I received a text message from a wrong number. AT&T refused to refund my 15 cents. I knew a spam headache wouldn't be far behind, so I cancelled my text message service (I didn't know at the time that I was lucky to have that option). The customer service rep thought I was a senior citizen and kept trying to reassure me about "all the new technology" and that "her mother is afraid of it too." I'm not a teenager, but I am a technology-savvy person in these companies' next highest target age bracket. And I refuse, on principle, to pay for OTHER people's messages, even if it's only 15 cents.

Actually, T-Mobile will gladly turn off e-mail-to-cell text messaging. They did that for me last week when I got some random spam message originating in the Netherlands. Shelly Ng above apparently spoke to the wrong person at T-Mobile!

I got spammed quite a few times, just reply stop. I sent 4-5 stop texts and havent received one since.

I think the underlying problem is with the US Cell phone carriers. They charge for incoming calls and incoming text messages - The U.S. is the only country in the world which I am aware of that has such a screwed up system.

Everywhere else in the world people placing the call or sending the message bear the cost. That avoids the issue of being charged for stuff you do not even want.

I wonder if legislation similar to the Junk Fax Protection Act of 2005 would help...

T-Mobile has a wide open web address which I will not repeat here, but it was given in a Wall Street Journal article. Spammers can send at will. I've been told that if you ask, Tmoble will change your plan so you only receive text messages from phones, not from spam send to their special address site, not tmobile.com. Their web address is the equivalent of an open email relay, something most reputable ISPs, Colleges, and other server operators have been shutting down for years.

But...keep in mind that as this very column pointed out a while back, your contract date may be extended on your cell phone plan simply by calling to check on the possibility of opting out of text messaging. It's a racket all around.

I was suprised to learn some cell phone companies do not allow the customer to turn off a service they don't need or want. Then charge them if an unwanted text is received. Cell phone companies are starting to become to demanding on the customer anymore. The cost of service is still rather high to begin with, plus all the added fees you must pay if you do want a little extra something. To be honest, I wonder how many people really surf the web or send and receive an email from the small screens most cell users have?
What a waste. I mean do people really pay Verizon $15.00 a month extra, plus air time to watch movie trailers and music videos? how dumb are people any more?

"Call and complain when you get text spam."

A month or so ago, you ran an article that every time someone calls their cell provider's customer service, they automatically get signed up for another 2 year contract. If they call every time they get a text spam people will never get out of contract!

LOL

It is funny to see how providers are completely disregarding the needs of their clients in not tackling this problem. Since they make money of these scams, their is no incentive for them to put any energy in stopping txt spam. You would expect that in a free market, this problem would not exist, because competition would take care of it. So my conclusion is that there is no free cell phone market.

Lastly, it is not true that consumers do not pay for SPAM. It's not specified on your bill, but in the end, everybody shares in the cost of paying for the immense amount of datatraffic that is created by SPAM.

It is time for the government to go aggressively after SPAMmers. Several European governments have done so, and reduced the amoun tof SPAM from their country by 80-90%. It's not perfect, but it's a massive reduction. As the US is the world-widce-hub of the internet, and a lot of SPAMmers are lazy people, it is to be expected that the US can also do its share. Just go after them, fine 'm, lock 'm up and everybody will be happier.

I wish some lawyer could look into whether the carriers are in collusion with the spammers to generate revenues. 15 cents a message can add to a log of moola! I've heard that that practice is exactly what mobile companies in third-world countries like China do, and they make tons of money from such a simple scheme.

I had to change my phone number because I woke up one morning and had 37 text messages. All of them were for penny stock scams.

And, by the way, text messaging CAN be turned off by the cell phone companies. I'm an engineer, and a data security specialist, and I now precisely how to do that.

The reason the carriers do not turn it off is because, as my cell carrier told me over the phone when I asked them to turn mine off: "That makes us money".

You said "no one wants to call customer service every time a spam text appears to ask for a 15 cent refund or a one-message credit." However, if people did, it would waste enough of the company's time and money (paying their CS people to take those calls) that it would motivate them to prevent it.

Altel shut off the texting on my service with 1 phone call to customer service. Verizon and T-Mobile can also shut it off, but they don't. Think about it.

Its a good thing I pay the extra with Verizon for umlimited texting to other Verizon users, and 500 to/from other people outside the network.

I'm a textaholic.

"Cell phone text spam is much, much worse than e-mail spam, junk mail, or even telemarketing calls for one simple reason: Recipients have to pay for it."

