Anyone having text message issues?
Spam Clogs Nextel's SMS System
By Sue Marek
April 15, 2005
news@2 direct
A spike in spam volume over the past several weeks is hindering the ability of Nextel Communications' customers to send and receive inter-carrier and intra-carrier text messages. The problem, which Nextel says started in mid-March, is resulting in several hours of delays in text message delivery.
A Nextel subscriber who contacted Wireless Week said that text messages are often delivered several hours late and arrive all at once, typically in the middle of the night. Likewise, Nextel's text messaging system has become a popular source of complaints and commentary on online message boards, where Nextel customers have reported several hours of delays getting their text messages delivered, with some even reporting that the messages never make it to their destination.
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Nextel spokeswoman Margaret Brown says the company's spam filtering technology is being taxed because the company's network has been bombarded with millions of spam messages. "We don't know where the spam is coming from. We have tried to keep up with it by adding additional filters," she says.
Nextel is working with its messaging gateway provider, Wireless Services Corp., to solve the problem, which includes adding more capacity to the system to handle the additional volume of messages. "We are adding capacity in anticipation that the spam volume doesn't decline," Brown says. "We have specific steps in place and are adding software tonight. We're hoping to see a difference by Monday."
Brown says Nextel is communicating the problem to its customers in a variety of ways. Large volume customers -- those with more than 1,000 phones -- are being contacted directly. In addition, the company has informed its customer care centers about the issue.
Several Nextel customer care messages exchanged with customers about the text messaging problem were forwarded to Wireless Week. Those messages indicate that problems with the company's text messaging system have been occurring for several months and little has been done to let customers know when the problem will be resolved. Brown, however, says the problem has been occurring only for a few weeks and that these other complaints must be referring to text messaging problems that affected a few customers.
Yet one message from a Nextel customer care representative, dated Jan. 25, said the issue with text messaging, both inter- and intra-carrier, had not been resolved and the company did not have an estimated time when it would be resolved. Another more recent message, dated April 12, suggested compatibility issues with other carriers was causing the delays, and the customer service representative suggested turning the phone off at some point during a 24-hour period.
Brown says turning the phone off and on may help customers because powering down the handset and turning it back on enables it to receive software updates from the network.
Spam is an ongoing problem for wireless carriers. However, Mobile 365, which handles the inter-carrier messaging for many U.S. operators, says its carrier partners have not experienced any text messaging delays due to spam.
By Sue Marek
April 15, 2005
news@2 direct
A spike in spam volume over the past several weeks is hindering the ability of Nextel Communications' customers to send and receive inter-carrier and intra-carrier text messages. The problem, which Nextel says started in mid-March, is resulting in several hours of delays in text message delivery.
A Nextel subscriber who contacted Wireless Week said that text messages are often delivered several hours late and arrive all at once, typically in the middle of the night. Likewise, Nextel's text messaging system has become a popular source of complaints and commentary on online message boards, where Nextel customers have reported several hours of delays getting their text messages delivered, with some even reporting that the messages never make it to their destination.
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Nextel spokeswoman Margaret Brown says the company's spam filtering technology is being taxed because the company's network has been bombarded with millions of spam messages. "We don't know where the spam is coming from. We have tried to keep up with it by adding additional filters," she says.
Nextel is working with its messaging gateway provider, Wireless Services Corp., to solve the problem, which includes adding more capacity to the system to handle the additional volume of messages. "We are adding capacity in anticipation that the spam volume doesn't decline," Brown says. "We have specific steps in place and are adding software tonight. We're hoping to see a difference by Monday."
Brown says Nextel is communicating the problem to its customers in a variety of ways. Large volume customers -- those with more than 1,000 phones -- are being contacted directly. In addition, the company has informed its customer care centers about the issue.
Several Nextel customer care messages exchanged with customers about the text messaging problem were forwarded to Wireless Week. Those messages indicate that problems with the company's text messaging system have been occurring for several months and little has been done to let customers know when the problem will be resolved. Brown, however, says the problem has been occurring only for a few weeks and that these other complaints must be referring to text messaging problems that affected a few customers.
Yet one message from a Nextel customer care representative, dated Jan. 25, said the issue with text messaging, both inter- and intra-carrier, had not been resolved and the company did not have an estimated time when it would be resolved. Another more recent message, dated April 12, suggested compatibility issues with other carriers was causing the delays, and the customer service representative suggested turning the phone off at some point during a 24-hour period.
Brown says turning the phone off and on may help customers because powering down the handset and turning it back on enables it to receive software updates from the network.
Spam is an ongoing problem for wireless carriers. However, Mobile 365, which handles the inter-carrier messaging for many U.S. operators, says its carrier partners have not experienced any text messaging delays due to spam.
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