The nation's two largest mobile network operators upped the competitive ante and go toe-to-toe with revamped SMS/MMS bundling options this week. Both carriers are offering new rates and message allotments.Yesterday, Verizon Wireless rolled out its new plans that bundle together text, picture and video messaging for the same cost. Plans are $5 through $20, with the largest plan offering 5,000 messages. I've mentioned in this blog before that I sent and received as many as 1,200 messages in one month, but that included time spent traveling to a trade show where text messaging can be the only form of effective communication. 5,000 messages in a single month boils down to 167 per day. Not only would you spend your entire day hunched over your cellphone, you would need thumbs of steel to keep that pace up (that, or be a teenager). The $10, $15 and $20 bundles allow for unlimited IN messaging, though the $5 bundle does not.

(In January, Verizon announced that it was raising messaging rates for customers who do not subscribe to messaging bundles. The rate is jumping from 10 cents a message to 15 cents a message. Interntational messages will be billed at 25 cents each.)

Cingular (now part of AT&T) is hitting back with a $5 unlimited IN plan of its own that go into effect on Sunday.

"Unlimited IN messaging" generally means that subscribers to a certain mobile operator can send unlimited text, video and picture messages to another subscriber of the same network for no fee.

Sprint and T-Mobile have their own versions of these plans.

The message from the wireless operators is clear: Use our network!