Thursday, September 29, 2011

Messages that I will miss post SMS limit..


Update (as on 2nd Nov, 2011): TRAI has increased the SMS limit from 100 to 200 per day. Good news for those who hated the 100 SMS cap, but beware, telemarketing messages might also double!! The below mentioned post was written when the cap was a mere 100 / day. Hope you will enjoy reading it!! 

The Indian Government's telecom body - TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has decided to regulate the number of SMS sent by one user per day to a mere 100 !! Though it has come as a relief for many who were pestered with marketing calls, some people aren't happy about it. Especially people who send 100's and 100's of messages to their loved one(s) hour-in hour-out. 
People sending sweet-nothings throughout the day aren't happy either
To be honest with you, this 100 sms limit is really great news for most of us. Even after applying for DND (Do Not Disturb), I kept on getting sms's on various promotions (most of which didn't even concern me). And those are the messages I will miss from now on (sarcasm intended). With no regrets at all. Some of the topics / messages are as below:

1. You have won 500,000 GBP in <some promotion> Call Mr. Mark on <some number>
--> I know its a spam. I know no one will get this money and people will fall in the trap. But let's think of it the other way round. Trust me, it made me feel a lot better knowing that I have options other than my salary. A hope that I can fall back on -  in times of need. 500,000 GBP is a lot of money !! It takes care of my retirement needs, safe future, family needs, their family needs, society needs, needs that don't even exist !! I will miss this feeling !! 

2. Dr Batra's daily messages to treat hair fall (I don't remember the exact message)
--> I have absolutely no idea why this happens. First and foremost, I don't have any hair problems. God know where they got my number from !! God knows how they shortlist people to whom such messages should be sent. But let's think of it the other way round. There's a feeling that people who don't even know you, are concerned about you. Who knows, Batra's might be thinking long term !! Hair fall can happen to anyone and everyone. They are just telling us to remember them in times of need !! How caring !! (I know even this is spam and the fact that they send the message to all the numbers they have in their database).

3. Job offers from sites I haven't registered to and not in sync with my profile.
--> There are 'n' number of job sites who keep on messaging me frequently about job openings that are not even related to my current profile. I don't visit job sites. I once had registered to many sites when I thought I won't get through campus placements (It was the year 2009 - The Great Recession). But let's think of it the other way round. We study so that we can work and support the family. Hence, job is important to us. Also, having options in life is always better than having no options at all. So, based on the previous two statements, we can safely deduce that having job options are always better. Which is precisely why I will miss such messages. So what if the profile doesn't match? Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath were engineers and now they are managing Karnataka Cricket Board !!! And they are doing extremely well.

4. Insurance from <provider name>
--> Once you have a job, the next thing in life that one has to do is, ironically, insurance !! Unfortunately, that's how it works with most of the freshers. The moment they start getting their salary, they realize that they are in the 10% income bracket (10% will go to the government as tax). So, they have to invest. Enter insurance, ironically again !! But, once again, let's think of it the other way round. This one is similar to point no 3. So, having more insurance options will help maximize one's return and at the same time, will minimize risk (by keeping all the eggs in different baskets). Needless to say, I will miss such messages.

I apologize to all the other messages I missed in this post. But as they say, all good things come to an end... for better things in life!!

13 comments:

  1. I am not at all happy....but then BBM helps. And also mobile internet. But yeh no more crappy advertisement messages. I get mostly the ' register with us and study in the best university of scotland andlondon'

    ReplyDelete
  2. sigh! why police the sms?

    And Dr.Batra? these folks are simply crazy.

    Anyways, twitter has a limit too these days, they block the account if you cross the tweet limit.

    And yesterday, I was asked to do a word verification because blogger said I am blogging too much >:<

    ReplyDelete
  3. LOL...I'm happy as there are people who will send you messages on half hourly basis. Thank you TRAI...Nicely written...

    Saru

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Red Handed: You get the msg regarding the best univ in Scotland?? Wow, thats ... well... interesting :D

    @Chintan: Its funny I used to get Dr Batra's spam msg !! I used to laugh abt it, but over a period of time, it wasnt funny anymore.. And yes, you are blogging frequently !! :) Thats great..

    @Saru: They wont anymore !! A special thanks to TRAI...

    ReplyDelete
  5. A loss for youth, they express their feelings, jokes, tips through SMS. Also forced to maintain one more SIMs.

    thanks

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yes Krishna, its surely a loss for today's youngsters... But, they will also get a chance to 'talk' rather than msgs all the time :P

    ReplyDelete
  7. lol :D Well, I'm too late in commenting on this post but this is so damn apt :D Dr. Batra seems very eager to sow back every fallen hair from my scalp:P

    ReplyDelete
  8. Plz explain y the Govt. doesnt use the DND effecively?? It takes atleast 40-60 days for the pesky calls to stop? And plz explain the highly intelligent TRAI officers that a sim hardly cost 30 bucks now. A tele-marketer can buy 100 sim and send calls to ten thousand nos. by a single handset. All he has to do is forward the msg till excess limit is reached and den swap d sim.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks Rahul for the comments... Lots of questions / statements buddy.. Let me see if I can answer them..

    1. Govt cannot use DND effectively.. coz there is a certain strike rate for Pesky sms's. Even if 1 sms gets converted into business, it will translate into tax which govt get. They cannot hamper their tax business, can they? Same logic applies to tobacco companies..
    2. Regarding SIM cards becoming cheap, I agree with you.. And that's why Govt has (on paper) strict rules to apply for SIM card.. Its never implemented, that's another story.. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ashwini: The news is good for us, but I dont think they will be away forever.. There are many ways, some mentioned in the comment above, through which they will come back to haunt us again!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I want At least 500 massage every day this is not fair we pay for it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. @Rahul: To be honest buddy, we don't (directly) pay for it anymore.. Its free now-a-days.. Indirectly, yes you are right, we pay for it (through tariffs)..

    ReplyDelete

All yours..

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