RTÉ - "ComReg pre-registers over 7,000 Sender IDs to prevent scam texts"

I've said for quite some time that scam texts will eventually kill SMS as a viable technology.

This bureaucratic nonsense will hasten its demise.
 
SMS is dead anyway. Younger generation use Snapchat, older age groups have migrated to Whatsapp. Sport clubs etc who would have used bulk SMS have either moved to Whatsapp or apps like Teamo. TBH, can't recall the last time I got an SMS that was not an MFA password number or a scam
 
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T McGibney said:
I'm lost.
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Well, in post #2 you say that scam texts will kill SMS as a viable technology, and that regulations aimed at reducing or eliminating scam texts will kill it even faster. In post #4 you say that scam texters will switch to Whatsapp.

Why would we expect Whatsapp to survive a deluge of scam texts if SMS could not?

So I'm asking whether the implication of your argument is that Whatsapp, in its turn, will be also killed by scam texts, or by regulations aimed at scam texts. If not, why would you expect Whatapp to survive when SMS could not?
 
TomEdison said:
Why would we expect Whatsapp to survive a deluge of scam texts if SMS could not?
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Because Whatsapp has elaborate and sophisticated in-built protections against deluges of scam texts being initiated in the first instance. SMS lacks similarly effective functions.

This is very well known. Or so I thought.
 
TomEdison said:
In post #4 you say that scam texters will switch to Whatsapp.
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That's not what I meant. I was actually agreeing with your earlier point that this regulation (unworkable as far as I can see) will accelerate the currently precipitous decline in SMS texting.
 
T McGibney said:
That's not what I meant. I was actually agreeing with your earlier point that this regulation (unworkable as far as I can see) will accelerate the currently precipitous decline in SMS texting.
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That wasn't my point; it was yours (in post #2).

But your starting point — also in point #2 — was the the scam texts themselves "will eventually kill SMS as a viable technology"

If you're right, and if scam texters switch you using Whatsapp — as you say in post #4 that they will — then that seems to imply that Whatsapp also will eventually be killed by the scam texts. How is Whatsapp better positioned to survive being the vehicle for scam texts than SMS is?
 
My worry here is that a lot of sites and services use SMS as 2FA. The big ones will definitely sign up for this but the smaller, more obscure ones might not. They might eventually when they get blocked but could cause a lot of hassle for a while.
 
Connard said:
My worry here is that a lot of sites and services use SMS as 2FA. The big ones will definitely sign up for this but the smaller, more obscure ones might not.
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They will almost certainly be using a 3rd party to manage the texts and that 3rd party will have informed them of the requirements.

I'm a very small SMS sender (about 1,000 registered customers) and was sent notification.

Registration took a couple of minutes and approval came out in a few days.
 
That is good to know. It looks like it won't be much of an issue so.
 
AlbacoreA said:
Not really. Not everyone has WhatsApp but almost everyone has SMS. Even dumb phones.

So lots use it for appointments etc. Hospitals, doctors, dentists, physio's. Govt agencies. Over 2 billion sent in Ireland in 2024.
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There is still some usage but 2 billion is about 1 to 2 per person a day and how many of those are scams or MFA type authentication messages. 85% of Irish people aged 16-65 use Whats App.

10 years ago, the volume of SMS messages being sent in Ireland per annum was around 9 billion so that will give you an idea as to what the decline is like, it's dropping at a rate of 10-20% every year

Its only a matter of time before the mobile companies start planning to end it once it no longer becomes cost effective for them
 
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