Zain offers SMSthem service, this service provides the ability to reach a group of people by sending one text message to one number only.
I didn’t know about it but my sister showed it to me so I can configure it to my mother.
You can login (link), and register by providing your mobile and a password will be SMSed to you.
Quote from their site “SMSthem is a Group Messaging service for all Zain Post Paid (Contract) subscribers. Registration to the service is FREE, and there are no monthly fees. Subscribers will be charged 10 Fils for every message delivered to a group member, and 20 Fils for the initial message sent to 807. The BIGGER your list the more you SAVE.”
You can have upto five groups, each having 30 contacts. I had to edit 90 numbers for mom, she already had 3 groups. I was either going to have to go through every group and edit all numbers (delete/add) or start over again.
I couldn’t delete the whole group at once, I had to go to each number and delete by selecting the number and then click on delete. Keyboard strokes aren’t considered as inputs. You can’t use the delete key button nor the shift/ctrl for multiple selections!
There is no search feature so I can search for a particular number in a group.
I had to add each number individually.
Number aren’t sorted. They are sorted in some way and it isn’t in the way you entered them or ascending/descending. The first group, they were sorted in an ascending order. The other two groups, I would find some numbers are listed in a way I entered them, but only a sub-group of the group itself!
I ended up entering 85 numbers, so 5 numbers are missing and I don’t know which ones are they so I had to go through it again!!!! crossing numbers I found …
Mom saves about half the amount by using this service for her “jam3eyat el-eslah” contacts.
This is a good feature, that I believe my mother knew about from Zain SMSes to their clients.
#1 by Bashar on February 17, 2009 - 11:31 PM
Hmm nice. Does it send to Wataniya and VIVA also? The limited number is a bit troublesome. I know its to stop spam, but they could allow upon request increase.
Thanks for sharing.
#2 by Bloggylife on February 18, 2009 - 7:50 AM
yeah it sends to all.
Yeah the group limitation and 30/group is a hassle. Why should I have only 5 groups and a limit of 30 contact/group … what if I want more groups with lesser contacts …
But it does solve a problem, sending to bulk
#3 by Bashar on February 18, 2009 - 3:39 PM
Yeah, but their reason must be spammers.
#4 by Bashar on February 18, 2009 - 3:40 PM
Since Zain want to charge more for SPAMMING! Not coz they hate it
#5 by Bloggylife on February 19, 2009 - 2:02 AM
from what I know, the person should have the choice to be included in spam attacks or not … but not according to our law.. since carriers seem to cash in on it!
#6 by Bashar on February 19, 2009 - 7:41 PM
In Turkey, there was a law that an operator can only send 1 SMS per week for their users, no matter what. This includes customer related info, not one SPAM per week!