I think they’re now broadly free on all but the most restrictive plans- but when iMessage came to be they weren’t - and most phones wouldn’t split 160 characters into multiple messages. You were literally limited by that.

They used to charge extra if you were roaming too. I think T-Mobile was the first to stop and everyone followed.

This is so comically wrong I don’t know where to start. SMS was fucked from the get go, especially in the US where it was common to charge by the message for SMS. Seriously. It was $0.25 to send and $0.10 to receive them on a lot of people’s plans.

The wireless carriers fucked SMS, and will absolutely fuck up RCS - along with all the various providers out there. It’s a dogshit standard that isn’t broadly interoperable still.

iMessage was a breath of fresh air for people who did use SMS.

Would love some sources!