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Changes for SMS users: the good news and the bad
Let's start with the bad news. Beginning today, Twitter is no longer delivering outbound SMS over our UK number. If you have been receiving SMS updates from Twitter via +44 762 480 1423, you'll notice that they've stopped and you may want to explore some of the alternatives we're suggesting.
Note: Updating via our UK number remains fully supported and these changes do not affect users in Canada, India, or the United States.
Before we go into more detail, here's the good news. Twitter will be introducing several new, local SMS numbers in countries throughout Europe in the coming weeks and months. These new numbers will make Twittering more accessible for all the folks who have been using SMS to send long-distance updates through our UK number.
Why Stop Sending SMS To Some Countries?
Mobile operators in most of the world charge users to send updates. When you send one message to Twitter and we send it to ten followers, you aren't charged ten times—that's because we've been footing the bill. When we launched our free SMS service to the world, we set the clock ticking. As the service grew in popularity, so too would the price.
Our challenge during this window of time was to establish relationships with mobile operators around the world such that our SMS services could become sustainable from a cost perspective. We achieved this goal in Canada, India, and the United States. We can provide full incoming and outgoing SMS service without passing along operator fees in these countries.
We took a risk hoping to bring more nations onboard and more mobile operators around to our way of thinking but we've arrived at a point where the responsible thing to do is slow our costs and take a different approach. If you don't live in Canada, India, or the US, then we recommend receiving your Twitter updates via one of the following methods.
It pains us to take this measure. However, we need to avoid placing undue burden on our company and our service. Even with a limit of 250 messages received per week, it could cost Twitter about $1,000 per user, per year to send SMS outside of Canada, India, or the US. It makes more sense for us to establish fair billing arrangements with mobile operators than it does to pass these high fees on to our users.
Twitter will continue to negotiate with mobile operators in Europe, Asia, China, and The Americas to forge relationships that benefit all our users. Our goal is to provide full, two-way service with Twitter via SMS to every nation in a way that is sustainable from a cost perspective. Talks with mobile companies around the world continue. In the meantime, more local numbers for updating via SMS are on the way. We'll keep you posted.
Note: Updating via our UK number remains fully supported and these changes do not affect users in Canada, India, or the United States.
Before we go into more detail, here's the good news. Twitter will be introducing several new, local SMS numbers in countries throughout Europe in the coming weeks and months. These new numbers will make Twittering more accessible for all the folks who have been using SMS to send long-distance updates through our UK number.
Why Stop Sending SMS To Some Countries?
Mobile operators in most of the world charge users to send updates. When you send one message to Twitter and we send it to ten followers, you aren't charged ten times—that's because we've been footing the bill. When we launched our free SMS service to the world, we set the clock ticking. As the service grew in popularity, so too would the price.
Our challenge during this window of time was to establish relationships with mobile operators around the world such that our SMS services could become sustainable from a cost perspective. We achieved this goal in Canada, India, and the United States. We can provide full incoming and outgoing SMS service without passing along operator fees in these countries.
We took a risk hoping to bring more nations onboard and more mobile operators around to our way of thinking but we've arrived at a point where the responsible thing to do is slow our costs and take a different approach. If you don't live in Canada, India, or the US, then we recommend receiving your Twitter updates via one of the following methods.
- m.twitter.com works on browser-enabled phones
- m.slandr.net works on browser-enabled phones
- TwitterMail works on email-enabled phones
- Cellity works on java-enabled phones
- TwitterBerry works on BlackBerry brand phones
- Twitterific works on iPhones
- Twitter SMS by The Numbers
It pains us to take this measure. However, we need to avoid placing undue burden on our company and our service. Even with a limit of 250 messages received per week, it could cost Twitter about $1,000 per user, per year to send SMS outside of Canada, India, or the US. It makes more sense for us to establish fair billing arrangements with mobile operators than it does to pass these high fees on to our users.
Twitter will continue to negotiate with mobile operators in Europe, Asia, China, and The Americas to forge relationships that benefit all our users. Our goal is to provide full, two-way service with Twitter via SMS to every nation in a way that is sustainable from a cost perspective. Talks with mobile companies around the world continue. In the meantime, more local numbers for updating via SMS are on the way. We'll keep you posted.
Follow this discussion to get notifications on your dashboard.
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Inappropriate?$1000/user/year?! Whoah, that's insane!!
Oh, and there's also Twinkle for the iPhone for those who don't want to pay and want an ad-free app. :)
9 Comments
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Yeah, that price is ludicrous considering the multiple ways that SMS messages can be sent for cents a time. -
That's why I want a freemium at least for my Direct messages! http://www.crushofthemonth.com/a/2008...
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or for a lightweight twitter web client with a chunk of features, try http://m.tweete.net
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It may be cheap in the US but UK gateways are still ludicrously expensive. If Twitter offered a premium paid-for account which activated outbound SMS though, I'm sure they would get the support.
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Or Twittelator, if you don't want to get an app that you have to sign up for a separate service and pass your twitter credentials through a proxy. Oh, you didn't know that Twinkle doesn't connect straight to twitter, but does everything through their proxy and thus they can capture all your data? Sorry, twinkletoes.
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http://www.tweetSMS.com will launch shortly to fill the gap!
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$1000/month is indeed insane - and not at all credible. I'm in the UK and can send 1000 SMS per month for well under $10. Even assuming every user hits the 250/week limit, at the price that I (who cannot negotiate bulk deals) pay, the cost is only one-tenth of what twitter claims.
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Ben Novakovic - is that spam I see? Promoting the mobile twitter client that you built?
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Aristel - lol, just providing an alternative. I'm not the only one here offering alternatives.
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Inappropriate?What about Australia?
What are we supposed to do?1 Comment Add a comment
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I think Twitter's answer is to "FOAD".... Or at least that's the message (as an Australian) that I'm getting
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Inappropriate?This is quite interesting to follow on Summize (it'll always be summize to me...). There are a lot of upset people it seems. :(9 Comments Add a comment
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Interesting, like the guy who thinks Twitter is shooting themselves in the foot by not wanting to pay $1000 a year per user: http://twitter.com/mikemackay/statuse... (I disagree, but hey, every village has its fools)
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Having looked into it more, I found out that apparently Twitter.com was never big in the UK, they only used it for free group texting. Thus, I think charging for this service might be a good idea for Twitter. http://twitter.com/bonaldi/statuses/8... says this, and http://twitter.com/matrixagent/status... agrees.
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Twitter *is* big in the UK! I don't know where you are getting this stuff from..
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Twitter *is* big in the UK! I don't know where you are getting this stuff from..
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You don't know, secretlondon? Then check the two links I provided in the same post that you're responding to.
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Thomas, that's hardly conclusive... they're both clearly very light users of Twitter, and the second one is based in Germany... The majority of the people I follow on twitter are in the UK, and while the DM to SMS feature was popular, even vital to the way many of us use twitter, the suggestion that '_they_ only used it for free group texting' is ridiculous.
