DTAC & SMS

[poobaisle]

Hello folks,

Anybody knows why I cannot send SMS with my DTAC prepaid card. Everything is configured properly, I have a positive balance of 150 THB, I can receive SMS but I cannot send any of them. Is there a different credit for SMS or a quota or something like that. So anoying...

[mtls2005]

Can you share any detail?

Is this a new problem? Is this a new phone? Were you able to send SMSes before, but then something changed? Can you reply to a received SMS?

What type of phone: exact make/model.

How do you know you cannot send an SMS? Are you receiving some sort of error message?

 

[Aeiou7]

I have two other problems regarding "DTAC & SMS", that's why I'm posting in this thread.

 

My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, I have a DTAC prepaid number and a 4.5 GB/month mobile data internet subscription.

 

1) Sometimes SMS that are sent to me from other Thai numbers don't arrive on my phone. I don't know if it only happens when they were sent from another Thai mobile network, so far I did not see a pattern. For the sender it looks as if the SMS was delivered to me.

Does anyone else have this problem or know something about it?

 

2) I noticed that something is eating up my balance when I didn't make any calls or send any SMS, but just using mobile data with enough data credit left and receiving mostly spam SMS.

Now I called DTAC Call Center and I was told that I had "SMS service" activated which I don't think I ever did on purpose. The agent asked me if I wanted this service to be cancelled and I agreed. Just after this 3'50" call I got another spam SMS from "Gameloft" and my balance went down another 3 baht, maybe also for my call to the call center.

On http://www.dtac.in.th/sms-packages.html I don't see how received SMS are charged, with or without the "SMS service", but only the number of SMS that is included in their SMS packages. The agent told me that received SMS are also charged, but due to language problems it wasn't that clear in which situations (with or without "SMS service"). He told me that sending domestic SMS costs me 2 baht/SMS which is fine for me, but I definitely don't want to pay for receiving spam SMS.

Does anyone have a clear insight about DTAC's SMS charging policies?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[mtls2005]

SMS is not a guaranteed service. Messages are not stored. A few attempts are made then the message is discarded.

 

Can you share any details re: issues #1? How often does this happen? How do you know SMSes are actually sent, but not received? How many different numbers have issues sending you an SMS? Can you send an SMS to them? I guess it could be related to 4G/LTE, in that the handset must negotiate back to 3G from 4G/LTE to send/receive an SMS, just as it does with vice calls. I can both send and receive SMSes with DTAC to any'all providers. 

 

What sort of phone do you have? Perhaps the SMSC needs to be manually configured?

 

Here in Thailand we do not pay for receiving SMSes, nor do we pay for receiving voice calls. (Third-party SMS service providers charge for the service: usually per day, or per message.)

 

It sounds like you've (accidentally; don't feel bad, it's very easy to do by accident) subscribed to one or more third-party SMS services (lucky lottery, horoscope, football scores, etc.). DTAC is not the provider but they do handle billing. Once you start seeing these SMSes make sure you contact DTAC, or the third-party, to cancel the service and request credit/compensation.

 

I think DTAC charges a flat fee of 3 baht for any call to 1678 (maybe 3.21 with VAT?). Every mobile provider charges for calls to fixed-lines (02) and 4-digit; these are not included in any bundled minutes.

Edited September 30, 2016 by mtls2005

[Aeiou7]

I'm aware of 2 not received SMS in the last few months. There might have been other not received SMS that I am not aware of.
I know that the 2 SMS were sent because the senders showed me their SMS communication on their phone incl. the ones sent to me.
The problem happened with two different Thai phone numbers, so far only once per number. At other times SMS did arrive from the same numbers.
I was able to send SMS to these numbers without any problems, they were properly received, even the same day as I didn't receive the ones sent to me.

 

Someone tried to call me recently and always got a message "This number is not assigned" or something like that. Earlier and later again all worked fine for the same caller. Maybe this is somehow related to the not received SMS, but it didn't happen the same day. I asked DTAC Call Center but they didn't know anything... 

 

Problem #2 is resolved now, it was indeed a subscription that happened after I clicked on a link in a "Gameloft" spam SMS. Thanks a lot, mtls2005!