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You are in luck! At one point in time, text messages were extremely expensive (several cents per message, depending on the plan you had). At that time, laws we

by mcherm 9y ago

You are in luck! At one point in time, text messages were extremely expensive (several cents per message, depending on the plan you had). At that time, laws were passed (in many countries, I don't know where you are) that made it illegal to send unsolicited text messages. You should see if you can scare Facebook.

renaudg 9y ago
I don't know of many countries outside the US where you had to pay for receiving texts or calls. Most everywhere the cost was always borne by the sender (except when roaming)
- dannyw 9y ago
  Even roaming, it is free to receive SMSes for my plan and most plans in Australia. If you need to receive an 2FA token, well, you need to receive an 2FA token.
  - renaudg 9y ago
    Yes, I failed to mention the roaming exception was for calls only. Since this summer, roaming charges are also banned altogether within the EU.
    - mimsee 9y ago
      Not 100% right as some companies in EU member countries such as Finland, where I'm from, were allowed to use a certain clause that would allow them to still add roaming charges (mostly data related). This is done because the majority of operators sell contracts based on the speed and not a monthly GB cap. Almost all contracts are unlimited in data. I for one have a ~30€/month contract that has unlimited data with 50Mbps down / 30Mbps up. After the roaming change my contract includes ~6GB of roaming data within EU. When that's reached there is a 0.0057€ per MB price in data abroad.
synicalx 9y ago
> You should see if you can scare Facebook. In all honesty, you really can't.
chaosite 9y ago
This is legally not "unsolicited", at least in my jurisdiction. To be unsolicited, you must not have had previous business contact with the company before they contacted you. If you have a business relationship with the company, for example because you opened an account and gave them your phone number, then these laws do not apply.

by mcherm 9y ago

renaudg 9y ago

I don't know of many countries outside the US where you had to pay for receiving texts or calls. Most everywhere the cost was always borne by the sender (except when roaming)

dannyw 9y ago
Even roaming, it is free to receive SMSes for my plan and most plans in Australia. If you need to receive an 2FA token, well, you need to receive an 2FA token.
- renaudg 9y ago
  Yes, I failed to mention the roaming exception was for calls only. Since this summer, roaming charges are also banned altogether within the EU.
  - mimsee 9y ago
    Not 100% right as some companies in EU member countries such as Finland, where I'm from, were allowed to use a certain clause that would allow them to still add roaming charges (mostly data related). This is done because the majority of operators sell contracts based on the speed and not a monthly GB cap. Almost all contracts are unlimited in data. I for one have a ~30€/month contract that has unlimited data with 50Mbps down / 30Mbps up. After the roaming change my contract includes ~6GB of roaming data within EU. When that's reached there is a 0.0057€ per MB price in data abroad.

synicalx 9y ago

> You should see if you can scare Facebook. In all honesty, you really can't.

chaosite 9y ago

This is legally not "unsolicited", at least in my jurisdiction. To be unsolicited, you must not have had previous business contact with the company before they contacted you. If you have a business relationship with the company, for example because you opened an account and gave them your phone number, then these laws do not apply.