The Telecom forum is probably not quite the right one to ask this question, but I couldn't see another subject that would cover it...
I get a txt message two days before my haircut is due. It has my appointment details (salon, date, time, stylist), and asking me to "text back to confirm". The number the txt comes from is 3032. I know other companies that use these 3XXX numbers - I receive train delay information from KiwiRail on 3696.
Yesterday, my wife received a txt about an appointment she has - completely different company/type of service/location to my hairdresser, but the number was 3032. When I noticed I assumed it to be some kind of SMS messaging service that businesses subscribe to - they send messages to clients on behalf of those businesses, and identify replies from clients and pass back to the subscribing business.
So let's say I have two appointments booked with two different businesses but for some reason I'm not going to keep one. Being rude (I'm not really) I wait until I get the confirmation txts - both of which arrive on the same morning, both from 3032. I send one txt back saying "Yes", and another saying "No" - or perhaps I just send one txt back saying "Yes". How does 3032 know which appointment I'm confirming?
Really random question, I know, but anyone know how this works?