TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Can You Disable Text Messaging?

Re: Can You Disable Text Messaging?

Isaiah Beard (sacredpoet@sacredpoet.com)
Fri, 10 Jun 2005 16:05:51 -0400

jon@earthlink.net wrote:

>> It is, but can be inhibited if need be. I have to say, SMS seems to
>> be GSM's achilles' heel. A lot of signalling functions on GSM appear
>> to be handled by thinly vieled SMS messages, stuff that would be
>> handled on a more formal level in CDMA through the paging channel.

> Are there on-line specs for GSM and/or CDMA ?

I'm sure there are. Google is your friend. :)

>> I'm willing to bet that T-Mobile is unwilling to fully disable SMS
>> on an account because in many markets, they still use it for voicemail
>> and other notifications.

> Do they send the voicemail 'digitally compressed' [eg. simulated] ?
> What is the average bits/sec which they need ?

You misunderstand. I was referring to voicemail *notification*. As
in, the voicemail icon on your phone? In CDMA, a flag is set on your
handset via the paging channel. On T-Mobile and older generation GSM
networks, the flag is not sent (though that is starting to change on
T-Mobile, slowly). Instead, you get an explicit SMS message that
reads something like "you have 1 unread voice mail message."

E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.

Post Followup Article Use your browser's quoting feature to quote article into reply
Go to Next message: John Levine: "Re: MCI Now Charging Extra on Payphones When Using Phone Card!"
Go to Previous message: Danny Burstein: "Re: Cannot Cancel My AT&T Service After Moving to Vonage"
May be in reply to: John Mayson: "Can You Disable Text Messaging?"
TELECOM Digest: Home Page