ICE Delivers 25% of Text Messages Late
July 29th, 2009 | by admin |Didn’t you get my message? No, “mae”, I didn’t, is the response as one in four text messages sent over the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) cellular telephone network arrives late. Hours late.
The key behind the instant messaging is “instant”. However, for the ICE network instant can mean up to 36 hours.
ICE officials say that the delays are usually due to a saturation of the network as the system cannot handle effectively the large volume of data being transmitted, the equipment sending the overflow to a queue which then delivers the message as the demand diminishes.
Well, at least that is the explanation by the sole provider of cellular service in Costa Rica as it fails to deliver, on time, at least 25% of the messages.
Typically SMS (Short Message Service) are supposed to be sent instantly on the first try with an average delivery time of four seconds.
Adolfo Arias, director de Servicios de Telecomunicaciones del ICE, explained that if the cellular phone is turned off or outside the coverage area, the system automatically stores the message for delivery at a later time and thus the delay in message sending.
However, experience tells a different story.
Many ICE customers complain of not having received a message or receiving it hours later, even the next day, even though they never turn off their cellular phone or have not been outside the network coverage area.
ICE says that, on average, Costa Ricans send 490 text messages per second, while the system can handle up to 1.350 messages per second.
The big delay days are Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Christmas, according to ICE figures.
Many prefer to send a text message instead of a phone call due to is popularity and impersonality of text messaging and its low cost.
A typical cellular phone call can cost the user ¢30 colones per minute during the day and ¢23 at night. However, a text message only costs ¢1.5 colones and with no emotional attachment, as the message is delivered in the emotionless space and time of digital technology.
ICE figures show that 89% of all text messages are sent between people, 3.3% are by the system advising of a message and the rest for commercial messages.
During the 2008 Christmas/New Year’s period, ICE delivered some 30 million messages daily.
Messaging by the numbers:
- 23 million text messages are delivered daily in Costa Rica
- the cost of each text message is ¢1.5 colones
- 89% of text messages are person to person
- the maximum number of characters that can be sent in each message is 160
