Beating Text-Message Spam

By PHUONG CAT LE

U.S. consumers are expected to receive about 1.5 billion unwanted text messages in 2008, up 1.1 billion from last year, according to Ferris Research, a San Francisco-based market research firm.

Within the context of about 200 million active text messaging users in the nation, cell phone spam is still negligible and nothing quite like the e-mail spam problem, said Rich Jennings, lead analyst of Ferris Research’s e-mail security practice.

Still, it’s annoying when it does happen.

“I don’t know of a way to register my cell phone for unsolicited text messages,” said Tamara Marson of Seattle, who has registered her cell phone number on the national Do Not Call registry.

Most unwanted text messages are sent by e-mail using an Internet address – as opposed to being from one mobile handset to another – so customers can block a good portion on spam by setting up filters for their phones.

But whether you can disable all incoming and outgoing text messages from your cell phone depends on your carrier. At 10 to 20 cents a pop, consumers who never use text messaging and don’t want to receive them may opt for turning off text messaging altogether. Parents often like this option to control their children’s texting.

Here are the policies of some major carriers on whether they will turn text messaging off, and how to do so:

AT&T Mobility: Yes. Call AT&T customer care (dial 611 from your mobile phone) to request it. “We can facilitate turning off incoming and outgoing text messages, including SMS Sprint: Yes. Call Sprint Customer Care to request it, said Caroline Semerdjian, a Sprint spokeswoman. Users can “block” incoming, outgoing or all texts.

T-Mobile: No. “The text messaging feature on a customer’s account is actually a mandatory feature and cannot be removed,” a T-Mobile spokeswoman said. “T-Mobile is working on implementing a service this summer that would enable customers to block text messages beyond what’s available now,” she added, but wouldn’t disclose details.

Verizon Wireless: Yes. To set up V-Block so you can’t send or receive texts, call Verizon and have the feature added, said Georgia Taylor, a Verizon spokeswoman.

And can you block all or filter some text messages sent from e- mail to your cell phone? Here is what the company reps say:

AT&T: Yes. Log on to My Account at mymessages.wireless.att.com. You have the option to allow or block certain e-mail addresses and domains (up to 250), or to block all text or multimedia messages sent to you as e-mail.

You also can set up an alias so people you know can send you e- mails at your phone’s address. Cell phones typically have e-mail addresses that are easy to guess; the address for an AT&T wireless user is the 10-digit phone number@txt.att.net. To make it harder for spammers to guess that address, you can customize it.

Sprint: Yes. You can block specific phone numbers and e-mail addresses (up to 50), but you can’t automatically block all text messages sent by e-mail. To block messages, specific phone numbers, e-mail address or domain names, sign on to My Sprint, https:// sso.sprintpcs.com/sso/SignOn.do, select “My Online Tools,” then “Text Messaging,” then “Settings & Preferences.”

T-Mobile: Yes. Use T-Mobile’s e-mail and spam filters to block all e-mails sent to your phone. You also can block certain e-mails from certain phone numbers or using certain key words such as “Mike.” Log onto My T-Mobile, https://my.t-mobile.com, click “Communication tools.” Under “Resources,” click “Create spam & keyword filters.”

Verizon Wireless: Yes. Verizon users can log on to vtext.com, choose “Preferences,” and then “Text Blocking.” You can block all messages sent from e-mail addresses, all messages sent from Web sites or designate as many as 15 specific addresses . You also can set up a nickname and choose to only allow texts sent to a nickname@vtext.com. Customers also can block short code text messages that involve premium charges: log onto My Verizon at www.verizonwireless.com, choose “Features,” then choose “add/ delete.”

Originally published by BY PHUONG CAT LE | SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER.

(c) 2008 Virginian – Pilot. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.