A new study, commissioned by Verizon (News - Alert) Wireless, shows incredible growth in text messaging in South Carolina and the South.

 

The study, “Big City Wireless Use Study,” reveals an increase in text messaging among the company’s South Carolina customers by nearly 500 percent in 24 months, from April 2006 to April 2008, making it among the most text-savvy state in the South.

 

“The Big City Wireless Use study allows our customers in South Carolina to get a true idea of how often they use their cell phones and wireless devices to do much more than simply place a phone call,” said Jerry Fountain, Verizon Wireless president for the Carolinas/Tennessee region. “Text messaging is a quick and easy way to communicate information efficiently to family and friends, and people are realizing the benefits of adopting this form of communication.”

 

The study revealed that Verizon customers in Greenville earned the number one spot in the Palmetto State as the “textiest city,” with customers sending and receiving more than 116 million text messages in April 2008, compared to almost 19 million texts sent and received in April 2006.

 

Text message use in the United States has increased significantly over the years. In fact, according to a CTIA (News - Alert)-The Wireless Association evaluation, text message sending and receiving jumped from 14.4 million in 2000 to 48.1 billion in 2007.

 

Due to the growth of texting across the country, Verizon recently decided to evaluate customer texting habits in the Southern states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia over a two-year period.

 

In the town of Anderson S.C., there were more than 4 million text messages sent and received in April 2006 and more than 25 million in April 2008. The town of Calhoun went from 2.4 million to 11.3 million, Charleston went from 5.7 million to 31.7 million, Columbia went from 10.4 million to 59 million, and Florence went from 2.4 million to 12.2 million.

 

Verizon customers have a wide range of texting plans available to them, on both Individual and FamilyShare plans. Basic messaging starts at 20 cents per message, or customers can opt for bundle plans.

 

For $5 a month, customers can get 200 text messages to use with any wireless customer, and for $20 a month, they can send and receive 5,000 messages per month. Verizon prepay customers can get unlimited text, picture and video messaging to Verizon Wireless customers nationwide, plus an additional 250 text, picture and video messages each month for $10.

 

For more information about text messaging products and services, visit www.verizonwireless.com and www.vtext.com.