No more pesky SMSes. Not really?

If annoying and useless SMSes annoy you everyday, then there is a good news. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has limited the number of text messages to each mobile phone to 100 per day. Happy? But there is more to the story.

The rule will also affect the services (confirmation of money withdrawal, payments of movie tickets etc.) normally needed by people. For such cases, there are two options. First, readers can send an SMS at 1909 with START DND. The second option is to call 1909 and follow instructions given on phone. However, in case you decide to exercise the first option, you will have to wait for confirmation SMS.

Unfortunately, DND is often mistaken as no-calls-no-SMS feature which is clearly not the case. Once the user confirms that he wants to be enlisted in Registry, he or she will be provided with a list of codes. Depending on his/her discretion, user can select the codes representing different services which he/she wants not to be halted.

Similarly, in case if the user chooses to send an SMS, he or she will have to respond back with codes (representing services) he/she wants to keep contacting. However, there is a flip side to it. DND does not guarantees that you will stop receiving promotional SMSes since that entirely depends on the nature of organization rendering service you have selected earlier.

Meanwhile, according to TRAI, DND will take at least three days to activate. So in case if you are running out of patience, better register a complaint with your Service Provider.

Since, TRAI does not handles such cases, Telecom Providers come into picture. And remember, in case if you continue getting such pesky SMSes and calls, you'll be eligible for Rs. 500 compensation and later Rs.1000 on every such incident.

For telecom providers, the first non-compliance to this regulation will cost them Rs. 5000 while on subsequent non-compliance; the provider will have to pay a penalty of Rs. 20,000.