Telecom NZ block bulk international SMSs?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Telecom NZ block bulk international SMSs?

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#456580 7-Apr-2011 22:19

Regs:
nate:
openmedia: Does she use a service provider with local connectivity to Vodafone, 2degrees and Telecom, or a cheap off shore provider?

She uses Clickatell with the caller id set as her mobile number - if people reply, she gets the reply to her mobile, which she then actions. Works like a champ.

sounds like an email open relay server. the kind that everyone blocks. is there some authorization process they go through before they start spoofing your mobile number?

could i send a bulk sms out tomorrow, speficying your mobile number as the sender?

No. Clickatell requires you to register your mobile number, and will send a SMS with a code you then have to enter on their site. It's not an open relay.

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#456587 7-Apr-2011 22:38

freitasm:

No. Clickatell requires you to register your mobile number, and will send a SMS with a code you then have to enter on their site. It's not an open relay.

so that sqaures up the auth between the number owner and clickatell - but is there any auth that happens between clickatell and the carrier for each number that has been authorised? whats to stop clickatell (or others) just spoofing any old number they like regardless of whether permission was obtained?

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#456588 7-Apr-2011 22:40

Clickatel AFAIK was wartning a year ago that SMS without a sender's number would be blocked from their side. You have to authorise to get a number.

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#456589 7-Apr-2011 22:44

Dear Mr Telecom. Can you please authorise Skype as an Approved Service Provider so I can receive legitimate person to person texts from that source.

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#456601 7-Apr-2011 23:25

1eStar: Dear Mr Telecom. Can you please authorise Skype as an Approved Service Provider so I can receive legitimate person to person texts from that source.

"hang on a sec.... isnt skype that internet phone thingy that lets you make cheaper calls than what you get through us?" <click> <beep> <beep> <beep>

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#456603 7-Apr-2011 23:29

Regs:
1eStar: Dear Mr Telecom. Can you please authorise Skype as an Approved Service Provider so I can receive legitimate person to person texts from that source.

"hang on a sec.... isnt skype that internet phone thingy that lets you make cheaper calls than what you get through us?"

Now you get the idea. It sounds like a market/economy decision... "Let's us make sure there's a lively market for our loved business partners. The ones who are losing business deals to those cheap overseas providers"*

;)

* Fictional dialog for illustration purposes. It does not correspond to any heard or overheard comment. Intended as a satire. This is not defamation, but opinion.

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#456652 8-Apr-2011 10:01

freitasm: Clickatel AFAIK was wartning a year ago that SMS without a sender's number would be blocked from their side. You have to authorise to get a number.

That's all well and good, but unless they have a contractual relationship with Telecom/Vodafone/2degrees, what assurances do they have that Clickatell is actually verifying these details?

If you ask me, what the providers are doing makes sense - block any inbound SMS from overseas that claims to be from NZ. Allow it if it claims to be from where it actually is. It's like SPF for SMS.

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#456667 8-Apr-2011 10:28

Kyanar:
freitasm: Clickatel AFAIK was wartning a year ago that SMS without a sender's number would be blocked from their side. You have to authorise to get a number.

That's all well and good, but unless they have a contractual relationship with Telecom/Vodafone/2degrees, what assurances do they have that Clickatell is actually verifying these details?

If you ask me, what the providers are doing makes sense - block any inbound SMS from overseas that claims to be from NZ. Allow it if it claims to be from where it actually is. It's like SPF for SMS.

It's all good too and it's would be a good thing to do. Except that changes were made without making it public, breaking the service for a lot of people using services without being actually spammers.

And I don't actually know anyone who ever complained about SMS spam. And no, Premium SMS are not SMS spam, and they are mostly shortcodes authorised by the telco themselves (great that both Telecom and Vodafone have been revoking some of the worst offenders in that Premium SMS area).

nate

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#456699 8-Apr-2011 11:55

Regs: so that sqaures up the auth between the number owner and clickatell - but is there any auth that happens between clickatell and the carrier for each number that has been authorised? whats to stop clickatell (or others) just spoofing any old number they like regardless of whether permission was obtained?

When you signup for a new account, the first sender id is your own mobile which you've had to verify (by receiving a code and entering it into Clickatell) before hand.

You can only send SMS by specifying the username, password, and API id.

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#457387 11-Apr-2011 09:59

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet or not, but FishText.com has been included in the block. That has a from number of my NZ cell number (vodafone), I pay per message, and messages are person to person. This really shouldn't be blocked, and I can't use the credit I paid for because of this unreasonable blanket ban.

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#457405 11-Apr-2011 11:12

timmmay: Not sure if this has been mentioned yet or not, but FishText.com has been included in the block. That has a from number of my NZ cell number (vodafone), I pay per message, and messages are person to person. This really shouldn't be blocked, and I can't use the credit I paid for because of this unreasonable blanket ban.

These SMS are not person to person they are Web to person

John

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#457407 11-Apr-2011 11:14

These SMS are not person to person they are Web to person

My point they're written out by hand, by one individual for another individual, rather than being the same text being sent to 10,000 people. Whether it comes from a web interface or a phone is less relevant than that, imho.

freitasm

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#457410 11-Apr-2011 11:17

I would consider that person to person.

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#457413 11-Apr-2011 11:27

timmmay:
These SMS are not person to person they are Web to person

My point they're written out by hand, by one individual for another individual, rather than being the same text being sent to 10,000 people. Whether it comes from a web interface or a phone is less relevant than that, imho.

It might not seem relevant to you but it's very relevant for a carrier.

There is significantly more to this issue than many people realise and the finer details of Telecom's actual deal with their roaming hub is something most of us don't have access to.

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#457414 11-Apr-2011 11:30

freitasm: I would consider that person to person.

I don't

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