Public Interest Groups Petition FCC Over Short Code Policies
Dec 11, 2007, 5:08 PM by Eric M. Zeman
A number of groups have formally complained to the Federal Communications Commission about carriers' interference with short codes. The organizations claim text messages serve as a legitimate means of communication for many and that the carriers should not be allowed to block or interfere with text message-based services. Rebtel, in particular, offers low-cost international VoIP services and Verizon Wireless has blocked its short codes from transiting the network. Verizon has said that it won't allow short codes from competitors. The groups are pushing to have the practice of blocking short codes outlawed.
Comments
this is terrible for so many reasons
TEXT 44458 to get the latest Rhianna RingTones...... do these folks realize that there are abusive short codes that flash on TV and the Internet 24/7 charging the unsuspecting customer 9.99/month for just one ringtone? and that customer specifically request this service to be blocked? these people petitioning the FCC have obviously never worked for a cell phone customer care call center before...the consumer requests this, we (sprint) don't do this automatically.
Yay!
(continues)
Short Codes and Carriers
Every short code provider/company that's approved, has to be tested to make sure when a customer replys with: stop, end, quit etc. to opt out of the services, that they are no longer billed.
The short code providers that over bill or fail to opt the customer out, will have their access taken from the network as they allow customers to buy content from outside the network, but have the charges appear on the VZW bill. It's not like the customers getting a bill from a third party, so the carrier must have control over it's access.
Yes, save shortcodes ... or not
I realize that this comment is short-sighted as not all of them are bad ... just remember the words "Premium text message rates apply"
Summary should be edited...
Verizon block huh?