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Actually, Twitter has grown by 485% in the UK so far this year (http://community.brandrepublic.com/bl...). I'd rather trust that study than two random links! It's precisely because of this growth that the cost of providing the free SMS service has grown. I certainly know of no-one using the service for free group texting; While I understand the business decision, I do know I'll be more tempted by FriendFeed: text notifications was, for me, the killer USP.
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David Sim: I'd trust users of the service before some random study. Do a twitter search on "UK SMS" and go through a few pages. Keep tabs on how many say they only use it via TXT for group SMS, and how many say they use the website and other methods. Then report your findings in a more accurate study!
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Thomas - as you've obviously done an 'accurate' study, please do publish your results somewhere. As a user of the service who regularly interacts with hundreds of other UK users of the service (a pretty reasonable control group, one might suggest) I know of NO-ONE who uses Twitter as a group texting tool. Not one. Not one person that I know who's on twitter, whether I follow them or not, is using it for that purpose. That's not to say that there aren't people doing that, but in reference to your first statement : "apparently Twitter.com was never big in the UK, they only used it for free group texting" - that's clearly bollocks.
The people I know who are annoyed (myself included) at the service used to use the SMS service to get DIRECT messages from friends on twitter - it provided a way of getting time sensitive information from individual users. A REALLY useful part of the service, even a vital part of the service, but certainly not a 'free group texting' service.
FWIW, almost everyone I've spoken to (10s not 100s of british twitter users) would be happy to pay for the texting service to be reinstated.
I await the statistics from your study with eagerness. -
Inappropriate?I usually receive every DM by SMS. What should I do now? I don't want to use a Twitter client and I don't have an iPhone... Please, let us at least receive notifications by SMS! I hope you'll get a number in France very very soon.
And oh, where's the good news? :)
I’m frustrated
1 Comment Add a comment
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Yes, a Twitter client does not have the same use as an SMS - they're different modes of communication and one does not replace the other.
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Inappropriate?Dear Twitter -
Australia is not in Europe.
For more information about this, please consult Wikipedia (http://is.gd/1qPm) or Google Maps (http://is.gd/1qPk).
Yours faithfully,
Australia.5 Comments Add a comment
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Hey grum, I think you're being a bit petty. Australia is mentioned specifically in the post.
And in any case, I can't believe that people are upset that Twitter can't afford to pay for sending them SMS any more. It's a free service, and you expect them to pay 10c every time someone tweets. -
We're upset that they're treating clients with disregard by switching off a service they provided (free) without advance notice, and without providing a viable alternative for Australians. Its poor customer relations whether its free or not. If twitter plan to make a profit somehow, they need customers, and this ain't how you build a loyal fanbase.
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Australia wasn't mentioned in the original post, nor in the email that was sent out. It's been edited since.
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@jordanbrock the original post didn't make any mention about Australia - those amendments were made after my post.
The main concern here is that the 'free' service is falling apart and alienating their users.
My frustration is based on the fact that Twitter seems to be breaking every single part of their service that made it great. My account is still locked down, IM is still disabled, tracking is also still disabled, pagination is still flaky and support have not responded to the last 5 eMails I have sent them over the past 6 weeks.
I have been forced to go to friendfeed and plurk and only use Twitter to keep track of those left behind.
A Number of SNS have done the same thing in the past and have been hurt hard. Nobody wants Twitter to turn into the next Friendster.
Well, apart from the Singaporeans - they're nuts about Friendster. -
Can't get SMS's... Direct messaging feature is partially functional, and @ messages rarely show up in replies box... Hrm... What does that leave us with?
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Inappropriate?@grum - they're working on that as well. -
Inappropriate?Any chance you can add the Philippines to your list?
Mobile carriers:
- Globe Telecom
- Smart Communications
- Sun Cellular
Pretty please?8 Comments Add a comment
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I'll second that!
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Haha! Thanks, Eridanus! 8-)
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Seriously - some important Twitter users live in the Philippines ;-)
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frankly, If anyone in the world deserves that 1000/year... it's mdy.
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Aw, thanks, Scott! 8-)
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Philippines is on our list!
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*dance of joy*
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Even better than $1000/year, I think! 8-) *joins dance*
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Inappropriate?Looking forward to some negotiation with Australian telco's (or someone offering to run an sms server for you in Australia)
I’m very upset
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Inappropriate?Australia is very disappointed with you Twitter. Very. Another +1 for Australian deal too.
I’m disenchanted
1 Comment Add a comment
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+1 again
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Inappropriate?Another +1 for Australia, the DM to SMS is what keeps me using Twitter.
Good luck with the Aussie telcos, they are pigheaded, but if they see a competitive advantage they will go for it.
I’m disenchanted
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Inappropriate?Are they "working on a deal for Australia" like they've been working on fixing twitter over instant messenger?
Or were they hoping that if they ignored this, it will go away too?
Seriously who does twitter have working for them? A room full alzheimers patients writing code in COBOL?
Give me 1/2 a day and I bet I could fix your spam problem or whatever $excuse is for not having twitter over IM months after it was switched off.
Twitter without IM was tolerable precisely because I could still get DM over SMS.
I'm not quite sure why I'd continue to use twitter now, except as a conduit to complain about twitter.
Ironic, really.
Oh yes. And I'll add another 'thanks' for the advance warning.
I'll be surprised if you have any customers left by the time you finally figure out how to treat them.
PS. You suck.
I’m pissed
3 Comments Add a comment
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You might think about getting a life, Rich -- eh?
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not a cobol, its Ruby on Rails actually (or I have heard)
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Yes, it is Ruby on Rails. PS. You suck.
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Inappropriate?I'm another Australian-based (former?) Twitter advocate that's a bit pissed off by this. I can understand the rationale but the lack of advance warning is just ridiculous. DMs via SMS *were* very useful. I would pay for the service. I'm not the only one. Focus on your revenue model as well as your cost structure.
I’m annoyed
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Inappropriate?This is just another way to frustrate people, particularly from Australia.
I'd agree with the comments from SparkySays. I'd pay for Twitter if it was a) reliable and b) sent SMS messages. So far it's neither of those, so there are less and less reasons to use Twitter at all.
From someone who is looking on from afar, one wonders where all the $ invested in Twitter are going.
Sending SMS messages can be really cheap, a few cents each (e.g. via services like BulkSMS) (and surely better deals can be worked out with the number of SMSs Twitter would send), so I can't see how Twitter would possibly rack up the $1000/yr per user quoted.
Something seems wrong with the entire model.
I’m annoyed
3 Comments Add a comment
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250 SMS/week = 13 000 SMS/year. That's $1000 if each SMS costs 7.7 cent. For a regular SMS I pay ca. 15 cent (US), or 30 cent for an international SMS.
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For the volumes twitter would be sending, if they were paying 7.7c per message, they were getting fleeced. They should be able to negotiate a much, much better rate than that, even with the "friendly" Australian telcos.
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even if they would negotiate to pay ony $100 per user - that is still to much if you get little to nothing in return. So these numbers games do not make much of a difference imho.
