August 27th, 2007 Rusty
My recent post about T-Mobile SMS Spam has another chapter. I followed the advice of the sweet, but not very smart, T-Mobile rep that I spoke to yesterday and text messaged the spammer. I asked them to “please stop, wrong number”. As expected, I started receiving messages with dramaticly increased frequency.
Working out the numbers, it was looking to cost me at least $20 / mo to be spammed, all that money going to T-Mobile. So I called again today. The customer service rep was much more helpful. He was very friendly, as always.
He explained that my spam from a 6 digit number was from an IM account. He instructed me to send a text message with the command:
?d[username]@[emailaddress]
the messages were from 406002. I was to send a text message to 406000.
So, let’s say the address was jackass@gmail.com from 406002
I sent a text message to 406000 with the text:
?djackass@gmail.com
So far, no more messages… but it’s only be a few minutes. I will comment as the week progresses.
Why on earth is this not incredibly available information?
Posted in Atlanta, Spam | No Comments »
August 26th, 2007 Rusty
T-Mobile has been a much better company to deal with than Verizon. To be short and to the point, I will NEVER deal with Verizon again for the rest of my life, so help me god. I recommend to you that you avoid them like an incurable disease. T-Mobile won my business by providing excellent customer service though their mobile coverage leaves something to be desired. When are they going to enhance their cell towers?
Since a few weeks after I activated my T-Mobile cell phone, I began receiving spam messages from an untraceable number indicating a gmail return address. They appear to be jibberish though they could be Turkish. I can’t tell. All I know is that I get between 5 and 20 per week. At $.15 per message, that adds up. My text messages are costing me about $8/mo and most of them are spam. So nearly $100/yr is landing in the pockets of T-Mobile due to something I have no control over. I called T-Mobile customer service to see if they could block the messages. They indicated that they do not have the technology to do that. As a technology professional, I understand that to mean, “we don’t really give a shit and it’s not in our interest to provide that feature.” After all, they get paid for each message I receive whether I want it or not.
They suggested texting back to this address, asking them to stop. Clearly, this would prove the number to be valid. I didn’t want to do that. The next suggestion was to change my mobile number. I don’t know why that sounds like such a simple and convenient thing to do to them. Clearly, they must know what a personal asset a phone number becomes.
I texted back to this spammer, begging them to stop. My next step is to switch carriers, once again. The only one left for me is Cingular, now AT&T.
It is disappointing to see that T-Mobile, a company whose service is pathetic but whose superior customer service wins the loyalty of people like me, disregarding the interests of its consumers. Dell is a shining example of what happens when a company abandons its customer service principles in favor of lower margins. Dell is no longer a company that reflects quality. Their product is now the bargain solution rather than the quality solution. Their customer service is non-existent and I am now building my own computers again (something I do not enjoy). I am searching for a viable business infrastructure alternative to Dell but they happen to have the best prices. If that slips, I will jump so fast their India based tech support will feel the wind from my exit. I am stuck, like most, in a contract with T-Mobile. My wife is forced to get alternate service, despite our contract, because T-Mobile does not get service in her building. She is going to move to AT&T. Perhaps I will suck it up and switch with her. After all, T-Mobile suggested I change my number. Perhaps I should take their advice?
Posted in Atlanta, Spam | 1 Comment »