Nonsense, at least in the case of email spam. Every human being who uses a computer pays in one way or another for email spam. Not only do spammers steal Internet bandwidth (on somebody else's dime of course) to get out their message, they steal the average Internet user's time (a valuable commodity to many) by forcing you to wade through myriad advertisements for penis enlargement nostrums and bogus overseas lottery winner announcements to find that email you were actually expecting from Aunt Tilly. No, to assume that email spam is just an annoyance is wrong - it costs everybody money. Spammers are criminals and thieves.

The note about Verizon is not correct. I asked them to turn off text messaging on my plan after receiving unsolicited texts and they did it. Now, no messages get through (not from email and not cell-to-cell messages). I am not sure why their representative told you otherwise.

The T-Mobile spokesperson is incorrect when he implied that T-Mobile users did not get the Frederick's spam text message. I am a T-Mobile customer and I did receive the spam message. I'm so angry that I can't turn off text messaging on my plan that I intend to switch carriers when my contract expires.

As phones get smarter (Blackberry, Apple's iPhone, Nokia N95, etc) and people are able to install their own Java-based programs, running a spam campaign might not be so difficult anymore. A spammer could load up a list of phone numbers to spam into one of these applications that they developed and have the phone do its thing.

Carriers (and cell phone operating system developers) are going to need to do things on the back-end to prevent this from happening, such as throttling the number of SMS messages going out over a period of time, etc (although this could break instant messenger programs that rely on SMS technology).

I find it hilarious that Tmobile can't disable texting, but AT&T/Cingular (which both use the same technology) can.

I forsee yet another exodus of Tmobile users once the spammers start up and figure out how to get past Tmobile's spam filters (as they are on Yahoo, Hotmail and every other email server around).

YEs, I had the same problem with T-mobile and they give me 10 message credits and after that I have to pay again. I think one of our two phones received a stock spam last month.

Another class action lawsuit waiting to make the lawyers rich, since it's potentially a lot of money wasted in the whole, but the individual consumer is only penalized a few cents. And how about all the students at colleges now implementing cell-phone text alert systems, or local schools that send text messages to parents? I can't imagine those people ever turining off text messages, so they'll just have to buy the plan or suck it up unfortunately. So while the lawyers may get rich, we're at their mercy.

the note that verizon cannot block texting is incorrect. i had my texting blocked for the past 3 years. friends even told me they sent me text messages that were rejected.

solution is to charge the SENDER for the text message - no pay, no send

I recently recieved a text spam message a couple weeks ago. The message was supposedly from some company that would send you messages about new movies coming out. I figured it for spam, and so I did not respond: thinking that if I did, I would somehow confirm that I wanted the "text service" to continue.

I woke up the next day and there were 5 new messages from the service in my inbox, including one which informed me I was being charged $9.95 a month for this delightful treat. All the messages had been sent at the exact same time 2:32 am. There was an 800 number that I could call for customer service, so I attempted to call this number using a land line. No luck. The first time I called it sounded as if someone answered, then quickly hung up again. The next 5 or so calls in succession only got busy tones, the next calls after that a recorded message about how the operators had an unusually high amoung of incalls, and that I would need to call back later, thanks.

I called my carrier and reported what had happened, and told them do not, under any circumstances, allow this company to bill me for any of these unsolicited text messages. The operator treated me as if I had started this business, asking me over and again if I was SURE I hadn't actually instigated the service.. or if anyone who has access to my phone might have. I was disgusted, no one cares as long as they are still getting their little slice of your income.

There is a fundamental problem with the billing of text messaging. Only the person sending should be billed. Like in all other mail services, the person sending should pay and the person receiving should not. This would eliminate this whole discussion. That may be a problem for cell phone companies' revenues, as they are currently charging 2 people(sender and receiver) for 1 text message being sent. Its like the US postal service charging $0.41 to the sender, and $0.41 to receive any mail. They wouldn't get away with it, I don't understand how cell phone companies can.

It just so happened that we received our Verizon bill yesterday and I noticed a text message charge on my husband's line. He doesn't use his phone, needs my help to get his voice mail, and NEVER uses texting. I checked his phone and found a spam stock message regarding Fredricks Entertainment while I was reading today's column! The Verizon rep told me that she couldn't refund the charge because I opened the message and that she was unable to limit the account to just phone-to-phone messages. I read her the Verizon spokesman's response and she put me on hold. When she returned she apologized, credited the charge, told me how to make sure we weren't signed up for e-mail forwarding or text alerts, and confirmed that our contract had not been extended. Her final word of caution was to make sure not to open a message if you don't know the origin--just delete it. Thanks for the timely article.

