Tag: Short Code Programs

How to Stop all Shortcode on iPhone 4

Stop all Shortcode on iphone 5Short code text message’s are text messages that you may be receiving because you somehow subscribed to a text messaging service. A short code program will send you a message once a day. Or once a week or whenever there is some sort of significant event that is part of the service you subscribed to. They show up on your iPhone 7 or whatever cellular phone you may be using.  It could be football scores, a particular stock you are following or news about the celebrities. The bottom line here is that some of them will charge as much as $2 per text message. This charge will show up on your next phone bill. That is what happened to me and I did not even realize it. You can and should stop all shortcode programs now to save money.

Unknown to me I apparently subscribed to one of these and was receiving one message per day and was being charged $2 for each message. What a surprise when I got my bill and saw that there was a $16 charge for these messages for eight messages that had been sent to me. When I started getting them, I was not sure of what they were or why I was getting them on my iPhone. I called my mobile phone company right away and what a surprise!

How to Stop all Shortcode on iPhone 5

What Should you do if you receive short code text messages? On your iPhone 4 or any other phone?

The first thing is to deal with it right away. Don’t ignore it and hope it will go away or they will just stop coming. If you do delay, it is going to cost you money and potentially lots of money. Take action right away and do one or both, preferably both of the following steps to avoid a costly mobile phone bill.

Send a Stop Message

quickly send a text message in reply to the message you received with the single word “Stop”, in the message. This should stop all short code messages from being sent to you in the future. Unfortunately you still have those messages that you received and unless you call your provider, your bill is gong to include a charge for them the next time it arrives.

Call your provider

Although you sent a stop message to the address of the short text message code, you should still call your provider. There will be messages that you will be billed for. If you really did not ask them to be sent to you, most mobile carriers will reverse the charges for you. Don’t wait until the bill arrives, call immediately

Check your bills

Always check your bill every month. If there is any change from what you expect, check the details to make sure there are no unnecessary charges. And also check to make sure that you were credited with the reverse charges if they apply.  Call your mobile provider if there are any discrepancies. Ask for them to be explained and / or corrected.

If you have had this type of problem occur, please leave a comment. Let our readers know what you did to resolve the issue. What caused the issue and any other information you can share with us.

For more information on dealing with short code programs, click here.

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How do I Stop Short Code Programs on My Phone

Business Text MessagingWe all get them and most of us really hate them because they use up part of our monthly quota for text messaging. They are called Short Code Programs. For those of you who want to do something about this problem, we have the answer for you.  It is easy to stop receiving these messages. The short answer, no pun intended, to stop text message short code messages from being sent to your phone is to text the number that is sending you these messages and sent one of the following commands:

  • Quit
  • Stop
  • End
  • Cancel
  • Unsubscribe

By doing this you are telling whoever is sending these messages to you and driving up your monthly bill by sometimes $2.00 a message, to stop sending these messages. Usually that is all it takes. However we also recommend that you call your mobility company and advise them that you have been receiving these message and would like them blocked. They can also tell you which one of the above commands are appropriate for their network.

Call Your Mobility Provider

These text message short code program messages are a real pain. They are expensive, usually billed on a per message basis and you have no control over them at all in terms of what the content is and how many you receive. In my own case I did not even realize that I had signed up for or approved someone sending me these text messages. I noticed them on my bill at $2.00 a message and immediately called my mobile provider.

Once I explained to my provider that I had not initiated a request for these messages, they placed a stop order on this service and also gave me a rebate for the charges incurred  up to that point. I also set a “stop” message to the provider just to ensure that I did not accidentally get any more of these messages. What a pain and they are so expensive. $16 before I got it stopped and the messages were not even interesting.

Accidental Visit to a Website

Apparently I must have visited a web site to obtain some information and provided by cell phone number as a contact. They all have this request and they all have the page were you need to agree to the conditions expressed before you can proceed. Like most people I do not read these things and just blindly accept the conditions.

In this case I guess because I clicked on accept, it gave them the right to send these short code text messages and charge me for the privilege.  In the future I will not ever provide by cell phone number to anyone unless I really want them to contact me. This was just a scam and we really would like to make sure that as many people as possible are aware of this issue and also how to stop them once they start.

How to Block These Short Code Programs

If you are reading this post and have not yet received a text message of this sort, you can ask your provider to block them. So that there never will be an opportunity for you to receive these messages. Some companies require that you call them while others have a web presence that you can log onto. You can block these messages yourself. Check with yours if you are not sure. They can block these messages for you or provide instructions so that you can do it yourself.

For more information on dealing with short code programs, click here.

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What is a “Text Msg Short Code Program”

Some of our readers have asked, what is a “text msg short code program”? We have answered this question in a previous post, however wanted to take another shot at addressing the question here in a new post. If you would like to refer to our previous post, just click here, and you will go to the original post. It will open in a new window so you will not lost your spot on our blog.

