TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Young Cell Users Rack Up Debt, One Dime Message at a Time

Re: Young Cell Users Rack Up Debt, One Dime Message at a Time

John Levine (johnl@iecc.com)
15 Jan 2005 01:10:24 -0000

> It was entirely possible to enable SMS between carriers without
> having to have a third party involved. But they insinuated themselves
> into the equation and now we all pay.

I am no fan of Verisign, but number portability makes it harder to
tell what carrier has what number and different carriers use different
internal message formats. If you look at Verisign's web page, they
did a good job of building a system that lets the carriers connect,
deliver off-network messages, and the system does everything else.

Fortunately, unlike a lot of Verisign's other lines of business, this
one isn't a natural monopoly, so I expect that if the prices stay
high, someone else will build a competing less expensive system.

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