Glitches keep subscribers from getting essential SMSes

Glitches keep subscribers from getting essential SMSes

CHENNAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) attempt to curb unwanted telemarketing calls and SMSes doesn't seem to be a complete success just yet. Many consumers say that they continue to receive spam messages and calls. However, the new regulations seem to have blocked messages from essential services like the traffic police, CB-CID or other government agencies.

"We have found out that our anti-fraud awareness alerts are not reaching many recipients. We have approached the mobile service providers to find out what the trouble is," said a CB-CID officer.

Some say that the new regulations have brought down the number of spam messages. "The failure to stop telemarketing messages completely is due to some technical glitch, probably with the mobile service providers," said consumer activist T Sadagopan, who has also registered with the National Customer Preference Register (NCPR). He has also written to TRAI authorities about this.

TRAI recently limited the number of SMSes a person could send in a day to 100 to curb spam by telemarketers. To control messages that they receive from registered telemarketers, customers have to register with NCPR, which allows them to block commercial communication by sending an SMS to or calling 1909. Consumers can also choose to receive messages related to real estate, banking, education, health or entertainment. However, under TRAI guidelines, even those registered with NCPR are supposed to receive transactional messages from banks, railways, airlines, and state or Central government-authorized agencies.

"The cap on the number of SMSes means that I am no longer receiving messages from sites such as Facebook or Google," says Sadagopan. "I don't receive confirmation messages from other essential services like call taxis," he said. Some city schools that used bulk SMS to correspond with parents say that they are not able to do so anymore.

"Messages sent from sites such as Way2SMS are also not coming through," said K Gayatri, a college student. "I have tried to deregister from the NCPR to allow these messages, but the site is not allowing this action," she said.

Free SMS to and from Anywhere in the World, Unlimited Made Available By SMSSheep.com

New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/16/2012 -- There is definitely no doubt about it; text messaging is now the fastest-growing form of two-way communication in human history. There can be no better way to transmit a message to someone miles away – in a clear and definite manner – than to send a text message. 

While truly revolutionizing the way people communicate, text messaging can still rack up on a phone bill. With its skyrocketing charges that people pay for text messaging, many people find themselves restricted in it's use. In fact, compulsive texters rack up as much as thousands for international text messages in particular – making the it little too expensive way to be completely efficient. As such, text messaging is sometimes considered as an eyesore on cellphone bills.

SMSSheep.com is a break from all the expensive text messaging. The free SMS website allows visitors to send free and unlimited international text messages to all corners of the globe – without requiring registration fees and other charges. The website exists based on the principle that text messages are an essential piece of communication – wherever in the world it is intended to be sent.

Simple and straightforward, SMSSheep.com comes with a user friendly interface that requires visitors to simply choose the country of their recipient, key in the mobile number and compose a message consisting of 160 characters or less. 

Users of the free SMS service at SMSSheep.com are encouraged to click the "Share" button on Facebook, as shown on the website, each time the text message has been sent. Spreading the word and sharing the service will help grow the community of SMSSheep.com users and keep the SMS sending obligation-free.

People who are having problems with too expensive charges that come with existing customary text messaging services from various providers should visit http://smssheep.com and enjoy unlimited free SMS texting to any country.

Monthly income for your family for 60 months from ING Life Insurance

ING Life Insurance presents ING Secured Income Insurance Plus, a safety net which ensures continued income for your family. Besides peace of mind, it features:   Assured income for 60 months* Limited premium payment term ( choose from 5 / 7 / 10 years ) Guaranteed addition of 10% on the sum assured on policy maturity                       * Available as death benefit only; Insurance is the subject matter of the solicitation; For more details on risk factors,terms and conditions, please read the sales brochure carefully before concluding a sale; #For policy of 10 years ,10 years ppt not available ING Secured Income Insurance Plus UIN: 114N061V01;Accidental Death Benefit Rider (ADB) UIN: 114C003V01; Accidental Death Disability and Dismemberment Benefit Rider (ADDDB):114C002V01; ING Term Life Rider: UIN 114B007V01; ING Critical Illness Rider UIN No. 114B009V01, ING Critical Illness Limited Pay Rider UIN No. 114B008V01; ING Vysya Life Insurance Co. Ltd., Registration No.114, Regd. and CorporateOffice: 'ING Vysya House', 5th Floor, No.22, M G Road, Bangalore-560 001, India. Tel: 080-25328000. Fax : 080-25559764.URN:ILI/Online /002/2012ING Secured Income Insurance Plus is a Non Linked,participatinglife Insurance product.Bonuses are not guaranteed and depends on the fund performance.@2011-12 ING Vysa Life Insurance Company Limited.All rights reserved.