Personal Experience with Text Msg Short Code Program

We ran into this issue because we were being billed $2 every time we received one of these messages. They needed to be stopped in a hurry. Anyway, the way I understand short code programs is that they are special messages that use a specific code to send text messages to consumers. The advantage of text msg short code programs is that consumers have control to opt into or out of these programs. In other words you can cause them to be sent to you and you can stop them anytime.

I apparently had approved these messages to be sent to me. I did not recall doing this. However the good thing was that all I had to do to stop them was to send a text message to the number sending the text message to me with the message “stop”. It worked and the messages topped coming to me. The other great thing was that my mobile carrier also reversed the charges. Or wrote them off, I am not sure which was done.

Expensive Text messages

Companies use text msg short code programs to sign up subscribers, to send them information that they have subscribed to e.g sports scores and other real time information and charge them for the service. In my case if I had not stopped this service, it would have cost me $2 for every message.  And I was receiving a message at least once per day. This can get expensive, but if you need the information, I guess it is ok.

Anyway, I hope that answers the question, What is a “Text Msg Short Code Program”? If you need more information refer to the original post. It explains how these messages got started and how they are administered. If you are having problems with text msg short code program messages being sent to you, call your carrier. Have the charges reversed and also to confirm how to stop your particular  set of messages.

If you have comments or have other experiences  with text msg short code program issues and would like to tell our readers about it, please leave your comments below. Visit our previous post, just click here, to get more details.


Txt Message Short Code Programs

Txt Message Short Code ProgramsLast year we wrote an article about this subject of short code programs because we had been personally exposed to this particular scam. We wanted to let people know about Txt Message Short Code Programs, what they were all about and why you should always review your phone bills.

Consumers should always review both your regular home phone as well as your mobile phone bill to check for these extra charges on your phone bill. They can be surprisingly large and add up quickly. In our case they were being charged every day and at a rate of $2 per message that we received.

If we had not stopped these text messages, that would have been over $60 added to our monthly bill for something that I did not want and never ordered. This is a scam and you should really pay attention to this issue if it happens to you. Your unlimited text message plan does not cover these charges.

If you would like to refer to the original post about this subject of Txt Message Short Code Programs, click here to read the 1st post we wrote on this particular subject.

Why Pay Attention to This Issue

Txt Message Short Code Programs

The reason we got so excited about this issue, is that we were being charged $2 for each text message we received from one company who was using the short code program. There was nothing short about it, only the text number. The cost was high, who wants to pay $2.00 for  a text message you did not ask to receive. In addition, the information provided was for some sort of sports related thing that provided current information, in real time. I never want to pay for this sort of thing , ever! Even if I was interested, it was not worth $2 per message unless perhaps I was into sports betting.

If you are ever hit with billing for Txt Message Short Code Programs, call your provider and complain. If you did not subscribe to the service, then they will usually write off the charges. They will provide you with the method to stop receiving more messages. Usually it is simply sending the word STOP by text message to the number that sent the original message to you. However we recommend that you check with your provider to be totally correct and to have the charges reversed.

When are they Useful

Txt Message Short Code Programs are useful in some situations. Such as your carrier sending free messages to you to provide information about their service. You will not mind these Txt Message Short Code Program messages. Since you do not pay for them and they can be helpful at times. Since they alert you to new features or services. Although it can be an aggravation when you receive these messages, at least you also do not have to pay for each one.

If you have had a problem with Txt Message Short Code Programs, tell us about your experience. Leave a comment. I am sure other readers will be interested. You may even save them a lot of charges on their monthly cell phone bill.

 

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Text Msg Shortcode Programs

Text Msg Shortcode ProgramsIf you are finding that your phone bills are larger than you expected check out whether there are text msg shortcode program charges on your phone. If you want the full story on these charges and what text msg shortcode program charges are click on the link above.

I was hit by 8 of these charges and they cost me $2 a pop for $16. They add up fast and I had no idea what they were. Nor did I even recall asking for them. However apparently according to my phone company I did sign up to receive them. Who in their right mind would sign up for a short code program that costs $2 every time you receive one? This is a serious scam from some company. They are trying to make money off of unsuspecting consumers who do not routinely check their monthly phone bills.

Text Msg Shortcode Programs – Legitimate

There are legit txt msg shortcode programs and then there are scams. The phone companies use them to send information messages to their customers at no charge, however many companies use them to send information to their customers and scam there customers. I was receiving information about sports scores which I really do not care about and do not want.

Removing the charges

To make a long story short, after complaining about the charges, the phone company reversed the charges.Also they told me how to stop the charges. If you get these messages and do not want them, just hit reply and type “stop” and then send! The company sending the messages is supposed to take you off the list and not send any more of these kind of messages to you. How many people just pay the bill and never question it. Stopping them was easy and I have not received any since.

