Markk wrote on Oct 21^st, 2010 at 3:19pm:

Not that I know of.

I think some such as the BBC may have alternative 07 numbers for overseas listeners.

SMS texting is generally a rip-off. When you consider the number of characters, an e-mail is much cheaper. Why not e-mail instead?

While on the topic of short codes is there any way to tell the charges for a given code? Some are fairly clearly signposted as (say) 10-12p plus your operator's normal charge. Are some included in the common bundles of inclusive texts?

For example I received a marketing text from Screwfix recently. To stop these they said text STOP to 78777 (I think). No idea if this is included in my 500 texts per month or not.

PhonePay Plus publishes an information leaflet which strongly suggests the answer to the hanging question - http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/upload/PhonepayPlus_Shortcodes_and_text_subscript....

Shortcode texts commonly incur a service fee, in addition to the basic charge for any text message levied by your service provider, and the level of that fee must be advised. This split cost basis is very different from that which currently applies to voice telephone calls where a single rate applies to each particular combination of service and provider.

You would probably pay to send a "STOP" notice. If you have not subscribed to a subscription service, then this should not be necessary to avoid unwanted costs, as you cannot be (properly) charged for services to which you have not subscribed. Requiring a "STOP" notice to prevent unwanted (non-chargeable) information is, in my view, an abuse of the principles.

Unsolicited marketing messages by SMS are prohibited under the PECR regulations enforced by the ICO. SMS falls within the definition of "email" in this context. As there is a general prohibition, the TPS is irrelevant. Those to whom one has provided a mobile number in the course of doing business are entitled to send further relevant information by SMS. They must however offer a clear opportunity to decline such information and repsect such a request. As I understand the specific regulations, they are entitled to use a chargeable service for one to make contact with them. I cannot however believe that they could refuse to respond to communications by other means, from which they do not derive income, demanding that they stop sending unwanted text messages. I am sure that the ICO would be able to clarify this.

The precise terms of any mobile service (i.e. the basic cost of sending SMS) should be declared by the mobile service provider. The level of any additional charge (note the difference between this and telephone calls) must be declared by the provider of that additional service.

(I hope this is accurate and helpful.)

If you are on Vodafone, you can have a Premium Rate bar placed on your account and this prevents the sending and receiving of the 5 digit codes.

James Bond

Hello rfctabs, and welcome to SayNoTo0870.com

I will do my best to answer a few of your questions.

I know someone who works for a local radio station, who uses a shortcode to allow listeners to contact them. The text is converted into a standard e-mail and sent to their studio PC.

With regards to the costs I have no actual idea, but I believe they would make 50% (5-6p) at most from each text. I would assume less as they "rent" the service from a provider.

I believe the original idea was to give a "shorter" contact number for texting the studio's but in some cases they are revenue generating.

Heart for instance charge 25p PLUS standard nextwork rates (10-12p) for their number - 82122 - Though it is NOT mentioned on their site.

BBC Essex now use 81333 (you have to prefix your message with the word ESSEX so I assume it's a text number common to all BBC local radio stations) and state it costs "your standard message rate."

I remember that they used to use 07786 20 10 35 (103.5MHz being their main VHF frequency) and other BBC local stations had similar 07786 numbers.