heres an added twist to the story...T-Mobile provides the spammers with our cell numbers! Buy A New T-Mobile phone from Walmart (pre-paid)$20 w/ 10min included. Then buy a 1000min card(for $95) thats good for 365days, and get an additional 15% on any minutes added in that time frame-called Gold Rewards), no monthly or other surcharges. Comes out to $9.58 total monthly cost for approx 96minutes a month anytime , anywhere. at .10cents a minute. Great deal? until your BRAND new number is released somehow to the spammers, which happened to me. Then the spam comes rolling in, I turned my phone off to mitigate charges. called T-Mobile the next day, and got the very same response....cant turn off texting, which I never use. They did offer to change my number once for free. I took them up on the offer(next time will cost $10). The T-Mobile rep even had the gall to tell me that I should turn my phone back on and see just how many text messages came in! If you do NOT receive the text's, you cant be billed for them! I told him NO WAY. I was not going to turn it back on until I was assured that the number change was in effect. To my dismay, after changing the number, I found that it was a used number and got calls from a bunch of people for about a week, then it stopped. So, my utility phone that cost me no more than $10 to $11 a month, at .10cents a minute anywhere in the us turned into a nightmare. How do these spammers get the numbers? what right do they have to dip into our wallets? spend OUR money with NO regard? Shouldn't this be a crime? isn't this theft? like breaking and entering? shouldn't the companies being advertised in the spam be charged for the cost, and prosecuted? When the text spam starts again, Im going to insist they change my number again at their cost. why? because T-Mobile is the source of the leak allowing spammers to get a list of current working numbers. another way for T-Mobile to extort more money from us. So the great deal of .10cents a minute nationwide, minutes last a year is bogus. Theres always a way they can circumvent an owner placed cap on spending.

Since our children use texting regularly, we have it included in our plan. Much better than ridiculous bills. However, I agree that you shouldn't be charged for incoming texts. The companies are making money on both parties. In regards to spam texts: our son received a spam text and voila, we started to receive monthly charges on our Sprint phone bill of $10 from a vendor for who knows what. According to Sprint, it was for gaming on the Web. Well, we do not have web access and never agreed to the service. Sprint just billed for it. Sprint said it was our responsibility to call the vendor and cancel the service, although they billed for it. It took Sprint about 6 months to get their act together and stop billing us for it.

Like the guy from Switzerland says, why do the people receiving the messages have to pay. Make it a law that the sender pays for the messages. That should put a stop to it.

so if you DON'T open, view or read the text message, you DON'T get billed the fee. it's pretty easy to tell from the header that it's spam. it starts by choice, businesses don't just pick phone numbers out of the sky to spam. you have entered your number or subscribed to something without READING the small print, folks. read before you act and you will not have these self inflicted problems. and as someone already pointed out, just text "stop" back to the sender and you're clear. quit blaming the mobile phone companies. i guarantee you if they turned texting off of your phone, you'll blame them later because you needed it in an emergency situation. take some responsibility, learn how to avoid these "problems" from the beginning. and then educate your friends and family :) Pass it on!

You people need to get lives. I do not have a cell phone, have never had a cell phone, and have never texted. What did the world do before cell phones? They actually spoke face-to-face . . . .

First off, Verizon, as usual, has no idea what they can and can't offer. I had them completely block text messsaging to my account. They did. However, when I changed my price plan (which I change back within the 30 days, so I don't have to spend an extra day in Verizon hell), Verizon would send a text message from verizon telling me the price plan change, but I would get a text message from verison telling me text messages were blocked. HOW STUPID !!!! I don't text, I don't take rocks out of horses hooves with my phone, I (get this), make and recieve phone calls on it. It took me 2 weeks of ranting at those clowns, not to send me text messages.

It's no wonder they have a 30% attrition rate of their customers.

Verizon, WAKE UP It's not the network, IT'S THE RETARDED POLICIES.

Verizon will block text messaging if you request it. I have had text messages disabled for over a year, all I had to do was talk to someone in one of the stores and they took care of it.

find the spammers and then find the people with the cell phone companies who allow this to continue. Public executions. Problem solved.

Text message spam is annoying, but like much spam, it probably stems from people who use text message services that then sell their mobile number to spammers. People who sign up for text message joke services are likely the cause of much of the text spam.

However, for those who are completely innocent in this, they should be able to call Verizon, AT&T or any other cellular provider and have the provider take an interest in stopping spam. The companies know the traffic that goes over their network, and can likely identify those who sent the spam very easily. Cell phone companies should be doing for text spam what AOL attempted to do with e-mail spam.

Which cellular company kicked you if you called customer service too often?

It's apparent that both Verizon and T-mobile CAN turn off messages. Their company representatives are supposed to shine the company in a good light even if that means lying. Even worse, they probably don't know much about the technology, and even if they do, they can just say that they said what they were told to say. Aside from that, however, their pricing is insane: what person wants to be charged for recieving a text message? It's like being charged for a phone call.

If you turn off the text messaging using a service rep. Does that represent a change in your service and you go back to 2 more years on the contract?

