Rogers Email-to-Text Changes...

[Redth]

Hello Everyone,

I recently subscribed to Rogers (about 2 months ago it must be by now), and have noticed a change in sms/text messaging service. I've tried doing a bit of research on google, and came up with only a couple of pages relevant to the service.

Particularly, I used to use the Email-to-Text service which allowed you to send an email to yourphonesnumber@pcs.rogers.com and that would be received on your phone as a text message. The other day, when someone sent me an email, a message came up saying that I had received a message and should reply to the message to subscribe to Email-to-Text service.... I thought this was a bit odd, as I had used the service many times before, but i did it anyways.

Now, whenever I receive a message from someone emailing to that address, I get a message telling me that a message has arrived, but i need to replay 'read' to get the actual message. Of course, this ends up costing my 10 cents (if i'm over my 25 messages/month text messaging plan) per message i receive.

Is anyone else upset at the change in service recently? From what I gather, they implemented this new system in different areas of canada at different times. I'm in Guelph ontario right now, and it has seemed to just gone into effect here.

I have since then sent 3 emails to Rogers complaining about the change, and asking for more information about it. The first reply i got avoided the issue and told me how to unsubscribe from the service. The second reply (after i fired off an angry reply) told me that if i was having trouble receiving text messages, to call up a number to get help with using my phone. After that, i sent an even angrier reply back. They are totally dodging the issue here, and not listening to what i'm actually asking. I don't think it's out of incompetence either, i think they are intentionally avoiding the issue.

Anyways, what really upsets me is that they did all of this without one word of notification, or explanation to the changes. Just one day stuff stopped working how it normally did. That really upsets me.

I'd like to hear from anyone who may know a bit more about this situation, or who may have already contacted rogers about it. I know it's just another money making scheme for them, and if that really is their goal, i would almost consider paying a bit more/month just to get the old service back, however ideally it would be included in text messaging plans. They're already sucking 7$ more/month out of me for callerid/text messaging plan... My phone bill is pretty crazy when all is said and done.

The alternative I've used since then is to tell people the website they can go to to send me text messages (http://www.rogers.com/textmessage). When people send from here, it still is delivered the old way to my phone. This would work ok for me if they didn't have that "enter the word you see below" type validation for sending a message, in which case i could make a program that would automatically use the webpage to relay emails sent to a certain address...

Enough of my rambling, I hope other people are finding this subtle change as annoying as me.... are you?

 

[Woodchuck]

hi there,

just so i understand you correctly.

before:
- e-mail sent to your phone was converted to text message
- absolutely free, no matter how many you received

now:
- e-mail sent to your phone gives you a notification, to which you have to replay 'read' to download the message to see it
- this debits from your monthly 25 text message allowance (10 cents/message thereafter)

if the above is correct, i would be pissed too!!

what is sickening is the sheer greed and lengths these large companies will go to in order to milk as much money as they can.

when you read about their service plans, it is pretty pathetic that they even charge **you** the time it takes for someone to leave you a voice mail. even more absurd is when someone else on the same service calls you (ie. same provider cell-to-cell call), in this case **both** callers get dinged.

not to mention bill by the minute, regardless of how much of that minute you actually use. not to mention the lack of *true* pay as you go plans (the money you deposit for "pay as you go" does not stay there forever until you use it up. it actually expires monthly... so in reality you still end up paying monthly)...

well my point in this, is that i'm not at all surprised. there is no accountability anymore. who do they have to answer to? nobody. and surely not to us, the ones paying them.

is it just me, or is there something wrong here??

 

[Paranoid Dot Calm]

I don't have a Rogers phone or whatever because I can't afford one.

But, I'll tell yuh what puts me over the edge .....

When I'm late paying my cable bill, they send some clown over to my home and he drops a notice of disconnection in my mail box. (They don't even knock on my door.)

That home delivery or notice cost me 25 bucks on my bill!

I've had the service for 5 years and they know full well that I may be late paying at times, but I always pay.

I'm on a fixed income of $235 bucks after my rent/hydro/cable is paid ... so 25 bucks is a lot of money.

And... Yuh know what else they do ...
When you sign up they give you a month free. But, when you cancel their service, they charge you 79 bucks for disconnection.
I found this out as I downgraded my service to "basic" cable recently in an attempt to save money. Jezz! It almost bankrupted me.

