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Major carriers are increasingly hostile to SMS that don't originate from one of their customers' handset. Killing off this gateway cuts off an avenue of escape

Major carriers are increasingly hostile to SMS that don't originate from one of their customers' handset. Killing off this gateway cuts off an avenue of escape that people might use to avoid TCR. If you haven't heard of TCR, you should check it out because it is negatively impacting you somewhere. Overseen by TMobile, The Campaign Registry is a pay-to-play scheme that applies to everyone who wants to send SMS to a ATT/TM/Vz user. To onboard with TCR, applicants have to: 1) pay up front and pay more and then pay forever 2) jump thru needlessly complicated hoops (that become ever-moving goalposts for small biz and end users). 3) wait weeks->months then GOTO 2 again. And again. The end result is more and more biz, MNVOs, orgs, etc are abandoning SMS. Trying to comply with TCR is too big a resource-sink for them.

what 2y ago
>businesses abandoning SMS Good? Stop asking me for my phone number.
- WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
  Nothing in what I posted was about solicitation. It's about years of routine communication between a business and it's own customers that stops. Like my clients who had to stop providing product support over SMS - even tho that what their customers prefer. It's about I can't send or receive texts from my personal numbers to anyone because my MNVO carrier can't afford the cash and ceaseless headaches that TCR impose. SMS spam continues to flow. Legit traffic is cut off unless the ransom is paid.
  - bitzun 2y ago
    > It's about I can't send or receive texts from my personal numbers to anyone You have a mobile phone plan from which you can’t send SMS?
    - WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
      Subscription, not plan but yes.
  - scarface_74 2y ago
    If you have a real business you can’t afford to get a cell phone from a major carrier?
    - WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
      If employees are all using softphones (like my client), purchasing cell phones for each employee adds expense and the complication of a 2nd phone number. Expense and complexity are also the primary problems with TCR.
      - scarface_74 2y ago
        Well actually I know a little something about this. One of my specialties within the AWS consulting space is implementing Amazon Connect call centers solutions that involve SMS. It takes awhile. But I’ve never had a customer complain about SMS messages going through https://docs.aws.amazon.com/connect/latest/adminguide/sms-number.html https://docs.aws.amazon.com/connect/latest/adminguide/sms-nu... And this was the original use case I was referring to > It's about I can't send or receive texts from my personal numbers to anyone because my MNVO carrier can't afford the cash and ceaseless headaches that TCR impose
  - what 2y ago
    Every business demands my phone number now, some even make it the primary identifier for accounts. Meanwhile there are zero businesses that need to send me an SMS.
tw04 2y ago
Good? I want it to be expensive and difficult to send me text messages. I can count on one hand the number of non humans I want to have the ability to send me a text and if this makes spamming financially impossible, I’m willing to deal with the baby getting tossed with the bathwater. There’s nothing so urgent I need from a small business that it can’t be either an email or a text from an employee instead of an automated system.
- WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
  > Good? I want it to be expensive and difficult to send me text messages SMS spam continues to flow. Largely from mass senders who can afford the compliance. Legit SMS from small biz can't afford the cash and headaches.
  - zja 2y ago
    Why would I want small businesses to be able to spam me as well the large ones? I’d prefer no one does, but less is better than more.
    - WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
      > Why would I want small businesses to be able to spam me as well the large ones? I’d prefer no one does, but less is better than more. For the sake of discussion, let's accept that Dumbutt Inc, of Pikesnot MN is sending out actual sms spam. Instead of ending the wanted SMS comms between millions of customers and the business they depend on, how about the recipient of a Dumbutt Inc spam just give them a call tell them to knock it off? I'll do it myself if it means un-crippling wanted SMS comms.
      - TeMPOraL 2y ago
        Because: 1. There is very little actually wanted SMS comms between users and businesses. 90%+ of it is probably 2FA codes anyway, and the rest is tied to some potential transaction. For the latter, SMS costing even 100x more as normal is irrelevant - we're talking about spending extra $0.1 on confirmation and reminders on a $50+ service (hairdresser, tire change, vet appointment, doc appointment, whatever) - so it shouldn't be disturbing to actual voluntary business between two consenting parties. 2. There's a fuck ton of small businesses out there. I'm not going to call 15 local restaurants, 5 clinics, 12 PV solar peddlers, 20 MLM representatives and a sex shop, to tell them all to "knock it off". Fortunately, I live in Europe; thanks to GDPR, they don't dare. Except for PV solar peddlers and Bitcoin scams, which have a special place in hell ready for them - and MLM people, which are already in hell, but don't realize it. Nah. SMS in its terminal stage after losing battle with advertising cancer[0]. There's no point in even trying to save or resurrect it without first getting rid of the sickness - marketing communications. -- [0] - https://jacek.zlydach.pl/blog/2019-07-31-ads-as-cancer.html https://jacek.zlydach.pl/blog/2019-07-31-ads-as-cancer.html
drekipus 2y ago
i think sms should be purely left to person-to-person communication. i hate getting business sms
- WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
  > i hate getting business sms The big mass senders can afford TCR compliance. I'm betting that's who you hate getting sms from. Well, you'll keep getting their SMS. It's small biz who is hurt by TCR. Biz who are run by people you've met and talk to. I do business with lots of local shops and often SMS is the best fit for us to talk to each other. Except now we can't. That's who TCR is protecting us from.
  - _mlbt 2y ago
    I’d rather get an email from them. At least with email I have a multitude of spam detection and filtering tools that just don’t exist for SMS text messages.
    - WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
      I'm with you there. And TCR doesn't do a thing to stop that. Big corps just pay for a compliance officer and blast away. Small biz who know their customers - this is who TCR stops.
    - vel0city 2y ago
      The extreme majority of spam text messages I receive are not through email gateways. This will do nothing to reduce sms spam.
  - brigade 2y ago
    Which big mass spammers are you thinking of? The only ones I can think of are political campaigns; scams obviously can’t be compliant at all. And even political campaigns are having to switch providers once or twice a year since they generate over 90% of spam reports and don’t actually bother with even opt-out compliance. Any legitimate business that’s actually compliant will respect opt-outs and actually stop texting after a STOP, and I seriously doubt they would actually survive if they blasted away with unsolicited a2p texting these days.
bandrami 2y ago
Thank $DEITY. Why didn't they do this sooner?
- WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
  SMS spam hasn't stopped. I still get it. What TCR stops is legit SMS traffic. SMS that is wanted - and sometimes needed - by the people who receive it. Small biz and their own customers is who TCR stops communicating. Big biz pays for TCR compliance and they blast out SMS like they always have.
whamlastxmas 2y ago
I’m happy about this. I don’t want texts from anyone ever that isn’t a single human paying for their own personal line