Check Your Monthly Bill

A friend of mine would never even notice. He has his mobile phone bill on automatic payment and rarely looks at the details. There are probably all kinds of charges on his bill that he is paying for that he does not even use! He is well off and has a good pension and frankly does not worry about money too much. A perfect customer for this scam program. He could end up spending a hundred dollars a month on these charges and not even be aware of it. That is a lot of money in my books. There is no way that I want to pay these kinds of fees.

There are probably thousands of people or millions of people who fall into the category of never checking their bills and the details. They are the ones that these scammers are trying to rip off. They are really the perfect candidates for this kind of scheme. Even a quick glance at your bill will tell you if there is something unusual going on. Check the total every money. If it varys every month, there may be charges that you are not aware of that you would want to question.

Anyway that’s all I wanted to say about text msg shortcode program charges and how to avoid them. Click on the link above for more detailed information. Comments are welcome.

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Text Msg – Short Code Program

Short Code ProgramHave you as a consumer been taken in by this scam? That is what I think it is. Recently I started receiving these funny text messages on my phone. I have an unlimited text plan so really did not pay much attention to them. They keep asking game type questions and wanted me to answer the question. Of course I never replied to them and forgot about it until I received my cell phone bill.

On it were records of 8 short message codes that I had received and for each one, the phone company charged me $2 for a total of $16.00! What is this? Especially when I did not even ask for it. These charges can really add up in a hurry!

When I called my cell phone provider they tried to tell me that I had subscribed to this service. I asked them to tell me who the company was. The answer was “Ideal Mobile”, whom I have never heard of! I think that between my provider and this company there is a deal were they split the revenues at my expense!

They wrote it off and told me that in the future I would have to pay. They also told me how to stop the messages from being sent to me. Readers pay attention to your bills . I have included a reference from another web site called, “Sumotext”, which explains short message codes very well. Hopefully this will help our readers!

Note: If you get these messages and do not want the, just hit reply and type “stop” and then send!

Short Code Program Explained

Dedicated Short Codes

Taking cues from Asia and Europe, wireless carriers through the CTIA created the Common Short Code Administration (CSCA) as an entity to administer short codes (5 or 6 digit abbreviated phone numbers). Leasing a short code is similar to leasing a domain name. Short Codes ensure that consumers remain in control of their experiences by providing them a trusted method to ‘Opt-In’ and ‘Opt-Out’ of mobile marketing campaigns or alert services from their phone.

Costs of Dedicated Short Code

Carrier-assigned short codes can be leased from the CSCA for $1,500 quarterly. If you want to pick out the numbers of your short code (i.e. choose a vanity code), the CSCA charges $3,000 quarterly.

Benfits of Dedicated Short Codes

Short Codes protect our mobile devices from SPAM and unsolicited marketing. They identify the content providers to both the carriers and consumers. Unlike with e-mail (where you simply lease a domain name and start sending people e-mail messages), all short codes are initially black-listed from carrier’s networks.

Each Short Code program has to be independently provisioned, tested, then certified by each wireless carrier to gain access to that network and that process currently takes 8-12 weeks. Carriers conduct regular audits to ensure ongoing compliance of each short code on their networks and they can easily block programs that don’t follow their rules.

Shared Short Codes

A short code can be shared by multiple content providers if the program is managed by a Short Code Application Provider like SUMOTEXT with a system capable of maintaining carrier compliance while differentiating between program traffic through the use of unique keywords.

However, due to the growing number of programs being run over shared short codes, wireless carriers continue to tighten requirements for the application providers who offer these services. As such, SUMOTEXT thoroughly reviews all new programs and regularly reports new programs and their associated keywords to wireless carriers.

5 Big Rules for Compliance

1. Consumers must ‘Opt-in’ to a short code program from their mobile device before they can be sent anything. Even an initial message that asks for permission is considered SPAM.

2. Consumers must ‘double’ opt-in (confirm their intent to subscribe by replying “YES” to a welcome message) to any short code program that charges fees – or – to any standard rated program when the subscriber opts-in from a web form.

3. All subscription or alert services that will have recurring messages (even standard rated programs) must provide a compliant opt-In confirmation message. That message must contain:

a) Content provider’s name (e.g. “Applebees: “)

b) Program description (e.g. “Welcome to our Mobile VIP Club”)

c) Frequency of alerts (e.g. “Max 8msg/mth”)

d) Rate/cost disclosure (e.g. “Msg & Data rates may apply.”)

e) Instructions for opt-out and help (e.g. “Reply STOP to end or HELP for help”)

4. All short code subscription services with recurring messages (even standard rated programs) must contain “Reply STOP to opt-out” in each and every message sent from the system. This is a requirement for both premium and standard rated programs.

5. All short code programs must support the universal commands STOP, QUIT, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, STOP ALL, and HELP.

NOTE: There are many other short code requirements and some are different for each carrier. Be sure to choose an application provider with an intelligent system designed to format and process messages differently for each carrier network.

For more text messaging information, click here.

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