O2 Reveals Customers Sent 440 Million Texts for New Year's

The advent of smartphones has meant that there are countless ways to communicate with people, many of them free. However, according to O2, plenty of people are still using SMS to get in touch with their contacts. The carrier has released some data on how customers used its network on New Year's Eve, reporting that over 400 million text messages were sent.

"In a world where Twitter, Facebook and instant messaging are constantly on the increase, our old acquaintance – the text message, or SMS – was still going on strong, with the number of texts sent across our network increasing by 27% on typical levels throughout 2012," the network said, adding that the number of texts sent across the network increased by 27 percent on typical levels throughout 2012.

According to O2, 440 million text messages sent is an increase of 10 percent compared to last year's New Year's festivities. In addition to all those texts, O2 customers also made 200 million calls during the carrier's busiest period of the year.

How did you wish your fellow man a happy new year? Was it through SMS or voice call, or did you use more economical methods such as Facebook, Twitter or Email? Let us know in the comments below!

Contact Us for News Tips, Corrections and Feedback

  • thecolorblue
    for a sum total network bandwidth burden of 1 megabyte

    LESSON: per text charges are completely ridiculous
    Reply
  • silverblue
    On the packages that most people enjoy nowadays, contract or otherwise, I'd be surprised to hear if somebody is still paying per text. :)
    Reply
  • mihaimm
    thecolorbluefor a sum total network bandwidth burden of 1 megabyteLESSON: per text charges are completely ridiculousActually 440 000 000 * 140 bytes = 61 600 000 000 bytes = 60 156 250 Kb = 58 746 Mb = 57 Gb. More or less, depending on the average length of the messages sent.
    Reply
  • victorintelr
    Well,we dont know the average size of the text. Maybe people decided to write more plus the heading of the data, etc.. but even if it was 440 GB, spread thru the whole network is it much. And @silverblue: looks like you don't live in the USA. You'd be s urprised that the big networks still can charge pet text.
    Reply
  • silverblue
    Lotus Elan? Good luck. :P

    victorintelrWell,we dont know the average size of the text. Maybe people decided to write more plus the heading of the data, etc.. but even if it was 440 GB, spread thru the whole network is it much. And @silverblue: looks like you don't live in the USA. You'd be s urprised that the big networks still can charge pet text.
    Correct. Off contract, it's still easy to get packages or bundles which include text allowances, but I've got an old phone sat somewhere which, I admit, would cost per text if I was to use it.
    Reply