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T-Mobile has just announced that as of August 29 the rates for text and picture messages will be going up. With a nice increase, the per message rate will now be the same as most other major carriers as it is going from 15 cents up to 20 cents.

These new message rate will apply only to those customers without a messaging plan, however it may also be a reason for those to escape any contract without paying an early termination fee. Of course that may require a little negotiating on your part and we expect the success level on that to vary depending on how convincing you are and also how nice or friendly feeling the service rep is.

With the way messaging rates seem to be increasing, it seems like it would be smart, even for the casual user, to subscribe to a messaging plan and ditch those per message rates.

Via [jkOnTheRun]

While we have heard the rumors, it now looks like it will soon be official. During a recent conference call, the CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings announced that because Blu-ray discs cost more money to purchase, that they need to charge a higher rental rate for them. He also went on to state that “consumers are used to paying more for high-definition.”

Personally I think consumers are used to paying more to own high-definition, I am not so sure how eager they will be to pay more to rent it. Currently Netflix has a small amount of subscribers who choose Blu-ray over standard DVD’s and with a price increase it seems that small percentage will remain small.

While the statements from Hastings seemed pretty clear that the price increase was going to happen, there has not been any official statement as to just how much the increase will be. As for when it will take effect, customers can expect to see it “later this year.”

Via [Crave]