The cell phone companies are probably paying Indian, Mexican, Chinese, or Malaysian companies to spam everyone!! You probably call into their call centers (in these countries) to complain and the guy in the cubical next to the rep you are speaking with is laughing because you are on his spam list!! Good luck...

My cell phone company has free incoming for what I receive.
However if your company does not let you turn off text messaging, don't open the message.
If you don't open the message they dont charge you.
Same with trac phones.

If the text is an attempt to sell anything and you are on the Federal or State "No call" list it would seem to me to be a violation. I got a couple of text messages from a single source and finally replied that I would file a complaint if I see it again. That was several months ago with no futher incidents. Who knows if it worked or they just slithered away to harm others.

I received text spam about 6 months ago from another actual cell phone. I repeatedly text back for the individual to stop, I called the number and spoke to a human and asked them to stop, I called T-Moble and was told that I could not block that number, and I even called the spammers' cell phone carrier (I believe it was Sprint) and told them that their customer was using their product to spam. At the time, the basic solution I was told was to just accept it, there was nothing either company could do.

The text messaging feature is "mandatory"?!?!?!?! I am so tired of companies telling me "features" I don't want are "mandatory" !

Re-regulation of telecommunications. It's the ONLY answer. It's another industry utterly out of control, concerned ONLY with ever increasing profits and with criminal disregard for the user.

We tried deregulated capitalism, and just as the Soviets discovered trying pure socialism, it doesn't work. Only a mixed system works.

US Cellular never charges for incoming calls or text messages, atlest with my plan... i pay 65$ a month

I have Verizon and have all txt messages completely blocked.

Verision can turn off text messaging. It is turned off on my phone. A few days ago while on the phone with Verision Customer Support that ask if they could turn on texting long enough for them to send me a text message. They turned it on and then turned it off as soon as I got the message.

Texting is so "Gosh and impersonal" ..! As for the SPAM ..there is such a thing as a "do not call list".
Get your cellphone number on the list. Then you can sue the spammer or if you can't identify the spammer, sue the broker for collusion and intentionally breaking a federal law. Also name the carrier as an "after the the fact participant"..that should get peoples attention ..!

I too called Verizon after getting spam texting and they turned off my texting. Haven't had one since.

I believe the problem is with the spam, not the text messages. In encouraging people to turn messaging off, I believe you are going about it the wrong way. Most young people only use cell phones these days, and many of the older generations are opting out of land lines as well, leaving cell phones as their sole means of communication. When something happens to tie up cell communications, the easiest and fastest (and sometimes only) way to reach them is usually through texting. When the bridge fell in Minneapolis last month, there were quite a few articles that said learning how to send text messages, even if you don't use the function, could help your communication options in an emergency. Stop the spammers, stop the fees, but don't turn off the texts.

Sure Sprint/Nextel can block text messages. But thier Premier Club service rep told us that blocking it on our 30+ company units meant we would also lose voice mail, because they say they two are tied together - you can't block one and not the other. PSHAW!! Our units that have cellular restricted (used as radios only) receive spam messages. We have to have voice mail on our phones, so we call every month to bug Sprint to remove the messages at $0.15 apiece; because, honestly, our guys getting them don't even open them and we know they're spam.

To block text messaging, you have to tell the provider that you want to "de-provision" text message sending and receiving on your line. "De-provision" is the telco term for "turn off". My wife had to tell Verizon four times, but they eventually turned it off. As well as caller ID, call waiting, and three-way calling. Use the right terms, keep track of when you call them and who you talk to, and keep trying. Your information could end up being evidence in a class-action lawsuit!

Your comment regarding Verizon is incorrect. They happily turned off all text messaging on my account, at no charge and with no sales pitch.

The fact that sell-phone companies charge 15 cents per any text message is outrageous, spam or no spam! Almost all these phones are digital, and verbally saying the word 'hi' takes up far more bandwidth than the ASCII text in a maximum length text message. If these companies want to solve this problem just allow free texting, and people will stop complaining about the errant spam messages. charging 15 cents is just a rip off.

The fact that sell-phone companies charge 15 cents per any text message is outrageous, spam or no spam! Almost all these phones are digital, and verbally saying the word 'hi' takes up far more bandwidth than the ASCII text in a maximum length text message. If these companies want to solve this problem just allow free texting, and people will stop complaining about the errant spam messages. charging 15 cents is just a rip off.