what 2y ago

>businesses abandoning SMS Good? Stop asking me for my phone number.

WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
Nothing in what I posted was about solicitation. It's about years of routine communication between a business and it's own customers that stops. Like my clients who had to stop providing product support over SMS - even tho that what their customers prefer. It's about I can't send or receive texts from my personal numbers to anyone because my MNVO carrier can't afford the cash and ceaseless headaches that TCR impose. SMS spam continues to flow. Legit traffic is cut off unless the ransom is paid.
- bitzun 2y ago
  > It's about I can't send or receive texts from my personal numbers to anyone You have a mobile phone plan from which you can’t send SMS?
  - WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
    Subscription, not plan but yes.
- scarface_74 2y ago
  If you have a real business you can’t afford to get a cell phone from a major carrier?
  - WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
    If employees are all using softphones (like my client), purchasing cell phones for each employee adds expense and the complication of a 2nd phone number. Expense and complexity are also the primary problems with TCR.
    - scarface_74 2y ago
      Well actually I know a little something about this. One of my specialties within the AWS consulting space is implementing Amazon Connect call centers solutions that involve SMS. It takes awhile. But I’ve never had a customer complain about SMS messages going through https://docs.aws.amazon.com/connect/latest/adminguide/sms-number.html https://docs.aws.amazon.com/connect/latest/adminguide/sms-nu... And this was the original use case I was referring to > It's about I can't send or receive texts from my personal numbers to anyone because my MNVO carrier can't afford the cash and ceaseless headaches that TCR impose
- what 2y ago
  Every business demands my phone number now, some even make it the primary identifier for accounts. Meanwhile there are zero businesses that need to send me an SMS.

tw04 2y ago

Good? I want it to be expensive and difficult to send me text messages. I can count on one hand the number of non humans I want to have the ability to send me a text and if this makes spamming financially impossible, I’m willing to deal with the baby getting tossed with the bathwater. There’s nothing so urgent I need from a small business that it can’t be either an email or a text from an employee instead of an automated system.

WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
> Good? I want it to be expensive and difficult to send me text messages SMS spam continues to flow. Largely from mass senders who can afford the compliance. Legit SMS from small biz can't afford the cash and headaches.
- zja 2y ago
  Why would I want small businesses to be able to spam me as well the large ones? I’d prefer no one does, but less is better than more.
  - WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
    > Why would I want small businesses to be able to spam me as well the large ones? I’d prefer no one does, but less is better than more. For the sake of discussion, let's accept that Dumbutt Inc, of Pikesnot MN is sending out actual sms spam. Instead of ending the wanted SMS comms between millions of customers and the business they depend on, how about the recipient of a Dumbutt Inc spam just give them a call tell them to knock it off? I'll do it myself if it means un-crippling wanted SMS comms.
    - TeMPOraL 2y ago
      Because: 1. There is very little actually wanted SMS comms between users and businesses. 90%+ of it is probably 2FA codes anyway, and the rest is tied to some potential transaction. For the latter, SMS costing even 100x more as normal is irrelevant - we're talking about spending extra $0.1 on confirmation and reminders on a $50+ service (hairdresser, tire change, vet appointment, doc appointment, whatever) - so it shouldn't be disturbing to actual voluntary business between two consenting parties. 2. There's a fuck ton of small businesses out there. I'm not going to call 15 local restaurants, 5 clinics, 12 PV solar peddlers, 20 MLM representatives and a sex shop, to tell them all to "knock it off". Fortunately, I live in Europe; thanks to GDPR, they don't dare. Except for PV solar peddlers and Bitcoin scams, which have a special place in hell ready for them - and MLM people, which are already in hell, but don't realize it. Nah. SMS in its terminal stage after losing battle with advertising cancer[0]. There's no point in even trying to save or resurrect it without first getting rid of the sickness - marketing communications. -- [0] - https://jacek.zlydach.pl/blog/2019-07-31-ads-as-cancer.html https://jacek.zlydach.pl/blog/2019-07-31-ads-as-cancer.html

drekipus 2y ago

i think sms should be purely left to person-to-person communication. i hate getting business sms

WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
> i hate getting business sms The big mass senders can afford TCR compliance. I'm betting that's who you hate getting sms from. Well, you'll keep getting their SMS. It's small biz who is hurt by TCR. Biz who are run by people you've met and talk to. I do business with lots of local shops and often SMS is the best fit for us to talk to each other. Except now we can't. That's who TCR is protecting us from.
- _mlbt 2y ago
  I’d rather get an email from them. At least with email I have a multitude of spam detection and filtering tools that just don’t exist for SMS text messages.
  - WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
    I'm with you there. And TCR doesn't do a thing to stop that. Big corps just pay for a compliance officer and blast away. Small biz who know their customers - this is who TCR stops.
  - vel0city 2y ago
    The extreme majority of spam text messages I receive are not through email gateways. This will do nothing to reduce sms spam.
- brigade 2y ago
  Which big mass spammers are you thinking of? The only ones I can think of are political campaigns; scams obviously can’t be compliant at all. And even political campaigns are having to switch providers once or twice a year since they generate over 90% of spam reports and don’t actually bother with even opt-out compliance. Any legitimate business that’s actually compliant will respect opt-outs and actually stop texting after a STOP, and I seriously doubt they would actually survive if they blasted away with unsolicited a2p texting these days.

bandrami 2y ago

Thank $DEITY. Why didn't they do this sooner?

WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
SMS spam hasn't stopped. I still get it. What TCR stops is legit SMS traffic. SMS that is wanted - and sometimes needed - by the people who receive it. Small biz and their own customers is who TCR stops communicating. Big biz pays for TCR compliance and they blast out SMS like they always have.

whamlastxmas 2y ago

I’m happy about this. I don’t want texts from anyone ever that isn’t a single human paying for their own personal line