« Getting Charged for Spam? »

At first I didn't mind the fact that incoming text messages were finally going to be a chargeable offense. It's a sign 'o the times. And then I got a text message. An automated, spammy text message. Not from anyone I knew. Had I been on a plan that was less friendly [read: not free], that spam would have cost me $0.15. With the phone, at least if you don't recognize the caller, you can simply not answer. With text messages, there's no such avoidance tactic. I've got a feeling that folks will be clamoring for a way to disable SMS messaging,and that's not the point of the new charges. But with no other control mechanism, how do you avoid getting charged for digital bits you don't want?So much for those free inbound sports scores ;-)

Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility will soon begin charging their customers for incoming text messages under new pricing plans slated for August.

CTV.ca | Bell, Telus to charge for incoming text messages

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Tags: Bell, TELUS, SMS

Update on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 04:28PM by jules

Ok, I’m a bit sick of the bellyaching over the *huge drama* of getting charged for incoming text messages. OMFG. You would have thought that the carriers have demanded a human sacrifice in order to enable your cell phone.

I did one quick check. The odds of a user not already being on a plan that includes unlimited text messages, or at the very least, unlimited  incoming text mesages is rare. And if you are one of the schmos who don’t have this feature included in your plan, then you are going to cough up an additional $5/month for it. [TELUS pricing].

I’m also thinking there are a few ways to disable some of the spammy stuff you might be getting…. there is a wicked article on US carriers written by David Pogue, I’m now figuring out the Canadian options.

Comments

[josh]

I read that most providers' front line customer "service" agents will say SMS cannot be turned off. This was followed by a recommendation to whine on the phone long enough to be put through to the next level of support staff in order to have it disabled.

My dream is to adapt spam filters to phone lines in terms of white, grey, and blacklists, and using magic codes to allow individuals (regardless of the line they are using) to be able to reach me.

Naturally, certain codes would always ring through, others always get voicemail, and unless you're whitelisted you might need a code to leave a message in the first place (that could be as simple as your whitelisted phone number).

Sure, it's mean, but I would consider a 1-900 service to allow grey- and black-list people to leave a message. How much information they want to leave (potential time waste on my end) is up to them. Perhaps the rate could be $0.25 for the first minute, $10.00 each additional minute?

I hope that would be enough incentive to be given curt directions in how to return the call or what I am expected to do (in the case of an individual needing help, in contrast with a corporation looking for my money). I figure the person needing my help would know the toll rates and leave multiple messages if necessary.

Does such a multi-faceted system exist?