Qtel SMS Spam: Making even more money off our backs plus annoying us.
Is Qtel selling our mobile numbers to companies to spam us with SMS advertisements? Or are these companies just by luck getting our numbers because they are broadcasting SMS ads to all numbers. I think that that Qtel is selling our numbers or at the very least selling the spam SMS as a service to businesses because the latest SMS spam I received was from Brands and I have never shopped there to have given them my mobile number.
I don't remember telling Qtel that they can give out my mobile number nor do I recall telling them that they can make money by sending me unsolicited SMS advertisements.
I guess 8 billion dollars a year profit isn't enough...
Hey QTEL if you are going to be using my mobile number to make more money on top of the ridiculous fees you already charge me directly each month then you better either reduce the fee you charge me or give me a percentage of the SMS spam sales you get off of me.
and I'm sorry for your loss...may she rest in peace.
No I selected it myself. God rest my mother's soul...
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Click here for Qatar info
A woman with a brain tumor was surprised when her
doctor called her, and told her of a new, experimental brain transplant
procedure. When she met with her doctor, he told her that she would
require the transplant of one pound of brain. The doctor then asked,
"What type of brain do you want?"
"What type?" the woman asked, "That makes a difference?"
"Yes," replied the doctor. "There is a substantial
difference in price. For example, one-pound of brain from a surgeon
costs $12,000, while you can get one-pound of brain from a nuclear
physicist for $15,000, and so on. You will gain some of the qualities
associated with the profession of the brain donor, so your choice
can make a big difference."
"Can you give me one-pound of brain from a lawyer? Ever since
I was a little girl I've dreamed of being a contract attorney."
"Sure. Let's see. That's $250,000," the doctor replied.
"You're kidding me! That's outrageous," the woman gasped.
"That's over forty times what a surgeon's brain costs."
"Actually, it is quite reasonable," the doctor replied.
"Do you have any idea how many lawyers it takes to produce
a pound of brain?"
Cute avatar...did your mommy pick it out for you?
and the 5 year old from within comes out.
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Click here for Qatar info
you should know.
you sure love to waste alot of oxygen.
___________________________
Click here for Qatar info
and ask them...I wonder how long I'll be on hold then after I explain what information I'm asking for they will graciously ask me to restart my computer and to check that the Internet light is on...but then after I again explain that the information does not require a computer reboot or an internet light to be on (granted they will understand what I'm asking) they'll tell me that they will call me back with the information...and we both know that I will never get a call back...never have.
Maybe you know the direct number of someone I should call that will actually answer the phone and provide some pertinent information without reconnecting me to 111 to start the cycle all over again.
@Oh my, talk about jumping the gun, you don't even KNOW if that's what they're doing and accusing them. CALL them up and ask them yourself.
Blocking VOIP isn't something that only Qtel does, Vodafone, Orange, O2, and T-Mobile do it too.
Having mentioned all that, i've never received a spam message in my life, HOWEVER, my aunt receives 'scam' messages (usually from nigeria or the uk).
In the future, I'd avoid a title like yours for a thread unless you have evidence. Do you work for OK magazine?
@deedee, you are complaining for receiving SMS's that tell you to pay your bill..... On a side note, you can REQUEST that you don't receive those notifications.
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Click here for Qatar info
Although I read the comments by the ICTQatar head from several months back indicating that the next carrier will not use Qtel infrastructure...I really don't think that would be realistic because that will require an immediate investment of several billions and will have a really long period to develope their return on investment (ROI)...particularly long because all the while the infrastructure is being built, not a penny is being earned. The normal method of operation for a new telco coming into a market is to use the existing carrier's infrastructure long enough to ensure that a market for an alternative provider exists and to make enough profit to make building out their own infrastructure viable.
If this is not the way it's going to happen, then I would be really surprised and not looking forward to all the additional road digging and various other communications disruptions that will take place from these "professional" cutting existing lines while they are digging to install the new lines...of course, with all the digging that has already taken place and the fact that the coming of a new carrier has been in the works for a couple of years it is quite possible that Qtel already installed excess capacity to "resell" at a premium, of course, to the new carrier...whomever it was going to be...either way Qtel will not lose a penny quite the opposite actually.
Plus the development of the new National Data Center (NDC) will be an interesting situation as they also want to perform some of the same services as Qtel...makes you wonder what kind of things are going on at the highest levels of government and who will come out on top. Right now it doesn't seem to be a clear plan or path...or at least not one that is being made public.
Spam busters
Web posted at: 3/4/2008 1:9:3
Source ::: The Peninsula
Doha
• Swinging into action after receiving complaints of cellphone users
receiving spam and messages from scamsters, the country’s telecom
regulatory authority, ictQATAR yesterday issued tips to avoid being a
victim.