Before I die, I'm gonna find a Rogers van and flatten all the tires.

Calm

 

[mmontano]

You are not the only one with frustrations with Rogers Email->Text service.

It regularly does not send all of the messages I know that have been sent. Junk mail filter gone wild.

It also is now 'incompatible' with notification services provided by Airlines, Weather alerts, news alerts.

As a regular traveller to the US, it's even worse. The 'alert' may be free, but when I send that magic "R" message, it costs me $0.40 (plus tax)... EVEN if I have the unlimited text-message plan.

What took 3-5 seconds and 3 key strokes now takes a MINIMUM of 15 key strokes and on average about two minutes to get the message content.

Most folks cannot figure out how to send/reply to an SMS message. This wasn't an issue until now.

My wife wants to switch to an alternative carrier, and this is one reason.

Calling Rogers customer service is not a useful exercise. It is a service that currently cannot be switched back to the 'way-it'was.' Customer Service can turn it off so you don't get any email messages at all.

Send a note to your local Rogers Wireless office.

We should be moving towards things that:
- cost less
- faster
- easier.

But that has not been the case here.

 

[Redth]

RE: Rogers Email-to-Text

Yes, i Completely agree.

Out of all my customer service email attempts, I finally got a reply saying that you can 'allow' certain email addresses or entire domains to send messages to you, however i have done so, and nothing changes. They claim that allowing email addresses will send the message straight to you without having to reply. Doesn't seem to be the case.

Rogers has messed up all services. They also messed up how mms messages are sent. Most providers send pictures for instance as an attatchment to an email. For things like blogs, this is a very useful thing to do... I helped write some code for www.electricdiary.com for some of the picture blogging. I had to write a scenerio that would specifically work with my phone. The picture gets embedded into the email in an odd fashion instead of attached. It also sends mms emails as being 'from picturemessaging@pcs.rogers.com' or something similar, not from your phone's actual number. This causes more problems in a blogging service. I have to send emails to a different account which then forwards them to the blog email address just so that the service can identify who the message was from.

I'm really annoyed with rogers services. Everything seems proprietary, and aimed at squeezing every nickel from customers. Not a good way to conduct business...

 

[Mok]

RE: Rogers Email-to-Text

i'm really ticked off about Rogers changeover to the new system also.

i guess since they now own fido they have the monopoly in the GSM market in Canada so they can do whatever they want.

I have heard people calling in and getting some sort of temporary compensation to this, but what about the long run? I suggest people send a complaint to rogers and let them know how consumers feel, either through telephone or by mail. That way they know that their users are not happy and hopefully will make a chance to satisfy their customers.

 

[BrickHost]

Does anyone know the Rogers SNPP or Server/Protocol for Rogers SMS servers? I'm going to create a work-around and will certainly post the solution here if one can be found. Thank you for your time.

 

[Redth]

RE: Rogers Email-to-Text

I'm looking for the server, but can't seem to find roger's SNPP server address anywhere :/ ... I would imagine they'd be using SNPP, but perhaps not, they make everything else proprietary...

I thought maybe that it would be possible to see what's going on with their sms program you can download. When i get a chance maybe I'll download it, and see if i can sniff out the address it's connecting to...

 

[BrickHost]

We've programmed a work-around. It's a PHP script that you upload to your webspace (ISP or actual hosting account), and after configuring it with the POP3 email account you want checked, along with the phone number you want email sent to, it will check the account each minute. It's not a complete solution as it will only work with one specified account, but it converts the message body and sends it directly via SMS. You may then want to setup one catch all mobile account and have any potential message forwarded there. However, no more reply to read, and it's nearly instant, I know that email to txt would take anywhere from 5 minutes to eternity.

If you'd like a copy of the zip file, simply email scripts@brickhost.com, if you can edit HTML, or PHP in this case, and FTP, then this may be a solution for the Email to TXT "improvement/enhancement".

 

[Redth]

awesome work! I'll give you a shout at that email address, i'm extremely interested in what snpp servers are being used. I'd like to implement my own solution actually (i do a lot of coding in c# and know enough php to get around)... Very nice solution, can't wait to see it!

