OT, I know ...
We have rarely, if ever, received SMS messages on our landline phone until now. Son's school have started sending updates by that method, which is OK, but is there any possibility we will be charged for using the service?
Whilst I'm confident the school service is OK, I don't know who the caller is until accepting the message. What concerns me is accepting something that is not from the school, and somehow being conned. Is that possible?
No, the only service I'm aware of in the UK which can charge to your phone account as a result of receiving a call is if you "accept" a reverse charge call (either via the operator or via 0800REVERSE)
We now get them occasionally confirming hospital appointments. I was very suspicious of them at first, not knowing what they were and thinking they were some sort of automated scam or advertising message. I'm still not entirely happy with them and my wife just puts the phone down straight away as she's not into modern modes of communication at all!
I note that at the end of the message is an option to turn off receiving them. If I select this, does the caller get notified that I don't receive them and then contact me by conventional means, i.e. an old fashioned low-tech voice phone call?
The golden rule is the same as ordinary calls. Don't depend on anything if you're unsure of its source.
News scribbled
Tell the school to send messages to your mobile.
+1 (assuming the OP has a mobile).
Sorry, I wasn't being clear. I don't mean conned by the message content, I mean conned by accepting it in the first place, i.e. is there any way I can be charged an outrageous sum just to listen to the message? The answer appears to be no, for which many thanks.
Getting back to the school, the messages are not child specific but rather updates to the bus service, school closures etc [1]. Quite annoying really - the local authority operates a web site for exactly the same purpose, with each school updating info for their own news. However, it seems the SMS service has priority, with the site being updated later, if at all.
[1] We have also had updates re the bingo night run by the parent council [2]. Oh joy. [2] What used to be the PTA.
Therein lies the problem :-)
Wife's mobile is dead. Needs a new battery. Mine, a used one ex son has been reclaimed by son because he cracked the screen on his. Anyway, neither wife or self actually turn ours on unless we actually need to, by which time the battery is flat anyway.
+1 :)
News scribbled
There's no answer to that kind of 'logic'.
In message , Jonno writes
Well indeed. We don't feel we need mobiles, or at least, very rarely.
+2.
News scribbled
I don't use mine a lot, but it's not a problem to keep in charged and kept in a place where I can hear it ring or check for messages. In the past I've lost money because I never made or received enough calls to keep O2 happy and they blocked my number. That's something to consider if you seldom use a PAYG mobile.
The ones I get for that (and the Dentist) are just an automated service putting pre-recorded phrases and words into the correct order. These are fine and easy enough to understand being a recording real person speaking, stilted but fine.
We get SMS messages from the electricity DNO about outages. The text to "speech" conversion normally manages to mangle the SMS into something unintelligible.
Very useful if one lives in a place with no coverage.
Exactly our problem. There's a thread on ok.mobile where I complain that although our landline *can* receive SMS messages as text I can't persuade many systems that send them that this is so.
No.
Not really.
Just give the school a mobile number to send the SMS message to...
I use a £5 per month service, if I make no calls, there is no problem, and I have £5 worth of calls available if I want to use them. I think it can send and receive texts as well, but it's only powered up if I want to make a call, so I never bother with that. It's always kept charged, after I broke down in the car, and nearly ran out of 'phone battery directing the RAC to where I was.
I use GiffGaff, without any pre-paid minutes. I've used the phone quite a bit in the last year, but it still only came to £20 in total. Obviously, this depends on your usage.
Why should one have to give them a mobile number to send the SMS message to? Our landline receives SMS texts perfectly OK and works much better than a mobile as mobile coverage at our house is decidedly flakey.
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