wireless has now expanded the number of countries that users can send messages to. Of course, just like with international phone calls, the pricing varies depending on where you're sending a message. You have to wonder if these national boundary issues will remain over time. As more people get used to using things like VoIP, where international borders and area codes don't really matter, won't people start to expect the same thing on their mobile phones? The carriers love the fact that they can price discriminate based on distance, but our network infrastructure means the reasons for this are becoming less relevant. Right now, the only real issue is the agreements the carriers make to accept messages from each others' networks - but if the situation is competitive, the prices should drop to the point that it won't be worth having different agreements for every country.