Charging for received text messages is on its own a scam. The US cell phone industry is a joke; annual contracts, using only their particular cell phones for their particular network, the amount of taxes applied to your monthly bill, the list goes on. Lets not forget the crappy customer service that the US carrier provide.
I have lived in Asia and Europe and it was always pay as you go. You could choose whatever phone you wanted, purchase the SIM card separately, and you can purchase however many minutes you want or need, never a problem with coverage. And the best thing - no contracts. I know this rant is somewhat off the subject, but thanks for letting me vent.

i don,t know much about the text message issues, but i read some of the blog about verizion and at&t i once had a voice stream cell phone which changed to t-mobile then went to us cellular when the contract expired. i once had a cingular wireless data card[ wireless internet] but bought out of the contract and got a sprint air card[wireless internet] and i made a wise choice on both occasions. some companies work for a living and some don,t.

The note about Verizon not being able to block ALL txt messages is incorrect.. i recently had them block my txt messaging and now i am not able to receive or send txt messages.

Hey T-Mobile bashers- It's not that hard. Go to to your account online and you can block/filter the messages you receive. And for the person questioning who uses that stuff? (web, email, text) Those of us with SmartPhones live by it. Sure we could get rid of cell phones and avoid all cost and problems...maybe we should get rid of cars too because sometimes they cost us more than we hoped. I do agree that paying to receive messages is ludicrous... Maybe now that Cingular is At&T again- They'll go back to the time when they didn't charge for text? HA! Right...

A few years back I moved and had to change my cell phone number and my daughter’s cell phone number to a local prefix. My new numbers; where of course used numbers. I immediately (that day) started to get extremely off colored, dirty, nasty text messages. I fought with Sprint for a year over it all. Even when I took the text messaging off my phones Sprint still charged me for them all and I would have to fight each month to get the charges off my bill. So beware if you currently have a clean phone number and change the number; for you seriously could end up getting a dirty phone number.

EDITOR'S PICK ** EDITOR'S PICK ** EDITOR'S PICK ** EDITOR'S PICK

I currenty work for AT&T, and we are told not to pro-actively offer the blocking of text messaging. In fact if it is offered and someone has recorded and is listening to the call we can get in trouble and possible diciplinary action can follow. The fact that so many of you are getting different stories from the same carrier is proof positive that customer service in the cell industry has high turnover and not everyone is on the same level. If you feel you are not getting the correct information nicely ask for a supervisor for more recent information. I believe every service has some way of blocking text messaging.

This is just another scam by the telecommunications industry to extort money from their customers. There is no way that we can fight it unless we jump to a carrier that caters to its customers requests and then we end up with a $200 early termination fee from the previous carrier. This is nothing but legalized extortion..period.

I switched to Cricket. For about $59.00 per month, you get unlimited calls and texts. It is great, especially for teenagers, there are no longer any worries about shared minutes or going over any limits. My ex-husband just had to pay over $600.00 in overages in just one month on his AT&T bill from our 14 year old son going over minutes and texting with Cricket it is not an issue.

we have a cellphone for ourselve and our dughter, and
I was checking the bill and found AT&T had charged us
for a text message they sent! Checked previous 3 mos.
found I was being charged $3.95 mo. for game service
which we knew absolutely nothing about! Told rep to
disable/block thast crap because I was NOT paying for
it! They did so, and are suppsed to credit my next
bill for all of it. I was assured that it did not
extend my contract, too. I called the Attorney General's office, who informed me that they had received many complaints about this "sneak (Fraud)
BILLING! Legislators; start doing what you were
elected to do!

The above comment from M. Holloway about Sprint/Nextel was pretty much the same thing "customer service" told me when I wanted texting shut off. They can't do it without shutting off voice mail. Translation: they don't want to give up the .15 per text they collect on unwanted received text messages. They are so fired as my cell carrier when my contract expires. All this amounts to is them having a free hand into everyone's pocket. There's no financial incentive for them to block the text messages revenue stream.

this article is interesting...i've heard of the spamming before. And there is actually a company in the US that has free incoming minutes and text and that is US Cellular. All cellular companies have the option of turning of texting and their mobile web. Verizon won't do it because it is their big money maker. I've heard of them putting Vcast on an elderly couples phones after they said they didn't need it. Tmobile I don't know much about. But turning off text for a customer service person is a simple click of the mouse. Nothing too complicated.

I dont know but I got a bunch when I first got my phone. They were all from my provider I got pissed and called them. They texted me over 100 times, this was right before they had that no call list. Once I got on that list the spam stopped coming. I am guessing they were trying to get there stupid messages out before they couldnt do it anymore.

It is very disappointing to constantly be taken advantage of by big business/corporate America. We as a people individually do not have lobbyist to “encourage” politicians to make decisions that actually protect us, so we have to jump through hoops and mounds of red tape to fix problems that we shouldn’t have in the first place.