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Inappropriate?I'm @inocuo, from Spain:
Very sad to hear that. We organized some photobloggers meetups using twitter and now we won't have it for the next one in Barcelona this September. I love twitter, but now with this and the IM issues before are doing that i need to start looking for a new tool.
Good luck and thank you for those 2+ years.
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Inappropriate?Why weren't users given advance notice that this change to the service they receive from Twitter was going to happen?
I’m annoyed
2 Comments Add a comment
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I agree - that's what makes it so galling!
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I agree - that's what makes it so galling!
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Inappropriate?YAAT ... Yet Another Aussie Twitterer ... Pretty annoying to find out after the fact that I can get SMS DMs any more. Would've been nice to get warning and/or scaling down the service over time rather than just "Oh hai, we turnd off ur sms"
Including Australia in your blog updates would be nice - at least let us know if you're (a) working on something here as well or (b) leaving us to work out alternative solutions.
I’m disappointed
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Inappropriate?PLEASE make negotations with Australian carriers a priority - more and more Australians are using twitter and the only way to increase its popularity in Australia is to give us our own number to receive sms!
I’m pessimistic
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Inappropriate?I'll survive - sort of.
I'll particularly miss Direct Message SMS, since I'll now actively need to check regularly for unexpected DMs.
My GPRS mobile data costs on simyo are finite - but low if I use cellityTweeter.
I mustn't travel, however, since simyo don't support mobile internet outside Germany.
For reasons unknown, my phone (Siemens MC60) won't let me login to m.twitter.com.
I can access m.slandr.net - but this eats vast amounts of data (e.g. 500kB where cellityTweeter would incur only 20kB).
But the loss of Twitter SMS updates from +447624801423 will be really bad for all international users on expensive data plans or without any mobile internet access.
I’m looking forward to a dedicated SMS number for Germany.
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Inappropriate?All I can say is what a shame; I'm sorry that you had to make this move ... I really like Twitter - but each month that goes by it seems less and less useful to me .. it's just not the same service that it was a year ago .. now I know it's free and I have no right to complain .. but all the same .. I want to keep using Twitter ...
I'm pessimistic that the shitty telcos in AU will come to the party ... so I think some sort of paid model is all I really have to look forward to :-(
Another Australian user
@benaud
I’m pessimistic and disappointed
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Inappropriate?So, I have a couple of points:
- Biz forgot Australia in the original post. He's fixed that now. And I'm pretty sure he won't forget again after a fuss like this.
- I'm also not happy about the removal of DM SMS. That is officially a killer feature. I can take or leave pretty much every other aspect of Twitter (although the lack of XMPP is still virtually crippling from a development perspective).
- Like many, I'd be willing to pay for the privacy and convenience and instantaneity that SMS by Twitter proxy provides me.
- Australian telcos are notoriously bollocks. The likelihood that they're going to come to any kind of arrangement with Twitter in the near future is unlikely.
I’m pretty far from gruntled
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Inappropriate?"Biz forgot Australia in the original post. He's fixed that now. And I'm pretty sure he won't forget again after a fuss like this."
better :D
+1 for australia. i was a VERY light user of the SMS recieving but crucially. boo ;)
I’m sad
3 Comments Add a comment
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Well, I also think it's kinda crazy that we think we have enough Twitter users or population to compare to "Europe, Asia, China and the Americas". ;)
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Well, I also think it's kinda crazy that we think we have enough Twitter users or population to compare to "Europe, Asia, China and the Americas". ;)
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I think we're up there with them: http://trends.google.com/trends?q=twi...
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Inappropriate?I'm in the UK and agree with one person who effectively said Twitter has become a lot less useful. The "Timer" twitter app is effectively redundant now. Why can't there be a staggered pricing model to offset the cost? That is much better than just stopping the service outright.
For example $5 per month for 50 messages and scaling up, with more messages for more credit purchased at a time. I think most people would rather pay, especially if it means they get to use Twitter with a phone number based in their country.
I’m sad
3 Comments Add a comment
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YES!! I would *happily* pay to receive SMS from Twitter. I'm in the UK and my boyfriend is in the USA, Twitter DM is our lifeline :( :( :( now we'll have to go back to complicated and expensive web-based gateways.
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Likewise - I'd pay SMS messages...
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Likewise - I'd pay SMS messages...
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Inappropriate?I am sure U realize this
But just a friendly reminder
without SMS .. twitter is just a very primitive e-mail service
in other words no one will use it .. I'd rather use my regular gmail
I’m disapointed
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Inappropriate?I never understood how Twitter can afford to provide *any* SMS when they don''t make any money (beyond investors)... or do they?
I’m indifferent
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Inappropriate?I've said it before and I'll say it again - Twitter - Offer a premium service for all of this! Offer stuff like sms notify option, dm sms and stuff like that to users who are happy to pay a subscription. Free is good, but how else are you meant to get cash to sort out your issues???
I’m indifferent
2 Comments Add a comment
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gmail services also cost a furtune .. But through ads an other service they managed to be proooooooooofitable ...
I guess I want mind receiving an add a day if that will help them continue the service -
Google's a little bit different, they have a lot more going on than just email. "just ads" wouldnt pay for the sms service. i'd be happy to pay an acceptable amount a month for all the services that are slowly vanishing..
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Inappropriate?Me and 2 friends, launched a couple of months ago a service to tweet via sms in Chile, and we now have expanded to Nicaragua and trying to go further with some other countries in south america.
Our service is called bittr (http://bittr.org) and comes from the need to tweet via sms but without having to pay 3 times for an intl' sms to the UK. It works by using a home server with linux, smstools and 2 cellphones from 2 different providers. Bittr Chile has 580 registered users now ;)
That's it, just to let you know
If you'd like to make bittr in your country, contact me and I'll help you with everything else
Pons
http://twitter.com/p0ns
1 Comment Add a comment
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I have created a service to send to twitter in Norway (http://sms.rygh.no). Maybe now I should work on the other way too.
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Inappropriate?I think your biggest issue is that Twitter just won't notice the death knells. People will just stop using because it's inconvenient.
Thing is, Australian carriers _don't_ charge to receive SMS because we've had it for about 5 years longer than the US. The SMS capability is what sold me on Twitter, and IM was an awesome addon which allowed me to save on credit.
I believe you guys have probably been hard at work trying to get Twitter to work, but from an end user's perspective there's been no progress on IM, a major method of updating. More than that, we don't receive updates now unless we actively look for them. No IM pop-ups. No phone notifications.
Basically, I doubt I'm going to use Twitter if my friends don't, and I won't know if they are unless I actively look, inconvenient, and so won't be "social" anymore.
Unless you give us a timeline for WHEN these things are coming, we'll wander off. I'm not saying this as a threat, it's just how things work.
So, basically. give us specifics. WHEN do you plan to have IM back? WHEN do you plan to negotiate with the carriers in each country? What STAGE are these negoations at? How can WE help (eg, ringing up tech support and asking for these services)? WHEN will IM be likely to be coming back? Is it actually DEAD forever?
These are things we want to know. Just tell us what's going on, and we'll probably understand.