 

[BrickHost]

After a few requests, I've posted the zip file of the script online. Download it here: http://www.brickhost.com/RogersE2T.zip

 

[no1important]

I switched to Bell for my cell and TV viewing pleasure because Rogers had crappy cell service( many calls just ended mid call?!?!?) Bell I find has more reliable coverage and no dropped calls, yet anyways. Rogers left Vancouver some years ago but Satellite TV has much more selection and it is all digital unlike Shaw's so called digital.

 

[BrickHost]

Just an update on the work around, we've also developped a PHP system that can run straight off a webserver, simply set it up as a Chron Job, which means no local work for your system and far more reliable.

Updated files here: http://www.brickhost.com/RogersE2T.zip

 

[bird]

RE: Rogers Email-to-Text

I ran into this problem a while back - and customer support treated me like an idiot! (What do you mean it doesn't work like before - we haven't changed anything - maybe you subscribed to something.. blah blah.)

Andrew:
Nice work with the SMS relay script. Works 99.9%.... Any idea how to get to include the senders name / address? I'm gonna start tinkering later this week - I'll let you know of any progress.

 

[bird]

RE: Rogers Email-to-Text

I ran into this problem a while back - and customer support treated me like an idiot! (What do you mean it doesn't work like before - we haven't changed anything - maybe you subscribed to something.. blah blah.)

Andrew:
Nice work with the SMS relay script. Works 99.9%.... Any idea how to get to include the senders name / address? I'm gonna start tinkering later this week - I'll let you know of any progress.

 

[bird]

RE: Rogers Email-to-Text

I ran into this problem a while back - and customer support treated me like an idiot! (What do you mean it doesn't work like before - we haven't changed anything - maybe you subscribed to something.. blah blah.)

Andrew:
Nice work with the SMS relay script. Works 99.9%.... Any idea how to get to include the senders name / address? I'm gonna start tinkering later this week - I'll let you know of any progress.

 

[ncnmra]

Rogers is a bunch of underhanded greedy ba$tards.

I used the Email to text service a LOT especially for eBay auctions and Yahoo reminders. The idea that I now have to reply to a message to receive a message is idiotic.

I too wrote to customer service and got the same bull$shit response...they say this method is to prevent SPAM, I think that is a total lie.

I tried the "allowing" feature but it doesn't work.

The fact that I have to TYPE and send a message is moronic and the MBA that though of this should be shot.

Sorry for my strong words and frustration, but there is no other way to describe this underhanded scheme.

I'm in the midst of looking for an email->SMS portal. (ideally, they give you a free email address, and allow it to relay to your cell).

Any recommendations for free ones out there?

 

[ncnmra]

Rogers is a bunch of underhanded greedy ba$tards.

I used the Email to text service a LOT especially for eBay auctions and Yahoo reminders. The idea that I now have to reply to a message to receive a message is idiotic.

I too wrote to customer service and got the same bull$shit response...they say this method is to prevent SPAM, I think that is a total lie.

I tried the "allowing" feature but it doesn't work.

The fact that I have to TYPE and send a message is moronic and the MBA that though of this should be shot.

Sorry for my strong words and frustration, but there is no other way to describe this underhanded scheme.

I'm in the midst of looking for an email->SMS portal. (ideally, they give you a free email address, and allow it to relay to your cell).

Any recommendations for free ones out there?

 

[ncnmra]

Rogers is a bunch of underhanded greedy ba$tards.

I used the Email to text service a LOT especially for eBay auctions and Yahoo reminders. The idea that I now have to reply to a message to receive a message is idiotic.

I too wrote to customer service and got the same bull$shit response...they say this method is to prevent SPAM, I think that is a total lie.

I tried the "allowing" feature but it doesn't work.

The fact that I have to TYPE and send a message is moronic and the MBA that though of this should be shot.

Sorry for my strong words and frustration, but there is no other way to describe this underhanded scheme.

I'm in the midst of looking for an email->SMS portal. (ideally, they give you a free email address, and allow it to relay to your cell).

Any recommendations for free ones out there?

 

[fly]

Great code - I had to change a couple of things as shown in the code below. Carriage returns replaced by spaces... had to use the strlen, and bumped the character number up to 160.
(I'm new to php, but it all worked somehow)

$result = strlen($message);
$message = str_replace(chr(10), " ", $message);
if($result > 160){
$cut = substr($message, 0, 160);
$message = $cut;

Rogers is a pain.