Back in the 1990s when Telecoms needed to built out networks and infrastructure to cover a vast geography with cell towers to get the last mile delivery, these pricing and delivery models made sense. Today, with hundreds of megabits of bandwidth, a planet-spanning internet, and space-based internet, it does not. SMS is a hilariously backward and outdated system desperately clinging to a pricing model that doesn't reflect carrier costs in the slightest. I shudder to think what the internet would have looked like if thinking like this led to mobile networks being so twisted.