Telecom NZ block bulk international SMSs?

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

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#453491 30-Mar-2011 14:16

nate:
n4: 'approved carriers' = local service providers such as Bulletin, Run the Red, Fronde etc. Anything else is liable to be dodgy/spammy. Cheap=no guarantees in this case.

Sure this decision, which affects a lot of legitimate people as well, should've been communicated, maybe given warning so other arrangements could be made? I have a lot of clients who use Clickatell, mainly for sending notifications of events, and it seems now we'll have to change providers.

The big issue we have with local providers is cost. Having big setup fees, huge monthly fees for API access is fine if you are a big corporate, but for some of the smaller players, it just isn't economical. Some of the companies you've listed, the monthly access fees are criminal.

Would Telecom entertain the idea of providing a low cost interface for SMS to small businesses?

Sounds like a good idea to me. So you could wear the per message cost if the monthly access cost was zero (for example)? If so, sounds like a business opportunity for someone.

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timmmay

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#453498 30-Mar-2011 14:42

I noticed something interesting and semi related the other day. Text messages from FishText.com to Vodafone and 2degrees cost E0.02 (4 euro cent), whereas to Telecom they cost 4 cent. Is that because of the termination/interchange fees that Telecom charges?

nate

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#453508 30-Mar-2011 15:06

n4: Sounds like a good idea to me. So you could wear the per message cost if the monthly access cost was zero (for example)? If so, sounds like a business opportunity for someone.

Yes.

richms

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#453513 30-Mar-2011 15:11

akia:
hellonearthisman: Would be nice if users where given the option to block or not for the different sms services.

There is no choice to block individually this is a global change on our system.

Thats great, so you apply the same pigheadedness to your SMS system as you allow yahoo to do to your emails.

Richard rich.ms

gible

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#453665 30-Mar-2011 23:38

akia: Due to the high levels of text SPAM we continue to recieve we block all international traffic incoming to a New Zealand number unless it comes from an approved carrier.

However I will pass on all feedback to the product management teams around your concerns.

I understand that its Telecom's service and they're somewhat allowed to run it however they want, but surely there are regulation around this. Frankly, I'm flabbergasted they would, and are allowed to, use such a large hammer for a spam problem.

Letting spam through is one thing, but blocking false positive's without notice is plain wrong.

jmosen

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#453679 31-Mar-2011 03:38

I find this an extraordinarily heavy-handed approach even if the intension is good.

I use Skype from MY PC a great deal to send text messages. Skype have a procedure that requires you to verify that you're entitled to use the number you're
texting from before you can send texts that way. In the old days where all Telecom was 027, perhaps you could just live with the fact that you can't use
Skype to text to those numbers anymore. But these days you really have to go through some hoops to determine what carrier someone you're texting is on.

I really hope this is reversed/relaxed, it's just way too draconian.

Jonathan

hellonearthisman

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#453683 31-Mar-2011 05:52

All txts sent in NZ have a small fee attached that is an antispam fee, it's there to stop free bulk smsing. I wonder why the don't use some of that money they collect from this anti-spam fee to do something better. Is that money used for antispam purposes or is it put into the 'telecom profit' pot.

At the moment it seems anti competitive to block this traffic to there network.

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old3eyes

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#453705 31-Mar-2011 08:43

This may account for my wife not receiving the last couple of SMS I sent to here via ipipip SMS service..

Regards,

Old3eyes

tarasutherland

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#453762 31-Mar-2011 11:46

richms:
akia:
hellonearthisman: Would be nice if users where given the option to block or not for the different sms services.

There is no choice to block individually this is a global change on our system.

Thats great, so you apply the same pigheadedness to your SMS system as you allow yahoo to do to your emails.

it's pretty apparent to me that it would not matter which way telecom handled this - or email - you would not be happy and would complain about it.

its a global setting on the platform. its been done this way to protect the majority of customers.
if you want to personally fund a programme to investigate the possibility of applying this on an individual level, then we might consider looking at it.

LennonNZ

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#453771 31-Mar-2011 12:05

tarasutherland:

its a global setting on the platform. its been done this way to protect the majority of customers.
if you want to personally fund a programme to investigate the possibility of applying this on an individual level, then we might consider looking at it.

Can you explain exactly what IS blocked?

Anything coming from overseas which has an A Party of a NZ Number? (ie like reverse path filtering in network terms)? But SMS's coming from numbers not within NZ will come in fine?

Or something more like only accept SMS's from Carrier A,B,C,D etc?

Thanks
Craig

hellonearthisman

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#453773 31-Mar-2011 12:09

tarasutherland:
richms:
akia:
hellonearthisman: Would be nice if users where given the option to block or not for the different sms services.

There is no choice to block individually this is a global change on our system.

Thats great, so you apply the same pigheadedness to your SMS system as you allow yahoo to do to your emails.

it's pretty apparent to me that it would not matter which way telecom handled this - or email - you would not be happy and would complain about it.

its a global setting on the platform.? its been done this way to protect the majority of customers.
if you want to personally fund a programme to investigate the?possibility of applying this on an individual level, then we might consider looking at it.

Isn't there already an antispam fund that could be used for this? SMS txts sent in NZ have an antispam component, shouldn't this be what that money is collected for?

freitasm

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#453774 31-Mar-2011 12:12

tarasutherland:
richms:
akia:
hellonearthisman: Would be nice if users where given the option to block or not for the different sms services.

There is no choice to block individually this is a global change on our system.

Thats great, so you apply the same pigheadedness to your SMS system as you allow yahoo to do to your emails.

it's pretty apparent to me that it would not matter which way telecom handled this - or email - you would not be happy and would complain about it.

its a global setting on the platform.? its been done this way to protect the majority of customers.
if you want to personally fund a programme to investigate the?possibility of applying this on an individual level, then we might consider looking at it.

He was commenting on a questionable business decision, so no need to get personal here.

nakedmolerat

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#453781 31-Mar-2011 12:26

i personally think this is a good move from telecom. thumbs up from me.

akia

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#453782 31-Mar-2011 12:26

@hellonearthisman - the SPAM charge on text messages is not true. We do not charge additional on text messages for this. We do however at a carrier level have interconnect charges.

For every one else the guys are investigating options with two factors that have arisen from this forum.
1. Companies like Skype and allowing confirmation texts for services.
2. An ability for small/medium businesses to have a sms solution that doesn't cost the earth.

I can't promise anything but we're listening.

richms

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#453783 31-Mar-2011 12:28

tarasutherland:

it's pretty apparent to me that it would not matter which way telecom handled this - or email - you would not be happy and would complain about it.

its a global setting on the platform. its been done this way to protect the majority of customers.
if you want to personally fund a programme to investigate the possibility of applying this on an individual level, then we might consider looking at it.

You knowingly refuse to deliver SMS's to phones, and the best that your call center can tell people that call to complain (I know as my friend who has had many missed text issues) is to tell them to take their battery off, their sim out and wait 5 mins and put it all back in again.

If you are going to black hole texts from "some senders" then you should at least educate your call center staff so they dont tell people to screw around needlessly removing simcards etc when there is no problem that doing that would solve.

Richard rich.ms

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