Unwanted text spam
p2pnet.net News:- Any way you slice it, advertising of any kind is spam, and that includes cell phone text ads. And whether they like it or not, cell phone users usually subsidise the advertisers by paying for the incoming messages.
But a 40-year-old Los Angeles man doesn’t think that should be the case.
“For Jeffrey Paul, his cell phone was the last bastion of communication solitude in a world overrun with telemarketing, junk mail and e-mail spam,” says CNET News.
He uses text messaging “sporadically”to contact friends, “so he was extremely annoyed when he started getting text messages offering him a deal to buy or rent a time-share from Webuyresorts.com,” says the story, going on that unwanted messages were costing him 10 cents each time, but that wasn’t what was upsetting him. Instead, he feared his cell phone would soon be hijacked by marketers, “including his own cell phone provider, contacting him with unwanted advertisements”.
And some text spams are in fact “smishing” attacks, or “phishing” attacks adapted for the SMS protocol used to send text messages, says the story.
“Some of these attacks ask recipients to register for a service. Then they attempt to get people to accept a virus or worm on their handset. Others try to extract credit card numbers and other private data.”
Responsible ISPs don’t like text spam any more than customers, says CNET, going on that consumers can keep spam away by limiting the number of people they give their cell phone numbers to, and by contact their cell phone operator to get a credit if they do get an unwanted ad call.
“And third, they can disable the text-messaging feature,” says the story, adding:
“Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless say they allow customers to disable or block unwanted text messages by using a tool on their companies’ Web sites.”
But, “Even though mobile operators seem to have text message spam under control, they still need to be careful that they don’t annoy customers with legitimate text message marketing, experts say,” adds CNET, quoting researcher Iain Gillott as saying, “The real problem could be text-based advertising from the carriers and their partners.
“We have yet to see how consumers will react to this. Companies are still trying different models. But if customers threaten to leave, the carriers will have to stop it. The last thing they want is for people to churn.”
Also See:
CNET News – Text message spam could spell trouble for text-based ads, November 15, 2006
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November 18th, 2006 at 1:45 am
In Oz, we don’t have a lot of text spam and i could never figure out why it was such a big problem in other countries. Then i found out that other countries insist the receiver of text messages pay for them. In Oz it’s sender pays, and i’m certain that’s why we have almost no text spam.
If these marketers had to pay even 1 cent for each and every phone receiving those messages, i’m sure the text spam would dry up in a day. I’m sure you could try complaining to your phone companies, but i doubt they’d give a damn.
Maybe you could try mentioning how much of a burden all those text’s must be on their networks and how stopping them would reduce the telco’s costs? It’s about the only argument they might buy.
November 18th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
yeah, but like some stupid customer service rep working out of some backwater call center gives two craps about their company’s costs
November 19th, 2006 at 12:34 am
Of course the CSRs won’t, but the managers listening in to the calls, purely for quality control of course, might give at least one crap about it.
March 25th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
I have had a nextel phone acct. for quite some time, and during which i have been pestered by numerous text msgs from nascarsms@nascar.com. i have called Nextel several times but have got no results from them either, other than them telling me to disable my text capabilities, which i dont want to do! I have tried researching the website also, and got even less results from that. Due to the way that my phone is set up, the msg notification will keep alerting until the msg is either opened or deleted! can someone PLEASE help me in maybe finding a solution to this nagging problem, I neither watch nor care in the least for an organization that would discriminate against the greatest vehicle God ever put on this earth, which is of course…..FORD.
Thank you! tumbleweed378@yahoo.com
May 7th, 2007 at 10:59 am
I’m having the same problem. I finaly talked to a tech support person at Nextel and he put a block on nascar. It did’nt work. I’m still looking for a solution. I’m sure my problem will get fixed before yours because God actually loves chevy people the best. Take that Jay Leno.
May 7th, 2007 at 11:02 am
I’m having the same problem. I finaly talked to a tech support person at Nextel and he put a block on nascar. It did’nt work. I’m still looking for a solution. I’m sure my problem will get fixed before yours because God actually loves chevy people the best. Take that Jay Leno.
kold47@sbcglobal.net
May 7th, 2007 at 11:05 am
I’m having the same problem. I finaly talked to a tech support person at Nextel and he put a block on nascar. It did’nt work. I’m still looking for a solution. I’m sure my problem will get fixed before yours because God actually loves chevy people the best. Take that Jay Leno.
kold47@sbcglobal.net
August 1st, 2007 at 9:21 am
I also recieve text messages constantly from all sorts of places. I also have contacted Nextel serveral times and they off coarse have no solution. They stated they placed a block but I still receive about 5 texts a day which come late at night and early in the morning!! I just wish Nextel cared somewhat about their customers! They have a horrible customer service department and I wish I would have known this before hand and I would have went to a differnt carrier.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Here is the solution to your problems!!! I was also going nuts getting those damn alerts all the time but I finally figured out how to get them to stop. Follow this and you will be able to disable those annoying alerts.
HOW TO ACCESS: From your phone’s main menu, select Net > Web Sites > Sports > NEXTEL Cup > NASCAR.COM Alerts. disable your alerts.