I’m frustrated
2 Comments Add a comment
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Australian companies might not charge *you* for receiving sms, that doesn't mean they don't charge twitter for letting these messages into the country.
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This is true (I have no knowledge of how carriers negotiate fees), but it wasn't the point of my post. It was more contrasting the payment model of some countries where you have to pay to receive SMSs, so having a server in Australia wouldn't be charged to receive SMSs, any more than the UK is.
But, back to my original point.
Please LET US KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!
We like Twitter. We use it. We're patient with it, and we're more likely to be if we know where it's going? Cloak and Dagger movements do not win people's trust. -
Inappropriate?It would be good if Twitter could at least just give us back DM's by SMS - how will we organise our social lives now without those instant SMS'? I would definitely pay for this service
I’m Angry
1 Comment Add a comment
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It's interesting how most of the posts are from Aus at the moment... let's wait until the rest of Europe gets into the full swing of the day to see what their reaction will be.
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Inappropriate?For several months I have been trying to win some of my friends over to using twitter. Some came easily, and others have been more stubborn. I spent half an hour only 3 nights ago on an instant messenger helping them setup their mobile phone to receive updates, which was the main point I used to convince them at the time.
To tell them now that "actually, twitter changed their mind" makes twitter look immature, gimmicky and makes me look red faced for evangelising twitter, and having twitter pull the proverbial rug out from underneath my feet.
I certainly would have appreciated some kind of warning, and for the record, I'm also in Australia.
I’m cautious of twitter due to the lack of warning given
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Inappropriate?+1 australia.
either bring back just DMs via SMS, or introduce a paid model. i completely agree that most aussies would pay for the service.
I’m concerned for twitter's future
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Inappropriate?I'm in New Zealand (because no, we are not part of Australia, nor on their telco networks). It's highly unlikely that you'll negotiate for it here. So we're pretty much out. Twitter has been the way for my bf in the UK to send me a message or arrange to talk to me. In October we'll have 5-6 more months apart, so Twitter was a godsend. I'm happy to pay for it. I'm gutted that I'm losing it. Now he has to negotiate some sort of service to be able to call and text me cheaply.
I'm so sad, Twitter.6 Comments Add a comment
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+1 to New Zealand! Those Aussies always forget the little islands to their east. I agree - we are totally shafted.
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+1 to New Zealand! Those Aussies always ignore the little islands to their east.
I agree - we are totally shafted. -
+1 to New Zealand too! I love twitter and the apps are far slower than sms in my opininon. Dang Australians - maybe I should gust give up and hop across the ditch?!
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+1 to New Zealand. Telcos in New Zealand need encouraging...a lot.
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+1 New Zealand. I agree. Twitter's my only method of texting my friends overseas - and now that's shot. :| Maybe when they get Australia sorted out we could hop on the bandwagon, but doubt it. (crosses fingers)
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+1 New Zealand. I agree. Twitter's my only method of texting my friends overseas - and now that's shot. :| Maybe when they get Australia sorted out we could hop on the bandwagon, but doubt it. (crosses fingers)
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Inappropriate?Understand why you have had to do this but seriously zero notice is very very bad customer service! Let us have a premium pack that includes SMS notices for DMs!!
Please reconsider!
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Inappropriate?If you can't do DM to SMS free in Oz (or any other country) make it a premium services.
Heck I am paying $12 a month for mobile data, just to use m.twitter.com on my mobile.
So I would be willing to pay a few cents for each DM SMS.
If 3jam can do it for $0.04 an SMS in Oz, you should be able to cut a similar deal.
I’m not happy
1 Comment Add a comment
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Exactly! They should of started up a premium service months ago! Before they realised "oh, hey .. this is costing us a lot of money. better turn it off now..."
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Inappropriate?another Aussie user who thinks twitter has just become a lot less useful without SMS.
+1 for Australia SMS support!
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?Well, it's such a bad thing the Australia lack, but somehow I see a good thing in this: the "Europe, Asia, China and the Americas" promise to get a good deal with local providers.
I'm from Mexico and I like the "let's get a short SMS number" idea, because it would come with DM SMS and I love them <3
So, please, Twitter team, think about Latin America as well as Australia.
+1 for Australia, BTW ;)
I’m undecided
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Inappropriate?I am not so much concerned about Australia (even though I live there now): city people should dump the over priced GSM network anyway and make some more progress with wifi (mesh) networks.
My suggestion to twitter would be to sponsor projects like:
* Fonera (share your internet, get free internet everywhere)
* Meraki (mesh networks, they have some dubious things though)
* Openmesh (mesh networks)
Help them get a strong foothold in Australia and virtually nobody will ever need sms anymore.
These technologies are barely available in Australia; partially because of permit issues, partially because Australians don't want them badly enough, yet...
I you were willing to spend $1000 per customer on sms, then sending every user a $50 dollar Fonera / Meraki / Openmesh router sounds like a very cheap deal.
One day we could sing: "Schade Telstra alles ist vorbei, alles ist vorbei..." (that's what the Dutch sing when, if ever, they beat the Germans at footy).
Sjors
I’m seeing an opportunity
2 Comments Add a comment
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Yes & No Meraki just announced this week they will cease production of their standard products which basically rules of community built mesh networks using their kit.
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I think Openmesh is a better alternative: they are completely decentralized as far as I know. They allow you to run any software you want on the routers.
But in the end, I am for anything that gives Australians a taste of community wireless. Once that happens, the competition will follow and no company will try anything funny.
Because the hardware investment is so small (like $50), it is takes only a competitor with $100 million to take over the *entire* market in one go. -
Inappropriate?I am more "concerned" about developing countries. There are 3 billion phones on the planet, most of them are owned by people who do not have Internet yet. I would prioritize good deals with telcos in these countries.
That or you can wait for the competition to do it :-)
I’m confident
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Inappropriate?Indonesia, too, PLEASE >_< -
Inappropriate?Pretty please for Hong Kong too. -
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Inappropriate?Hello Crystal,
Its a sad day for Sri Lankan Twitters too. $1000 per user per year, yeah, its sounds a lot. Thanks for hooking up till now. We will be miss Twitter so much, no need to explain. But hope you guys will talk with our operators and get us back on the track. Also we will post some mails to our operators informing this.
These are our operators contacts:
Mobile Operators: (Ordered by market share)
1, Dialog Telekom (MTN) (60%+ Market Share) : www.dialog.lk
2. Mobitel : www.mobitel.lk
3. Tigo : www.tigo.lk
4. Hutch : www.hutch.lk
Fixed Operators:
1. Lankabell - www.lankabell.lk
2. Suntel - www.suntel.lk (Currently operating a Internet based Free SMS service via www.wow.lk, that'd be helpful.)
3. SLT - www.slt.lk
4. Dialog CDMA (Dialog Telekom - MTN) - www.dialog.lk
Airtel (Coming soon) : www.airtel.lk
Think your talks with our operators will go positive, its a good logic because, twitter indeed increases SMS usage.
We're being hoping so much to get Twitter SMS working again for Sri Lanka.
I’m very sad!
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Inappropriate?I love the sms for the DMs, that's all I pretty much use it for.