I just recently, last week as a matter of fact, put my daughter on punishment because of over $90 worth of text charges on our sprint bill. Sprint originally told me that she was initiating the text messages from some gaming company. After I had a not so pleasant conversation with my daughter, I put her on punishment because I believed what the sprint rep was telling me about her initiating the text messages. I called back and another rep helped me out by disabling/blocking the sender of the messages and putting in for a refund. I also found out that the spam company was initiating the text messages and my daughter was simply replying “stop” to try to unsubscribe to the service. To date, I have no refund from sprint and the text messages keep rolling in.

Did you know that political campaigns can text you and are exempt from "do not call" lists? I complained to the perpetrator and he refunded my 15 cents but also cited his FTC justification. He lost the election by a large margin after he PO'd the electorate.

The carriers will refund you for SPAM text. It's "unsolicited".

If you happen to call into Customer Service of any carrier and the rep tries to tell you otherwise, ask to speak to their supervisor.

You can request to stop ALL incoming text with Verizon (and other carriers as well) and you will not get any text messages.

I received text messaging spam from a "horoscope" or a "love horoscope" I called our carrier and they traced it to a website that only asks for your cell phone number. Anyone who knows your number can enter it and it charges to your cell phone bill. Our carrier would not work with us to remove the charge and we ended up paying the $30 charge!! it is ridiculous there isn't any more security for this type of problem

To be charged for unwanted incoming text messages is ridiculous anyway. I'm with AT&T and I got them to turn off messaging, but now I cannot get voicemail notifications as a side effect. They told me there's an upgrade to voicemail, that it wasn't an effect of the messaging being turned off. That's a lie, because the notifications stopped the day the messaging was blocked. They also refused refunds for any text messages.

Ok,...whoever said that this problem is caused by idiots is correct. just like spam mail from entering your email address somewhere and not reading the fine print, the same happens when you enter your cell # somewhere. i dont give my # out and have never had spam. even if i did, big deal its $0.15!! get over it people. and to the guy condemning us for having cell phones, get over it, its part of life now.

My provider offers free in-comming text messages.

I received the stock spam at 3:30am one morning and it scared me out of a dead sleep. I called Cingular/ATT the next day and cancled my texting capibility. No my contract was not extended and I never opened the text so I was never charged for it.

Lemme get this straight. You buy a product, may be forced to keep a service you do not want, and then when some uses that service to harrass you - the cell phone companies insist it is your problem and yours to pay?

Can anyone cite any other industry in this country that is allowed to do this???

It's interesting that the technology is there to allow the spammers to do this but the technology isn't "there" to protect the peope who keep the cell phone companies in business. Are we sure Haliburtan isn't a part of this scheme??

With all this technology,what else are we going to get accross with? Someone needs to do something. I was spammed and there you go ,I have to call and waste my minutes trying to get this solve!

You people need to get lives. I do not have a cell phone, have never had a cell phone, and have never texted. What did the world do before cell phones? They actually spoke face-to-face . . . .

Bill, Tampa (Sent Sep 14, 2007 11:20:04 AM)

And to this I say,Bill..you're on the computer.
You're typing to respond to someone else.
This would also mean that being on the computer means you're not face to face with someone.
What did the world do before computers?
Not as much as they do now.

It happened to me last week. The first rep I spoke to at T-Mobile gave me 30 free messages and told me to respond with the word "stop". That was supposed to work but it didn't. They came faster. I called back and the second rep I spoke to helped me create a filter to block messages sent to my phone via e-mail, which is where the spam was coming from. Now the only text messages I get are from other cell phones.

While it is true that text service is required for Voicemail/Billing notification.

The T-Mobile rep is telling a flat out lie when he says they can't turn off texting. It can be turned off very easily there are just policies in place that prevent employees from doing it.

My cell phone service provider, Unicel, does not charge for incoming calls or text messages.

Prior RedTape posting said if you call your cell phone company they will renew your plan, likely without telling you . . . now the cell phone companies are urging people to call them to turn off text messaging? Gee I wonder why.

The only reason to keep it is after Katrina it was the only way to communicate outside the area. Text messages can be sent in less than a second versus trying to connect a call.

Oh one more lie... Many T-Mobile customers (and employees) Got that penny stock spam a couple weeks ago. It even came through on demo lines in retail stores.

