Here in America, we’re in the digital stone age, at least as far as how widespread the adoption of some cool new technologies are. There’s not universal broadband (which the US Government paid the telcos to implement; instead they built up more DSL because there’s more money to be made on it), wi-fi coverage is intermittent and text message use is a lot less pervasive than in most European countries. In Italy they have tons of teenagers showing up in hospitals with repetive stress injuries directly resulting from punching out reams of text messages.

Likewise, in jolly old England texting is a big deal. Ewan MacLeod is pissed that mobile phone carrier Orange is raising text message prices.

Find out why and what he’s going to do about, after the jump. Plus, there’s some T.S. Eliot poetry. Oh yeah baby, we can put The Consumerist angle on anything.

He writes:

“The Mobile Data Association reports that here in Britain we send around 100 million text messages a day. While many people have text-bundles included on their service plans, the moment you go over your allotment, your text costs raise from an average of 3 pence per text to 10 pence per text. For no good reason. It’s absolutely ridiculous. The gall!”

Ewan’s company NeoOne provides a range of mobile data services, for example SMS text to screen services for nightclubs, so not only does he know what he’s talking about, he has a financial incentive to see mobile messenging costs decrease.

To that end, he’s started an online petition. You can show your support by going to maketextingcheaper.com and e-signing. That is, if your hyper Sidekick use hasn’t bruised your fingers too badly.

We also advise burning a cellphone in effigy. Be sure to pack it with an old tapedeck upon which you’ve recorded, “We are the hollow men… Our dried voices, when / We whisper together/Are quiet and meaningless / As wind in dry grass/Or rats’ feet over broken glass / In our dry cellar”

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