Another +1 for Australian deal too.
I’m disheartened
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Inappropriate?This is stupid. It was a great way to keep in contact with my girlfriend easily (who lives overseas) and now it's going to be harder to stay in touch.
I’m annoyed
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Inappropriate?So now I don't have twitter in my IM, and I don't have twitter (DMs only btw) on my phone.
Do you actually want me to use twitter at all?
This is just ridiculous now. -
Inappropriate?Another thing, how about putting a little Donate button on Twitter homepage, we love twitter, we use it everyday, and we need to donate for the service even you guys have your own formula.
I’m thinking....
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Inappropriate?uhh, no advanced notice?
this will certainly affect how my friends and i use twitter here in malaysia.
you've got more users here now, twitter!1 Comment Add a comment
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I second that. It's so frustrating we gotta look for alternatives on twitter copy cats
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Inappropriate?well this just sucks balls, one of the reasons Australians have such a thriving twitter community, with regular meet-ups in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, and Brisbane was the ability to co-ordinate over SMS...
For further rants and reasons, see http://twitter.com/fulltimecasual -
Inappropriate?I was using the sms service for DM's, some weeks I might be lucky to receive 3 sms's from twitter, I did not want to get flooded with sms messages but it was nice to know the service was available. Hopefully twitter will have an agreement with Vodafone so we can have a full sms service again.
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?We have been offering cheap SMS to Twitter for months. I am a twitter user in Australia and I want to see the service operate out of Australia and can make it happen. All it takes is for the Twitter gang to reply to my emails!
Gratuitous plug: http://www.smsc.com.au
2 Comments Add a comment
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Gee, that sounds promising. I hope someone from Twitter reads your post and has a look at this .. as I'm less than optimistic that we now rely on negotiations with AU telcos ...
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Hi, yes I received your email and passed it along to the team. Thanks again!
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Inappropriate?Add one for Malaysian twitterers as well. Contrary to popular beliefs, Twitter has an increasing number of users in this side of the globe too.
Some major mobile carriers:
Celcom
DiGi
Maxis
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?Ditto to shafina & Zana. Twitter users in Malaysia are expanding and the changes made on the mobile notification is definitely gonna effect us.
I’m frustated
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Inappropriate?+1 more for Malaysian users. The various other clients are not a replacement for SMS.
I’m annoyed
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Inappropriate?Considering all the above, I am hoping Biz, Jack and Evan will have a meeting to discuss it and announce plans for a premium service within 24 hours. How about it guys?! It should only take a few days at the most to set up a payment system.
Personally I have been trying to get small businesses on twitter, I am going for a meeting with one later today, but now I have to reconsider telling them about Twitter at all. We'll have to wait and see.
I’m anxious
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Inappropriate?Twitter without SMS is a dead Twitter for me. Please, please, please get SMS up and running in Indonesia. There are 250 million people waiting for it!
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?I can imagine that this is quite frustrating for UK users.
The easy solution, of course, is to simply route tweets through the Hubble telescope. That's right -- it's over 100 times cheaper data through the Hubble telescope than via SMS.
The solution that's actually tenable is for cell phone users to boycott expensive text messaging. £374 per megabyte is ridiculous, and with fees on top of that it's only natural that Twitter can't afford it. Protest with your money, call your cell phone carrier, etc, etc.
I’m disguested with telecoms
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Inappropriate?+1 australia.
sms has been just about the only way i've kept up with twitter. before setting it up I couldn't really see the point in this strange little mini-blog - now with sms being removed I'm not sure I see the point in continuing.
that said - i'll plug along web-wise and live in anticipation of the twitter folk talking round our stubborn ole telco's.
any chance you could please bring back IM updates to lessen the blow. best of luck with aussie telcos. and like ashenphoenix said - let us know if there is anything we can do from this end to help out!
I’m sad
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Inappropriate?Hang on. Australia was mentioned in the blog post, but not on this list. Does anyone care about Australia? Apparently not.
This is the worst possible thing Twitter could have done to fix the problem. Yes, it's expensive, but to keep users you need to negotiate the deal BEFORE you cut the lifeline.
Try capping before you cut. If people are limited to only receiving 20 sms per month they would make sure they only follow the most important things by SMS.
I’m disappointed
1 Comment Add a comment
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@biz acknowledges that it was an oversight on his part to not include Australia in the original blogpost. See http://twitter.com/biz/statuses/88701.... Unfortunately, posts here in GetSatisfaction can't be edited after a 15-min window, so the opening post for this topic page does not include Australia, even though it is their intent to include it.
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Inappropriate?Please, don't forget to add Thailand to list of country to look for. We have a number of twitter-ers here and I really want to have those feature back T___T"
I’m making a wish ..
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Inappropriate?Wow sucks to be an Aussie Twitter user. Kinda makes the service.. well. Not that good. Also, if you're going to organise with local telcos here, try not to get them thinking that it's a media 'service' that they can include with their plans. I.e. Free for telstra but 50c for all other users. That would suck even harder!
I’m sad
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Inappropriate?So what about us people who live in the UK (or going to) and actively use this number? I rely on twitter to communicate with people who can't make it to a computer. :/ This doesn't even seem like an advance notice because there isn't even a date you're shutting off the service.
I hope you get something sorted out soon.
I’m irked.
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Inappropriate?Europe will be starting to wake up now so I wonder how their reaction will be.
I'm guessing a couple "+1"'s won't make the decision for the Twitter team re: in which countries they'll go in discussion with carriers, but if it does - here's a user from the Netherlands who's now going to miss instant DM notifications. (I wasn't using SMS heavily, just receiving rare DM's and tracking my username which didn't work for quite some time now, and never even got close to the 250 SMS limit.)
So, +1 for the Netherlands.
Of course it's fully understandable to reconsider a service that's costing Twitter a lot of money. And an advanced notice wouldn't have even made such a big difference I think. It would have been truely exciting if this would have been announced when there were already some deals made so Twitter could have said "We'll we're stopping the international number for SMS but we're working on deals in various countries. For example, we've already made deals in country A, B, C, D and E."
Right now I'm most worried about the time it will take to get a considerable list of "supported" countries, or in other words - I'm afraid it will take a long time to get SMS available again for the majority of the non US/UK/Canada/Indian users.
I’m reluctant.
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Inappropriate?Good news?? you kidding me?? if i had to fetch the updates on a web browser or on my phone applications then i wouldn't prefer Twitter in this regard. SMS notifications of the happenings, news feeds were the uniqueness in Twitter. and now what, is it ever going to come back? Looks like a major slow down in my day already.. so basically you guys failed?? I've been using Twitter UK number and i'm from Maldives. despite the fact i spent quite a handsome of figure updating twitter on my phone bill. It's a two way street which is not anymore.. i bet my life that this changes will reduce tremendous number of users..
any insight that user like me in Maldives would have the opportunity have the the good old twitter back?
I’m anxious..
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Inappropriate?you'll be loosing a lot of users. The only thing that kept me hooked on twitter while I was trying plurk or identi.ca was receiving SMS updates from friends I still have on twitter.