The US Attorney General's called me regarding my complaint about being charged for a service on my cell phone that I had not initiated in any way. Cingular argued and didnt believe me, but I was able to contact one of the spam companies and she admitted that you dont need to do anything more than open that text message and they start charging you. This is simply illegal. The attorney general's office said the same thing. It is not your fault. It was what some posters have mentioned costing $9.99 per month. I was charged this three times one month. Cingular said they "couldn't turn off third party billing" and refused to refund more than one of the charges. I have all the records. Cingular, now ATT, and all the other service providers make a profit off this scam. They resisted for months in refunding my money. Until they magically changed their attitude and have now refunded these charges and turned off third party billing on my lines. If you dont have third party billing enabled the spammers can only text you but not charge you. I shut down everything but phone service for over a year. The US Attorney General is aware of this scam on the part of the cell phone providers and thats what prompted Cingular to change their attitude. Make it right or the legislation will be coming. Hopefully it will be here soon. Since texting makes money for your provider, they are responsible for keeping it legal. Landlines get spam but it doesnt cost you anything. This is a profit situation. WRITE TO THE US ATTORNEY GENERAL!!! and complain, and tell them your specific issue, and tell them what you want. If you dont DO SOMETHING it wont get fixed.

Yes, you are correct - I am on a computer "emailing". One thing I am NOT - in my car attempting to drive while texting and talking on a cell phone and smoking a cigarette and reading! Too many of those out there! Put down your phones and pay attention on the roads, please?!

I live in Oregon now and use T Mobile, but when I lived in Alaska, I was charged 10 cents for every message I sent, and nothing for incoming texts. When I moved to the lower 48 for college, I was charged 5 cents incoming and 5 cents outgoing. If the company makes the same amount of money either way (send and recieve one message, both come out to 10 cents total) then why dont they just charge 10 cents to send and call it good?

I think we should all start spamming cell phones. maybe then the phone companies will stop overchargeing and make it to where you can pay a monthly bill thats always going to be the same instead of flat out trying to rip everyone off. And don't tell me that I shouldn't have a phone cause I don't and will not until I can pay one respectable bill a month

As a long time T-Mobile customer, I can assure you that Mr. Henderson's statement is simply not true. On August 30, I received the following text message on my T-Mobile mobile phone:

Fwd: From: 515
Msg: videocu@percipient.com
/This stck will shoot through,
tick: Fdke, Fred Entertinment
See all the volume, GET IN
vvrpwgviipxpzjk
From: 515
8:06am 8/30/07

This is just one of the numerous spam text messages I have received in the past year. T-Mobile’s spam filter is really not very effective at all. My complaints to T-Mobile customer service have fallen on deaf ears. Fortunately, my plan includes 400 text messages per month so they are not costing me anything, yet.

Also, the My T-Mobile account maintenance web site does indeed include a feature to block all incoming Email. As my wife does not use text messaging and does get charged for any messages, I have set this option on her mobile phone. It is buried rather deep in the site, but under Communications Tools, there is a link to create spam and keyword filters. On that page is the following option:

Block all messages from E-Mail to handset
(If you select yes, you will NOT receive any E-Mail messages to @tmomail.net or @tmomail.net)

I told Sprint to cancel my text messaging service and they only partially did it--I cannot send texts but I can still receive them. It makes me mad, every month, I call and complain and make them remove my charges. If they give me trouble, I threaten to cancel. Make sure they send you to the retentions, department, as those reps can do anything.

Change your message center number in messaging setup. All texting will be halted.

Texting is ok its the fools that try to lure you into opening unwanted texts(spam) just like in your email. If you don't know who sent it why open it? I am with Cingular and my wife texts constantly because of her job. Sure it costs a bit extra but it is easier for her to keep track of the employees she is in charge of. We very seldom get spam but when we do just delete it without opening it.

Verison, has the ability to turn off texting and will do so if you request it. I had texting turned off to one of the phones because of unwanted texts. When I continued my contract with them, I requested that they turn off all "charged" features that i was not subscrbed to, in which they did.
In the event that you get unwanted texts ("spam"), a simple solution is just to file a complaint with the FCC. Each complaint is investigated and with enough complaints about a particular problem will result in a law banning that practice (such as the Anti-Fax Law). The following website is the page for making such a complaint. Instructions to properly fill out the form are on the website. https://esupport.fcc.gov/form1088/consumer.do
If people want to turn around a company for unethical practices, complaints need to be filed.
One last thought before ending this post. I belive that consumer law states that before a contract is signed, "a meeting of the minds" has to occur. Disclosure of this rarely happens, so therefor, there was no "meeting of the minds" when the cell contract was initiated. Hmmmm makes ya think dont it!!!

Have had T-Mobil for a while, asked them to turn off txmex and it was done...you can also get on your account web site and turn it off your self..I am not a know it all as far as computers are concerned, But I was able to turn off that service

i use to be really happy cellular one didnt make the receiver pay for txt .. they changed it so that now the sender and receiver pay and they upped it from 10 cents to 15 ... 30 cents for one txt is crazy....

US Cellular with ANY plan over 29.95 ( I think that's the right amount) charges $0.00 for ANY INCOMING services such as texts and calls!

