It's time to talk about the latest Idol Conspiracy Theory. This one goes a little like this: the phone lines are blocked (possibly intentionally, probably not). But text messages get through no matter what. Cingular has an exclusive deal with Idol, which allows only their customers to vote by text message. Cingular customers, therefore, may have an unfair impact on this contest.

Text messaging has become increasingly popular in the last couple of years. And this trend is reflected in Idol voting. In three years of Cingular-sponsorship, the number of text message votes has risen from 7.5 million (in 2004) to 41.5 million (in 2006).

As long as phone problems persist, and text message participation continues to rise, this controversy over the voting process will only fester and grow each year.