Think about it. Maybe you should be patient or you will loose market where SMS is not available.
I’m sad
1 Comment Add a comment
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It is hard to be patient of you are bleeding money...
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Inappropriate?oh yeah? Twitteriffic works on iPhone, true! but it doesn't work on standby.. thought on Twiteriffic Premium it would be but guess what its the same and the refreshing the feeds takes at least 5 mins.. i don't want to write about the random hiccups on 'unable to refresh', on that cause i'm not blaming the twiteriffic but the very busy and messed up server of twitter.. god!! i'm furious..
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?Dear Twitter!
I can understand why you need to disable SMS for us non-US-India-Canadians. Your company wants to survive. However, this is not how to survive:
You did not give us any notice in advance to let us prepare for such an important change in a service we use on a daily, maybe even hourly basis, let alone allow us to discuss alternatives with you. This is not what I call a _social_ network.
You did not restore IM services before making that change, therefore effectively disabling the very last Twitter push service that was available. Yes, there's all those fancy apps, but having a five minute delay in time-critical communication is not an option.
You did not introduce a premium service for users who really _need_ the SMS functionality or chose Twitter over competitors mostly because of that feature. And I hope you know that the latter group is a big, in fact a _really_ _frickin_ _big_ part of your user base. Why do we chosse Twitter despite all downtimes, data inconsistencies and whale sightings? Well, they do have this free SMS stuff, right?
You did not enable Tweet archives back before making that change. "Last 10 pages" ist not an archive. People who might want to leave Twitter now can't even export all the interesting stuff they talked about before they leave.
And even though you told us in your blog about "hey, we can discuss it at Get Satisfaction", there's NOT been a SINGLE REPLY by somone of your staff in this thread yet. I rather suspect this thread is to bury people's complaints off-site instead of the blog, where the outrage could scare off new customers.
Come on folks, that's not a "discussion", that's not "social web", this is dictatorship. And for those who say "well, unlike with a dictator, you can still move to another country": Yes, I can. To Identicanada, to Jaikuland or Pownce country. But my dictator doesn't allow me to take all of my belongings with me: only the last 10 pages.
I’m more disappointed than ever
7 Comments Add a comment
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cannot agree with you more..
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If a service is valuable to you you should pay for it. Otherwise you can not put forward much in demands. Since Twitter did not (and still does not) accept payments you have to treat it as a free service. You should have moved earlier to a service that does take money for value provided.
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So, Alex, what you're saying is that if someone lets you live in their house for free, they are perfectly free to throw you out at any time without prior notice, right?
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No - what I am saying is that if someone does let you live in their house for free you should not rely on it - if you need to rely on it you should look for a house where you can pay rent.
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oh Alex, so what is it going to be when you want to pay the rent and yet you do not have a way to pay or another option to go for? do you really know what you are talking about? really? look, its very simple Twitter failed! otherwise there would have been a notice, at least a small sticky on the sidebar just like they do on IM supports. Bullocks!!
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Bullocks it is then.
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Alex, you can surely point me to a Twitter clone that has a paid SMS service and all my Twitter contacts. Or a paid SMS service at all... I think just because something is free, it doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to rely on it. Although, maybe that's just the Twitter attitude: Hey, we're free, don't rely on SMS. Or our uptime. Or that we don't delete or otherwise screw up your data. (Yes they did.)
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Inappropriate?just one quick question?? is this a discussion left alone for the users?? Why is non of the reps opening their mouth in here.. we are here to discuss but we need some to answer some.. damn you twitter!!
if you are not surviving financially, then let the users pay to use or ask for donations. come on! let's be more realistic, we understand if that is the case and believe me i would do whatever it takes to have the sms notifications, my concern - my news feeds via twitter plus friends in line there..
I’m out of my mind!!
2 Comments Add a comment
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I would imagine most of the Twitter reps are based on the west coast of America - which would make it around 5am now, which'd mean they're sleeping. I'm sure - or I *hope* - that they will respond to this thread ASAP. They need to...
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I doubt we'll see them... If they really wanted to interact, I suspect they would have used their own blog....
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1 Comment Add a comment
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Valuable post ;-)
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Inappropriate?Ooo am I the first UKer?
No advanced notice is very very very crappy customer service. Unless something happened that caused them to pull it fast, that even they were unaware was going to happen.
So basically, there is no point using twitter now since all my updates were via sms.
And since we're all saying the same thing, I'd imagine there is no point anyone from twitter replying until the rest of Europe has woken up and started adding their bit in. There is only so many times they can say "sorry, we're working on a solution".
I'd be happy to pay a reasonable cost to receive tweets via sms, or to receive a small number of adverts, so long as they came via twitter and my mobile number wasn't shared out anyplace.
I’m frustrated
3 Comments Add a comment
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Even if something happened to make them pull it fast, this should have been communicated. Honesty is a pretty damn good policy
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there's a notsheep way way above you nattyem :) I'm with you on this too - I enjoyed twitter on a daily basis but most ppl just aren't going to use it without updates to phone. Feel sorry for friends on holiday who've just had the plug pulled and won't even know why.
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there's a notsheep way way above you nattyem :) I'm with you on this too - I enjoyed twitter on a daily basis but most ppl just aren't going to use it without updates to phone. Feel sorry for friends on holiday who've just had the plug pulled and won't even know why.
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Inappropriate?I just found a email from twitter saying the sms service is terminating today and the good news is Europe will get sms numbers. Will be interesting to see what the anti-twitter camp will say about this development, given the other changes that have happened recently. Twitter is slowly giving people reasons to join other services.
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Inappropriate?+1 for The Netherlands, +1 for willing to pay for monthly SMS notifications, +1 for a timeline (if Twitter will fix SMS as fast as, say, IM notifications then I'm better off building my own SMS notification instead of waiting for the service to rapidly lose its value)
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?I only recently moved to the UK, and one of the things that I really enjoyed about living here was the ability to receive SMS updates for certain friends while I was on the go. I never felt the need to upgrade my 4-year-old mobile phone to a newer one because Twitter supports SMS updates.
This is just so depressing, I can't believe I won't be able to use Twitter to see what my friends are up to when I'm not at home. Such a sad day.
P.S. and yes I'd be glad to pay for the SMSs I receive.
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?hello there,
I am from czech (europe), I don't know how much it costs to send there, but well, if I received one or two SMS ads per day, I would not really care... would it cover the costs, to send some SMS ads few times a day?
I’m a little sad
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Inappropriate?Without the ability to receive tweets by SMS, Twitter is effectively dead in the UK. While SMS is hugely popular in the UK, many of us here have no mobile internet on our phones (and many of us don't want it).
So I can still send updates via SMS - but other than those followers who sit at their computers all day, nobody will see it. And I won't see tweets from anyone else until I sit down at my computer. Communication is supposed to be two-way, not the equivalent of a bunch of people shouting in soundproof boxes.
I'm disappointed that Twitter has taken this decision, and even more disappointed that there was no notice, and no alternatives (such as a paid-for service) offered.