Free SMS via Gmail now in SA

The Gmail SMS service allows users to send SMS messages to contacts for free, and receive replies via SMS within the same Gmail Chat dialogue box.

Gmail SMS has been activated in SA and is currently available for MTN and 8ta subscribers.

The Google service allows Gmail users to send free SMSes from within Gmail Chat. Replying via SMS from a phone to Gmail is, however, charged at regular SMS rates.

Google explains that in order to send an SMS to Gmail contacts, users must enter the contact's name in the "Search or invite friends" box in the Gmail Chat interface, and click on the new "Send SMS" option that appears in the list of available actions next to the contact's name.

In the dialogue box that appears, users must then enter themobile number they wish to associate with the selected contact. Once set up, a chat window will appear into which one can type a message as normal. On pressing enter, the message is sent directly to the specified mobile phone. Replies via SMS will appear in the same Chat window.

Google notes: "One thing to keep in mind about these numbers, though, is that after 30 days of inactivity, they'll get recycled. In other words, if your friend sends you an SMS message from Google Mail, but then doesn't send anyone an SMS from Google Mail for over a month, the number associated with his Google Mail account will become associated with another Google Mail account."

Google says users trying to send SMS messages to a recycled Gmail number will get a warning to say the message will be sent to another user.

Getting credit

Each user is given an SMS credit allocation of 50 messages. Each message sent via Gmail is one credit, and every time a user receives an SMS message in Chat, that user's credit increases by five, up to a maximum of 50.

"If your SMS credit goes down to zero at any point, it will increase back up to one 24 hours later. So, you won't ever be locked out of the system," says Google, explaining that extra credit can be "bought" simply by sending messages from Gmail to one's own phone and replying to that message via SMS multiple times.

The service is currently not supported by Vodacom and Cell C, and attempts to send SMS messages from Gmail return an error message. Both operators are, however, said to be looking into providing the service.

Vodacom's executive head of corporate affairs Richard Boorman says: "We're currently investigating the possibility of providing this service and we should be in a position to make a decision shortly."

A list of supported operators for the Gmail SMS service globally can be seen here.

Science lessons now available on mobile phones

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Vigyan Prasar and IGNOU together have launched a free SMS service for mobile users that delivers content on science and related areas.

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NEW DELHI, FEB 29: 

From textbooks to your mobile screens, now science will be at everyone's fingertips!

Vigyan Prasar and IGNOU together have launched a free SMS service for mobile users that delivers content on science and related areas.

The application — Science@Mobile — was launched here today as part of the two-day National Science Day celebrations by the Director of Inter-University Accelerator Centre, Mr Amit Roy.

"I believe society without the appreciation and knowledge of science is incomplete. If we do not understand the power and application behind a phenomenon, we would live in darkness and consider it black magic. So the spread of knowledge on science is very important," he said.

"The number of mobile phones in the country has touched almost a billion. The penetration of mobiles has been immense, so the service would be of great help to create the right culture for science," Mr Roy said.

Vigyan Prasar, an autonomous organisation under the Department of Science and Technology, and IGNOU jointly introduced this service to tap into the potential of mobile phones to popularise science even in rural areas where mobile phones have made substantial penetration.

'Science@Mobile' will provide all types of information on science subjects including news, important days and events, facts, humour, quotes, about scientists, health tips and green tips to its subscribers free-of-cost.

In addition, the content has been grouped into three categories with the first one not requiring any science background, second one requiring basic science literacy, while the third is for people with science background.

Users can subscribe to the service by messaging "SCIMBL" to 092230516161 or clicking the link provided at Vigyan Prasar website.

"The service currently is available only in English.

Efforts to provide SMSs in Hindi is in progress and will be available within a week or little more," said Mr O.P. Sharma, Project Coordinator of Science@Mobile service.

For bringing the service in regional languages, he said Vigyan Prasar would have to collaborate with state agencies.

"We are looking into that aspect," he said.

National Science Day is being celebrated for two days — February 28 & 29 — at the National Science Centre.

National Science Day falls on February 28 every year and is in celebration of the day in 1928 when Indian scientist Sir C V Raman announced the discovery the Raman Effect in light scattering which won him the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Keywords: Science@Mobile, Vigyan Prasar, IGNOU, mobile users, free SMS, science, related areas