Mobile Messaging 2.0 » Why Is Facebook Omitting T-Mobile in their Provider Listing?: a hosted discussion on mobile messaging, devices, and user practices and trends

Why Is Facebook Omitting T-Mobile in their Provider Listing?

by Darla Mack

November 30, 2007 at 7:45 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, mobile social networking, Facebook

Social media megaspot, Facebook has some limits that I’m just not happy with. Ironically it has to do with providers. I enjoy receiving text alerts to my mobile whenever someone pokes me or leaves me a message. But for some reason T-Mobile isn’t listed as one of the providers that this works with.

With social media being among the most popular channel of networking, why is my provider not listed?

Now the reason that I’m being choosy is this… I have unlimited messaging with T-Mobile and limited messaging with AT&T. Facebook users know that at some points alot of messages pop through, some to which are not of any importance. But I consider myself an avid Facebook user and I like to be in the know of what’s going on.

For AT&T users, you might have noticed that Facebook is listed in the MediaNet menu. I cannot speak for the other providers. But not having T-Mobile listed kind of bothers me.

And it isn’t just the US. The only UK provider is O2. No T-Mobile there either. Maybe its just a personal gripe on my part, but for something so advancing as social media, shouldn’t all avenues of providers be covered?

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

Permalink

10 Comments »

Joe Moreno wrote @ December 1st, 2007 at 12:33 am

Reportedly, T-Mobile isn’t listed because they refused to allow Facebook’s traffic on their network. Each wireless carrier can determine what kind of SMS traffic to allow or deny from companies using short codes.

Kristen wrote @ December 3rd, 2007 at 1:49 pm

That is very interesting that T-Mobile does not support this type of messaging. I have AT&T as my carrier and my teenager uses Facebook all the time, and I get all of his pokes and messages on my cell phone. It allows me to keep track of his communications. He does not like it but it is for his safety and I am glad I don’t use T-mobile because not having this access would aggravate me too! Great post!

Craig wrote @ December 4th, 2007 at 3:11 pm

More likely than not, T-Mobile has not come to business terms with Facebook. I’m sure it is not from lack of Facebook trying to make a deal.

Eric wrote @ December 4th, 2007 at 9:00 pm

You could also tell Facebook to send alerts to 5557778888@tmomail.net. (where 5557778888 is your 10-digit phone number)

Isabel Hilborn wrote @ December 5th, 2007 at 1:17 pm

Maybe the reason they haven’t is precisely _because_ of the unlimited messaging?

Darla Mack wrote @ December 5th, 2007 at 5:10 pm

Thanks Eric for sharing that.

Joe Moreno wrote @ December 5th, 2007 at 6:20 pm

5557778888@tmomail.net will only work for a few messages. The carriers will limit their SMTP to SMS gateway bandwidth. They want companies to only use SMS aggregators negotiated on their terms.

kais3rs0ze wrote @ December 6th, 2007 at 12:46 pm

folks, I got some nonsense last week (when connecting via Tmob) that I’d need to register and pay….which clearly I said “No way hosay”.

I just checked on my phone just now and got thru, logged in and sent some messages. Looks like a change of heart from Tmobile (that is if they have a heart).

Can someone else do a quick check?!

Ivan wrote @ December 6th, 2007 at 5:30 pm

Most likely the aggregator Facebook uses to manage their SMS short code and terminate SMS to telecom networks doesn’t have access to T-Mobile. Connectivity lists vary across various aggregators.

Charles wrote @ April 15th, 2008 at 2:17 pm

Try this facebook application, it lets you recieve notification by sms to all uk operators

and gives you a nifty iphone for your profile

http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=7060994452

Your comment

HTML-Tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>

The Future of MM Apps and Services

Worldwide, mobile operators are struggling to maintain their current ARPU levels as competition drives ever-lower pricing for voice minutes and text messaging plans. At the same time, operators are trying to determine what is the secret to developing the next generation of applications and services that enable them to attract new customers, reduce churn and to get more value from their existing customers.

But predicting the next "killer app" is not that simple. And the mobile industry is infamous for bouncing from one topic to the next in a desperate search for the next great app.

Predicting the future is the art of seeing the present logically extended. Given the degree of interdependency -- and invested capital -- among the key players in the value chain, changes in the industry will likely be evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

Hear Airwide CEO Kevin Wood highlight 4 key factors he sees in predicting the future of mobile messaging applications and services in this interview with Telecom TV.

Watch the video

MM2 Position Paper

Airwide Solutions, the sponsor of this site, recently published a white paper by Vince Kadar, their CTO, on their beliefs about how mobile messaging is evolving and why this next generation of infrastructure and applications merits the "2.0" moniker. Airwide invites you to read and react to the paper - it's eager to engage with and learn from those interested in the future of mobile messaging.

Read the white paper.

Event-blogging from June

Global Messaging Conference, Monaco