I’m feeling that Twitter just said "screw the UK users".
1 Comment Add a comment
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...And the Australian users... And the Israeli, Serbian, etc etc etc... Y'know, I think it's more "Screw you unless you're in the USA and Canada and... where else?"
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Inappropriate?Twitter has been paying the bill for us - now they can't sustain it anymore. Totally reasonable. I hope this will lead to a business model as there seems to be plenty of demand and some willingness to pay, too. I'd be - not $1000 per year maybe - but I do not think I am one of those heavy hitters.
Anyway - ease up people. You have not paid a dime so far and it is not very kind to yell at somebody giving stuff out for free.
I’m reasonable
2 Comments Add a comment
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Cheese and Rice!! reasonable? you don't get it, do you? nvm
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Philosophical answer - but you miss the point. The issue is they offered a valuable service, then took away the most valuable bits. It would be like your ISP removing the capacity to send or receive emails, or your telephone provider restricting you so that you could only call people in the same street as you.
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Inappropriate?bah - not happy, methinks that uk sms providers are knuckleheads for failing to see the value
I’m miffed that sms is going away
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Inappropriate?First, I've just received this message and I'd encourage others to send it as a reduction in twitter volume within a day will show far better to Twitter how annoyed people are. Perhaps this is the first twitter chain letter....
Twitter Strike! No Tweets on 18 Aug to support cut off SMS users http://tinyurl.com/6y6a69 Please re-tweet this message to your followers.
Yes, Twitter was free but the no notice thing is not really on - I know some people use twitter within their business (e.g. for server monitoring) and would have paid for a service if this had been offered first. It's bad customer service and wont help reputation.
I was also considering using twitter to contact our local first aid and emergency response volunteers which would have relied on SMS. This now cant happen.
My letter to twitter is as follows:
"I have to say that this means a death of twitter for me. I currently use a Nokia E90 phone and I know there are services such as Cellity and also Gizmo which report twitters in a similar way to text but I dont want a bloated application that also does voip, email, messaging etc as they have a tendency to take over your phone (I've tried them!). Text messaging was nice and simple, and the Nokia's support a Nokia app called Conversations which threads your messages allowing all my twitter stuff to be grouped.
Yes, I could use email but the UK data connections are typically $2 per day minimum charge (this also affects other apps) if you dont have an unlimited data plan and I'm not keen on flooding my inbox with twitters as it will affect other ways I deal with my mail. I personally pay the extra for an unlimited plan which costs me in the region of $150 a year. I doubt people will switch to this just to continue receiving twitters..
I'd suggest that very quickly you partner with a software company to develop a phone app that does twitter alone and is probably java based (and hopefully also a native version for Nokia s60). Such support should have been better considered before cutting your users off.
I know many friends who use twitter for things like server monitoring and giving them no notice of the cutoff is completely unacceptable. I understand the costs are a problem and you provide a free service but withdrawing it at a moments notice does nothing for your reputation as a company "
I’m really annoyed
2 Comments Add a comment
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twitter has not not shown any respect to it's users, that's what this is about. they should be ashamed of their-self when they say good news and bad news..
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I agree with this. They should be ashamed.
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Inappropriate?Very very disappointed with the lack of communication with users before sms notifications were removed, also that Australia is being looked over once again *sigh*
I’m at my wits end
2 Comments Add a comment
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I agree - "We Good news and Bad News.... SURPRISE - It's ALL BAD NEWS! :D"
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The good news was "Hey, there's a bucketload of bad news, but we feel GREAT about it personally".
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Inappropriate?Unfortunately TwitterBerry doesn't work for me (0.6 gives me constant "Network Request Failed" messages), so I use IM on the BlackBerry...but of course twitter's IM service is still not working! It really would have been nice to sort that out before cutting SMS. Now identi.ca's IM works perfectly....might be the last straw to make a serious move there.
I’m sad
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Inappropriate?Very disappointing, I've only just turned on SMS comments from my favourite twitter friends. I do have an iPhone running Twitterlator so I guess it's not the end of the world. The incoming SMS's were just a nice distraction throughout my day. You think they would have sorted out the IM issue before cutting SMS.
I’m extremely disappointed
1 Comment Add a comment
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Twitter was always doomed for bankruptcy... Biz Stone's "genious" is that everyone watched him because nobody could work out how the f' twitter would ever make money.
What we're seeing is a final death throw perhaps? Cutting down expenses just to survive long enough until they can work out how to make Twitter profitable? -
Inappropriate?If anyone is planning on using the mobile twitter website now that SMS's have been removed in most countries, I would suggest http://m.tweete.net . Its implemented all the most common features of twitter, with minimal page size. At the moment each page is around 5k, which is 1/5th the size of slandr and the same size as the mobile web client released by twitter, just with more features.
I’m confident
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Inappropriate?That's irritating. Is there any chance you can still forward DMs but not normal tweets? THat should save costs and still be useful
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?Twitter is now substantially less useful. It's gone from a passive broadcast service to an active "requires my attention just to check if someone has DM'd me" service. Oh, and DMs don't work on m.twitter.com, so it's not even close to an equivalent service.
I’m disappointed that Twitter is now useless
5 Comments Add a comment
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try http://m.tweete.net for DM features, and @replies
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...which is not by Twitter, is therefore pull instead of push, means a delay and eats API calls. Also, should I really need to give my password to a third party to use basic functionality?
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i agree, but given the situation, its better than using m.twitter.com if you want the features. Just offering a suggestion to the remark you made: "Oh, and DMs don't work on m.twitter.com, so it's not even close to an equivalent service."
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If Twitter tell us to use their own site for this, they should offer an alternative, equivalent, service instead of penalising those of us who don't have iPhones and mobile Safari. They're not doing that, they're just removing whole swathes of useful functionality for the majority of users.
Also, I refuse to use an external service until Twitter provide a secure, token-based authentication toolset that won't require me to enter my password into random websites. See Fireeagle for an example of how to do it properly. -
fair enough - I can understand where you're coming from
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Inappropriate?Wow, that really kind of sucks.
a) My phone is quite old and I can't use any of the alternate methods.
b) I live in a small European country and chances are probably not really good that we get our own national Twitter number.
Bleh.
I’m frustrated
4 Comments Add a comment
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My phone is also unable to use the alternative methods...
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what country are you in?
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I'm from Austria.
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I'm from Austria.
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Inappropriate?mate - you just killed every aussie users from twitter!.. this was twitters 'killer concept' keep in touch with your friends via SMS. this was the whole point of twitter! this is the only reason you got popular so quickly..
now you got what? nothing more then a small web based blog..
this sucks guys - us aussies are not pleased~!
I’m PISSED OFF AUSSIE
1 Comment Add a comment
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But blogs are rare and valuable!... oh, wait.. That's blogs that can use 140+ characters
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Inappropriate?I understand your reasons but you cannot give a feature to users and then take it away once they are dependent on it. WE HAVE BEEN GOOD TO YOU. Sure we bitch about the downtime but we didn't go away, did we? We waited patiently while you fixed (and continue to attempt to) fix it. To say to a loyal, nay, _fanatical_ fanbase, "hey, thanks for sticking by us -- by the way, we're taking away stuff you like" is incredibly arrogant. You need us too, you know. It's not all one-way.