The
body reacted after complaints from subscribers telling them they had
been chosen by Vodafone as winners of $160,000 in a random selection.
All the recipient of the call had to do was transfer QR6,000 to a
specified bank account claim the fictional prize. Vodafone,
incidentally, is the second mobile phone licensee in the country and
clearly con artists were at work hoping to lure the gullible.
It
would seem reasonable on the surface a new entrant to the country would
offer some kind of prize as a promotion. ictQATAR said: “The phone
calls are the work off a fraudulent group using the Vodafone name to
trick excited consumers into giving away their money.”
Mobile
spam includes unsolicited and unwanted text messages without the
customer’s consent. Most of it comes from advertisers and marketing
agencies trying to make a sale. The messages are generally sent out in
bulk and do not have an ‘opt out’ option.
Mobile
scams are designed to trick consumers unto using their mobile service
to make money on someone else’s behalf. A common method is the missed
call scam, which is not unknown to mobile users here.
Once
a phone registers a missed call, phone users may call back and then,
find themselves encumbered with services they neither want nor can
stop. Worse, consumers can be left pondering a huge phone bill as these
calls are charged at premium rates.
ictQATAR
said SMS messages relating to a requested service or from Qtel on bills
should not be considered as spam. Advice to consumers given by ictQATAR
includes not to respond to unfamiliar messages, not to call back
unknown numbers and to contact the company identified in the message
directly to verify a message purporting to be from or on behalf of the
firm.
Mobile
numbers should not be given out to all and sundry. It should not be
displayed or given to retailers, restaurants or websites. The number
should not be given out when taking part in surveys or filling out
questionnaires.
The
customer should always be doubtful when a firm asks for the number when
purchasing a product and should closely check spam to see if there is
any option to stop them through an ‘opt out’ procedure.
Everyone, once in their lives have their own moments of replication
and mutation. Causing shift changes in their inner thoughts and believes of Peace,
Love and Religion. None is pure or perfect except nature.
Red_Pope
oh my, from what i read, vodafone has to built their own network and are not allowed to use qtels.
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"Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic"
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Yes, I also read about Vodafone coming here! Finally end of monopoly.
Does anybody know when it will happen?
Sylwia
[img_assist|nid=78473|title=|desc=|link=none|align=center|width=220|height=146]
or any other carrier coming into Qatar is that they will lease Qtel's existing infrastructure to provide their services....so in essence Qtel will not lose a penny. It will only be when another carrier goes and puts in their own infrastructure that they can cut Qtel out. That means putting up their own cell towers, fiber optics network (more road digging)...and Qtel will probably never allow that.
and also the fact that one of the oil and gas companies use VoIp for for thei corporate communications...so when it was blocked it caused a major blow back to Qtel.
Vodafone is haunting Qtel & soon they will run them out of business & their share values will go down like a crashing plane
I am not an IT person like you. But i remember that sometimes back Qtel block skype. And that was really really sucks. we had to wait when we go back to the UK to top up our account or when one of us out from Qatar.
I heard that the US embassy followed by several other embassy made a petition to unblock skype again.
Yes, we have no choice, but when they blatently start spamming us with all this crap it's ridiculous.
Just like when in late 2006 they said that they were going to block all VoIP services (yes, they even printed it in the Gulf Times) then when they actually did it a couple of months later there was a big uproar in the community. Then when people started complaining their corporate bigwigs said that they didn't block any VoIP which was bull (unless they reduced the bandwidth allowance for VoIP to something like 1kps for all of Qatar so that they wouldn't be technically lying).
What they didn't count on was all the people that actually work in IT for other businesses in Qatar that were able to determine that they did block it...plus they blocked (perhaps by accident because of the level of competency we have come to expect) all VPN and SSL access until midday the next morning because no one could access online banking, log into their corporate networks, etc. Perhaps they just think we are stupid...or maybe the reality is that they are for thinking that.
I can just picture Qtel having a department that meets each week to discuss new ways to fleece the expats...while they can.
I know you are... lol. But you probably winding the other party even more. For a fact i know you want to get out from Qatar, but so far you tried to make the most of it.
Sorry for the hijack too Oh My ... Alexa i already left some note on QL. I think we should leave Tootsie alone. If she is miserable in Qatar so be it. lol.
Let the original poster in BE who asking about Qatar post his question on here ... and let him decided by reading our 'bitches from our point of view'.
Argh sod it ... if you the rest of QL'ers want to read here is the thread in BE :
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=519142
all from Q-tel. I finally had to shut off my phone. They were telling me to pay my bill (which I had not yet received). 2 SMS for landline, 2 for my mobile, 2 for husbands, and 4 for 0000 numbers owing 00.
Oh My ... they knows you have no choice. You either subscribe to them or not connected at all ( mobile or house number or internet).