Common Short Code texting impossible

I've never had occasion to do so, but I discovered by accident
that the iPhone does not appear to be able to send text messages to
numbers fewer than 10 digits.

Is this correct? Thanks!

DGI

At 29 Aug 2008 13:43:33 -0400 David G.Imber wrote:
> I've never had occasion to do so, but I discovered by accident
> that the iPhone does not appear to be able to send text messages to
> numbers fewer than 10 digits.
>
> Is this correct? Thanks!


Since you said you discovered by accident, and since short codes are all
either 5 or 6 digits, is it possible that the iPhone automatically rejects
guaranteed "illegal" numbers (less than 5 digits, or more than 6 but less
than 10?) I find it hard to believe that the iPhone lacks the ability to
use short codes and no one's brought it up herein the last year! ;-)

On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:28:27 +0100, pjwalters@nospamdsl.pipex.com
(Phillip Walters) wrote:


>
>I have used short codes with no problems on both my iPhones.

While I did discover this for myself as mentioned, I
subsequently inquired of AT&T (I do not trust CS answers on most
technical issues, so I come here and look elsewhere for
confirmation/2nd opinions).

I just received the following reply:

"Thank you for taking the time to e-mail the new AT&T in regards to
using common short code messaging. I am sorry for any trouble you have
have experienced with this feature and I am more than happy to look
into this issue for you.


After reviewing your e-mail, I was able to confirm that you will not
be able to send short code messages from the Apple iPhone. The device
is capable of sending 10 digit text messages only. Again, I apologize
for any inconvenience this may have caused."

Your web site's URL suggests you are in the UK. So you're on
02? Perhaps that is the difference.

DGI

On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:19:39 -0600, Todd Allcock
<elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote:


>Since you said you discovered by accident, and since short codes are all
>either 5 or 6 digits, is it possible that the iPhone automatically rejects
>guaranteed "illegal" numbers (less than 5 digits, or more than 6 but less
>than 10?) I find it hard to believe that the iPhone lacks the ability to
>use short codes and no one's brought it up herein the last year! ;-)

I tested it with a six-digit code from a CNN survey of some
sort (I didn't intend to participate and was going to cancel the
message at the last moment, but wanted to figure out the procedure as
I'm not much of a texter).

So I suspect the code was legitimate. Please also see my other
response on this thread. I subsequently received a response on this
inquiry from AT&T confirming that I _cannot_ text to numbers less than
ten digits.

As I say, I've never been inclined to do much texting, and
when I did it was to ten-digit numbers. So in this case I thought I
might just be unfamiliar with the procedure.

Thank you! DGI

In article <g99lne$66u$2@aioe.org>, Todd Allcock
<elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote:

> At 29 Aug 2008 13:43:33 -0400 David G.Imber wrote:
> > I've never had occasion to do so, but I discovered by accident
> > that the iPhone does not appear to be able to send text messages to
> > numbers fewer than 10 digits.
> >
> > Is this correct? Thanks!
>
> Since you said you discovered by accident, and since short codes are all
> either 5 or 6 digits, is it possible that the iPhone automatically rejects
> guaranteed "illegal" numbers (less than 5 digits, or more than 6 but less
> than 10?) I find it hard to believe that the iPhone lacks the ability to
> use short codes and no one's brought it up herein the last year! ;-)

5 or 6 digits ... you call that "short"?!? Here in New Zealand we
usually have things like competitions and TV news polls that have only
3 digit numbers to send the TXT message to. :-)

Previously on misc.phone.mobile.iphone, David G. Imber said:

> I tested it with a six-digit code from a CNN survey of some
> sort (I didn't intend to participate and was going to cancel the
> message at the last moment, but wanted to figure out the procedure as
> I'm not much of a texter).
>
> So I suspect the code was legitimate. Please also see my other
> response on this thread. I subsequently received a response on this
> inquiry from AT&T confirming that I _cannot_ text to numbers less than
> ten digits.

I just tested by sending "help" to 466453, which is Google's SMS
interface number. It worked, and I got the expected help response back
from Google about a half-second after my iPhone finished sending.

iPhone 3G (using EDGE) on AT&T.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

Peter's Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord, #162.
If I steal something very important to the hero, I will not put it on
public display.

On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:43:33 -0400, David G. Imber
<imber@maniform.com> wrote:

> I've never had occasion to do so, but I discovered by accident
>that the iPhone does not appear to be able to send text messages to
>numbers fewer than 10 digits.
>
> Is this correct? Thanks!

I apologize for wasting anyone's time with this (not to
mention my own).

Since posting this message I have successfully texted to a few
5- and 6-digit short code text numbers.

I don't know why my first experiment failed, and now I have no
idea why the AT&T rep gave me the wrong information. But that affirms
my long-standing belief that I can find more informed people here than
in the corporations whose products and services I'm asking about.

Thanks to all who responded! DGI

In article <c9qhb4pdfvttqt5c8uf1tj1k13u0vca4gc@4ax.com>, David G. Imber
<imber@maniform.com> wrote:

> On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:43:33 -0400, David G. Imber
> <imber@maniform.com> wrote:
>
> > I've never had occasion to do so, but I discovered by accident
> >that the iPhone does not appear to be able to send text messages to
> >numbers fewer than 10 digits.
> >
> > Is this correct? Thanks!
>
> I apologize for wasting anyone's time with this (not to
> mention my own).
>
> Since posting this message I have successfully texted to a few
> 5- and 6-digit short code text numbers.
>
> I don't know why my first experiment failed, and now I have no
> idea why the AT&T rep gave me the wrong information. But that affirms
> my long-standing belief that I can find more informed people here than
> in the corporations whose products and services I'm asking about.
>
> Thanks to all who responded! DGI

People on help desks are usually students and non-tech people who
simply read an on-screen script. They actually know nothing about the
product ... and like salespeople, they could be dealing with shoes one
day, change jobs to computers the next and then chage to cars the
following week.

In article <d5dgb4ddsaeiu4jbi06h8vnmhguottu6sv@4ax.com>,
David G. Imber <imber@maniform.com> wrote:

> I've never had occasion to do so, but I discovered by accident
> that the iPhone does not appear to be able to send text messages to
> numbers fewer than 10 digits.
>
> Is this correct? Thanks!
>
> DGI

I just sent a message to Twitter's short code of 40404 with no apparent
problem.

In article <d5dgb4ddsaeiu4jbi06h8vnmhguottu6sv@4ax.com>,
David G. Imber <imber@maniform.com> wrote:

> I've never had occasion to do so, but I discovered by accident
> that the iPhone does not appear to be able to send text messages to
> numbers fewer than 10 digits.
>
> Is this correct? Thanks!
>
> DGI

Oh, and I was successful on the AT&T network and I got a response to my
text message in just a couple of seconds. Tried to do a direct twitter
to someone that doesn't follow me, got the error messages texted back
from twitter that the person doesn't follow me.