You can block text messages with US Cellular, it will block both incoming and outgoing. Which is helpful if you are afraid of spam or if you have kids who text. Incoming text messages are also free, so if you get spammed with text, you don't have to pay for it. That's a real benefit.

Several years ago, I didn't own a cell phone, didn't have the headaches associated with it and had a little more money in my pocket every month. Now the cell companies want to run up charges on my phone because of spamming?!?!? If it's not straightened out by the cell companies, I'll simply bail out of the whole thing, and enjoy the extra money.

This story says Verizon does not allow people to disable texting on their accounts, but Verizon has left me believing they did exactly that some time ago. I received a wrong-number text, was charged for it, and they refused to credit it. So I asked to never receive another text again, they tried to talk me out of it because then I would not receive billing notices on my phone, which I don't care about at all since I get email notices and the statement in the mail. If this article author is correct, then Verizon lied to me, because they assured me I'd never receive another text again, ever. Not from email, not from the web, not from other phones. I hope what Verizon told me is correct and this guy is wrong, because I don't want to be paying Verizon if anyone else screws up.

Readign some of these comments, I'm suprised there's not a huge class-action lawsuit against the carriers with the intent to force them into pro-customer action. We should be writing our congressmen to do something about this. Why aren't we, and why do we put up with it, as we've seen that it would not be allowed in Europe, and I'm told that the European market would not and does not tolerate the nonsense we're stuck with in USA.

I always delete text messages and never open them, to avoid charges. Last month I was charged for two, even though I never opened them. ATT credited the charges and blocked my texting on both of our phones. There was no problem, just one call.

Yet another T-mobile mistake! My sister and I have T-Mobile and we recvd that stock text message on both our phones! Fortunatly we pay for the unlimited messaging package as we are both texting fools, but I think that Mr. Henderson needs to get some updated information if he is going to speak for the entire corporation.

I wonder if the BIG & EVIL cell phone companies are doing this on purpose to generate more revenues? How many do you think would complain to have a few cents of text spam charges be removed from thier account each month? A few cents here and there will amass a couple of hundred thousand dollars for the phone companies. The FBI should investigate them!

If you were charged on your cell phone bill for ringtones or other mobile content that you never authorized or ordered, you might want to get in touch with some class action attorneys who are investigating unauthorized cell phone charges:

Report Unauthorized Cell Phone Bill Charges

A nice and simple solution: pass a new law that prohibits billing the recipient of text messages. After all, the recipient didn't ask for it, they didn't do it. Bill the only the sender. Think about it, how would you feel if every time the mail man dropped off a piece of mail at your house, he asked you to pay $0.41 for it. Now, if the messaging company complains that they will lose revenue, fine, increase the cost to send a text message. At least that still keeps the cost where it belongs, with the sender. Yes, it still might be annoying to receive the messages, but at least you wouldn't have to pay for them too.

VERIZON cell phone users can contol text messages from individuals or block all email and web sent text. First, create a account at WWW.VTEXT.COM and then log on and select the pull down option "TEXT MESSAGING" by right clicking the "MESSAGING" option. On the left side menu select "PREFERENCES" This will bring up a menu with the text blocking options.

Not sure why people think if you don't read a message you aren't charged for it - it definitely doesn't work that way with T-Mobile. I never use text messaging, but do receive random messages from unknown numbers periodically. Maybe two or three dollars out of my pocket over time - not much, but it really is the principal of the thing. These companies rely on those of you that figure it's no big deal to pay .15 cents here and there.
This is major money- imagine how much the company is making per month on "accidental" text messages being sent. I'm really surprised the Attorney General or Better Business Bureau has not addressed the issue and I'm seriously considering talking to someone about a class action law suit. Researching this, there seems to be a lot of very disgruntled people regarding this issue. I don't want to gain money from it - but I don't think it's unreasonable to not expect to pay for a service you don't want and the companies need to recognize this.

Verizon definitely can turn off text messaging on a per-line basis. They do this by default on their kids' phones.

I've never given my cell number to anyone but my friends, but I still get the spam.

Sometimes I wonder if the cell phone companies themselves are sending out all of the texts.

Actually, Verizon does allow users to turn off text messaging. But they have an even better feature that allows users to disable messages sent to the cell phone number, but allow messages to be sent to the phone using a user name that the user creates @vtext.com . This eliminates most of the auto-dialed spam messages.

In other words, messages sent to 1234567890 will be dropped, but messages sent to username@vtext.com will get through. I know because I have been doing it this way for months, and it works.

Another interesting service:

http://www.spamfreetext.com

This allows you to put a form type page on the Web that will let people text message you without knowing your phone's address, but the spam is filtered out before the message is sent. Seems to work pretty well, although it's still in Beta.