A better compromise would have been to do something like limiting SMS notifications to only DMs, and only 50 a week; that or help users push their email notifications through a third-party which sends SMS. Even giving users an option to pay for their notifications -- a lot of us would gladly pay to help you out.
C'mon, guys, seriously. Another +1 for Australia. Put something else in place for us.
I’m immensely displeased
1 Comment Add a comment
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Couldn't agree more. Loyalty is rewarded... By a "Jam it, you're too expensive to worry about" message.
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Inappropriate?Oh, I'm first from Serbia? But there are others, too.
Among all other services and communities I always preferred Twitter.
I am 3690's registered user, and it's been quite a while now since I started using this service.
One main reason was it was a service to take away wherever you go on your mobile, and stay tuned with the channels you choose.
This cutting down of sms delivery and DM is like missing the whole point.
Twitter without it, is like any other community and now there's nothing to keep me there.
Such a great idea, and such failure!!!
I'm also disappointed that no one form Twitter had answered or post any word of to these people that are expecting answers and starting a discussion.
Quote:
Biz said...
Hey folks, if you want to discuss this with us, we have an open thread on our Get Satisfaction forum.
8/13/08 6:38 PM
So, Biz Stone's invitation on the Twitter blog seems to be just a politically correct way to say : "Take it or leave it". With that kind of attitude the Twitter crew should soon become "Progress bar observers" when users start to leave.
There is one old Jewish curse that would be appropriate:
"May you have something good and then - loose it."
Or maybe...this is a good chance for some other company to come out with better concept for this kind of service?
Or maybe...we should not cry because it's over and just smile because it happened.
:(
I’m pissed
1 Comment Add a comment
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You're right - poorly executed on Biz's behalf.
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Inappropriate?What a dumb move from a customer satisfaction perspective. I am really disappointed that you don't have a viable alternative, like a paid service or individual agreements with mobile operators, in place. Twitter via email? Sorry, that's no alternative. E-mails are not instant and most folks don't have a blackberry.
You're getting sms at wholesale rates, so why don't you offer that users buy sms credits via paypal (or similar). I cannot see that this carrier agreement thing will work out in any sensible amount of time as you have had enough time to work towards such an agreement already.
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?Switching off the UK SMS service seriously dents Twitter's usefulness. It was nice while it lasted.
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?Where does Africa fit in in all of this? No mention of evening planning in the remote future :(
I’m frustrated
2 Comments Add a comment
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Twitter is now dead in Africa.
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yeah, how about Africa?
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Inappropriate?It makes financial sense for twitter. However I think many of us would be happier if the 'older' link was back up and running. How are those of us for whom mobile internet is incredibly expensive to use and who cannot have a client open constantly supposed to 'catch up' on tweets. It sort of the defeats the object of twitter if you can only see the last 15.
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?+1 UK, I suppose. I'm well aware that UK mobile phone providers are notoriously expensive, so this isn't unsurprising to me, but still a shame. Hope something gets worked out soon. Mark me out as someone who'd be willing to pay a bit of money (maybe less than $1000 a year, but some) for a premium accoun with outbound SMS.
I’m resignedly sad.
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Inappropriate?I understand the reasoning, but man, this sucks. Hope we get a Dutch number soon.
I’m grrrr
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Inappropriate?I don't use SMS for Twitter, as I have an iPhone with Twitteriffic. But I am seeing a lot of tweets from people who do, saying they'd be happy to pay to receive. Surely Twitter would like a slice of that money - turn sending SMSes from a cost into a profit. You'll have to move fast though - while people are still missing the option and prepared to fork out to get it back. -
Inappropriate?Very much agree with many of the comments above. The DM feature via SMS has been one of the most useful and valuable parts for me. I'll have to remember to get the phone numbers of all my buddies now, so when using for meetups, urgent news, business discussions, and so on, not rely on the DM but text them the old fashioned way. Maybe we've all begun to use twitter for more than we should. But that's because we like it, it worked, it enabled us to join up with so many more people. Surely the users/members of a service should help shape the future of it...?
I'm concerned also about exclusion of people who don't have web enabled phones not only in the UK but other countries too, the SMS feature enabled participation by a wider community.
I’m miffed a little about this, but hopeful they'll get something sorted.
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Inappropriate?Very unhappy user in the UK!
Understand your reasons but totally unacceptable to do this without any prior warning.
What are the plans for the UK in the future. You say there are plans for SMS notifications in Europe but does this include the UK or is Twitter dead in the water for UK users?
Also great timing in doing this in the middle of the Olympics!! Have the US (sorry aka. Phelps!) not won enough Gold Medals?
I’m annoyed
1 Comment Add a comment
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Lack of notice is SOO not right.
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Inappropriate?I've set up a Facebook campaign in the UK to pressurise the mobile operators to cut a decent deal. Join it here - http://bit.ly/2VUdNr - or set up your own for your own country and let me know about it here: http://bit.ly/32LFP22 Comments Add a comment
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Good one Paul!
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I've signed up too
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Inappropriate?Kind of defeats the whole object. Why pay 25p to update the internet?!?
(And yes, for those who've not seen their bill lately, your "free" texts to the UK number aren't included in your bundle, and are 25p)
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?Hehe I just read the quote in Dear2World's post above where @Biz invited us to come to GetSatisfaction and I realize it's quite funny to see how few people are getting satisfaction in the place where Biz is directing them to in order to get satisfaction.
I'm not angry like a lot of the other people here and I'm sure the Twitter team was smart enough to foresee such a response. They must be aware that the more features get disabled, the harder they have to work to make Twitter better than the alternatives.
I'm using Twitter for fun only so I'm willing to give them time to sort things out. Not forever, but I'm not in a rush.
I like the suggestion from Josh Sharp: re-enable SMS again but only for 50sms each week, and DM only.
I’m amused
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Inappropriate?By the way, I'm wondering if this really is a decision Twitter took voluntary. Maybe they were forced by the company they dealt with for the special UK number?
I mean, if they'd been planning this for a while already they could have notified us in advance and present some immediate alternatives.
Don't mean to start rumours, just thinking out loud. -
Inappropriate?I won't be using Twitter any more - without SMS it has no unique value to offer. In fact, it has nothing that Jaiku doesn't, while Jaiku has literally dozens of improvements over Twitter - threaded discussions being the hugest of those improvements, but there are plenty of others too.
Twitter SMS was killed (imnsho) by the people posting to it every ten/fifteen minutes from IM, from web, from clients. If it had stayed SMS only on the input side, I bet it would still have manageable volumes on the output side - and it would still have that unique micro-blogging feel too, whereas these days it can often feel more like an IRC network with a really crappy UI.
I’m outta here
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Inappropriate?Oh dear.
The main reason I used Twitter was due to its SMS service. It was fantastic because I would receive Tweets in real time, sent to my phone. Now I have to go to m.twitter.com manually every now and aga