T-Mobile is in legal hot water for allegedly failing to protect consumers from unwanted text messages. This is the last thing the German-owned telecom company needs.

The company, which has struggled for years to gain traction in the U.S., now must deal with a costly and potentially embarrassing class-action lawsuit. According to CNET.com, a federal judge has refused to throw the case out, which will force T-Mobile to shell out big bucks in a settlement.

Other telecom companies and consumer groups will watch the case closely. For one thing, text message costs are skyrocketing and show no signs of slowing. This is particularly galling since people pay for all incoming text messages.

"Since 2005, rates to send and receive text messages on all four major carrier networks have doubled from 10 cents to 20 cents per message," Slashdot.org noted recently. '"If the same pricing was applied on a per-byte basis to a single MP3 song download, it would set you back almost $24,000 according to one estimate."

T-Mobile appears particularly vulnerable to the suit since unlike other telecom companies it does not offer the ability to block all text messages though people do have access to filtering software. Consumers faced the choice of either leaving the carrier and paying a $175 termination fee or absorbing the costs, according to plaintiff's attorneys.

"This ruling is a big win for T-Mobile customers and we're looking forward to presenting our case to the court," said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman, the law firm representing plaintiffs, told RCRWireless.

No doubt the lawyers will get a nice payday as well.

This is something I've dreaded for a long, long time -- ever since I started using text messaging on my cellphone -- text message spam. While the wireless telephone numbers of all subscribers are private knowledge between the consumer and the wireless provider, newer services that require your 10-digit number to download seem to be increasingly finding their way into the hands of spammers. Those folks are shifting their nuisance emails -- and scams -- directly onto your cellphone.

I have a huge pickle with this and I think the wireless industry is not even close to being prepared to handle the customer complaint load they will face once text message spam goes mainstream. They better start forming strategies now. Right now.

Many of the larger, national wireless companies are attacking the problem by installing sophisticated filters in their systems that process incoming and outgoing text messages. Keep in mind that there are 200 million wireless phones in use in the U.S. today -- and all of those are targets to criminals and hackers who want to try and steal personal information as well us bug you with more inane "V1AgRa" and "H0me LoaN ApPr00ved" junk email messages.

Rich Ottum at MarketingBlurb hopes the text messaging game Summer Pursuit started this month by Starbucks (SBUX) doesn't increase annoying cell phone activity in his immediate vicinity while attempting to relax at his local outlet. I've never found sitting in a Starbucks an especially relaxing experience, what with the battery of employees yelling drink orders down the line, to the merchandise displays competing with tables for floorspace and threatening to topple over from the sheer weight of items available, and the intrusive light jazz grinding from the speakers. Starbucks has never seemed to me the place to mellow out.