T-Mobile USA Battles with Short Code Companies
Sep 18, 2010, 8:42 AM by Eric M. Zeman
A mobile marketing company called EZ Text has filed a lawsuit against T-Mobile USA, alleging that it has begun blocking EZ Text's short code service. According to EZ Text, the reason T-Mobile is blocking its texts is because one of EZ Text's customers helps people find medical marijuana dispensaries in the state of California. "The fact is T-Mobile ... put my business in jeopardy without any warning, without any justification, and without any appeal," said Shane Neman, EZ's CEO. "It's like the Wild West out there. You don't know what the rules are." Neman says that by blocking its text messages, T-Mobile has put EZ Text at a disadvantage when compared to its competitors. In a separate, unrelated case, T-Mobile has also riled the short code-based search service ChaCha. ChaCha allows users to send search queries in via text message, which are answered by real experts and then returned via text message. ChaCha alleges that T-Mobile plans to charge $0.0025 for each text message aggregators send over its network beginning Oct. 1. ChaCha notes that about 12% of its traffic transits T-Mobile's network, adding up to about 125 million messages per year. "T-Mobile is a carrier that doesn't understand the realities of content businesses including Facebook, Twitter, ESPN and ChaCha," complained ChaCha CEO Scott Jones. If the planned text charges are implemented by T-Mobile, it would cost ChaCha approximately $50,000 per month.
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Comments
Violating FEDERAL LAW
Decietful practices, robbing the public, ban them ALL
Every time I see a commercial advertising "1 billion free ring tones, just text such and such to this number" I can't wait to get a stack of pissed off customers yelling at me for the extra $50.00 is charges on their bills the next week.
T-Mobile has every right to ban these fraudulent companies from their network. Period.
(continues)
math
Perhaps that is how it's calculated?
Faq em all
Don't use your phone to find Cannabis (that s*** can be tracked, may as well ask a cop if you can barrow his drug sniffing German Heard to find your lost stash)
As far as cha-cha there is this thing called google, get a data plan on your phone and check it out
These short codes are obnoxious. Stop agreeing to these $9.99 subscriptions on your parents bill for games games that blow, ring tones that won't play all that loud and are not the "part" of the song that you wanted .
Its called......
smh
as far as chacha goes... suck it up its 25% of a penny... if their network is being bombarded by u they have the right to charge u what they deem it so either work out an agreement like other companies or pay ur dues point blank period... id rather u pay for ur text than to have my bill raised to help support u using the network
all in all i hope tmo fights u all and im sure they will win...
(continues)
