On Sun, Aug 05, 2012, Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote about "Re: sms via icq with the new mobile companies": > So not only check your bill carefully, but before you start sending > lots of free SMSs, make sure it does not cost you to receive them.
In Israel, you *do not* pay for incoming SMSs - it is the sender that pays for them. What can happen, however - is *fraud*: The cellular providers in Israel invented the trick of SMS "services", where you subscribe to some service (e.g., get a summary of the news once every day) and you pay for this service however much the service provider decides - often you pay per (incoming) SMS. The problem is that much (if not 99%) of this concept is used not for legitimate services, but for fraud. E.g., you may find yourself unintentionally subscribed to a "service" that sends you random messages, or (in your case) messages sent over the web seemingly for free, and then bill you for 0.5 shekels, or even 50 shekels if they wish, for each such SMS. Nobody (especially not the cellular providers, who make a nice commission from the fraud) cares if you were never told that this service costs you money. It is unbelievable that several years after this fraud technique became popular, the ministry of communication hasn't closed this loophole. The closest they have come to doing so was to force the cellular providers to let you tell them that you don't want "SMS services" (not the normal SMSs, just the paid services) and you can no longer be defrauded in this manner. -- Nadav Har'El | Monday, Aug 6 2012, 18 Av 5772 [email protected] |----------------------------------------- Phone +972-523-790466, ICQ 13349191 |Warning: Dates on the calendar are closer http://nadav.harel.org.il |than they appear. _______________________________________________ Linux-il mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
