[pitzips]

I hadn't heard of WhatsApp for years being in the USA. You are right that in the states texting was free much earlier.

It spread like fire with Europeans being able to text across countries. Texting was free within country, but between was expensive.

[pmontra]

Not free, even now. There are plans with a limited number of messages per month (100 to 1000). The teenager children of my friends used up them in no time. Then came WhatsApp, Messenger, Snapchat.

Messaging inside the EU costs as much as messaging inside one's own country now but this is very recent. Messaging between other countries can cost up to 2 Euro per message. Not a typo. One wonders if it is to empty people accounts. I put my phone in airplane mode whenever I'm outside the EU and use Wi-Fi to call and text.