So, no kind words from subscribers in response to Econet’s “@Econet Wireless” tag on SMS messages. Almost everyone we’ve spoken to about the matter says Econet should just stop. But no, Econet is not giving this one up. Not yet.
In a message to subscribers yesterday, Zimbabwe’s largest telecoms firm sought to explain, again:
To assure our valued customers that SMS’s received are genuine, Econet has added a network ID tag “@Econet Wireless” to all SMS’s.
It’s all lies, says one ‘knowledgeable’ reader who contacted us through our tips mailbox. And he can prove it he says:
Hi guys,
You probably also received Econet’s poorly conceived SMS which could only have come from their __ marketing department, saying that they’ve added the “@ Econet Wireless” tag to SMS’s to prove that they’re genuine (copy attached). Now, apart from the obvious fact that few of us have doubted the originality of our SMS’s, this is also a lie.
Firstly, anyone can send an SMS with @ Econet Wireless stuck on the bottom and it’s comes through fine. There’s also no user-side validation that can be done to prove the originality or not. We just sent ourselves SMS’s from Telecel and Skype where we typed the @ Econet Wireless tag and they came through fine.
Secondly, and closely allied to our first point, Econet are not appending this tag to SMS’s flowing through their system, nor are they checking for SMS’s coming from outside sources whether they include a “fake tag” when received by their switch, so really what’s the point.
In closing, if Econet were going to discount or subsidise our SMS’s because of the free advertising they’re receiving, great. If not, stop it and stop wasting characters that we would rather use ourselves.
…
Best regards,
Now we’re not telecoms engineers, so we thought we’d get Econet to explain further. We forwarded them the letter. We got no explanation, and 24 hours later, we’ve decided maybe if we publish the letter here, an Econet guy can post an anonymous comment explaining how exactly they’re doing the message verification. Or a Telecel guy even. Telecoms techies out there, please educate us @Econet Wireless
Share
Home
29 comments
I have also tested this using an international gateway that allows sending number forging (most do) and the message came through to my cellphone fine as my econet number even though I sent it from the internet. I then added my own @ @Econet:disqus Wireless and that also came through fine with my own econet number as the source.
It is quite simply useless unless someone is doing mass spam to many networks and doesnt put their own sig at the end, but then it could just be a long message so would not have it anyway.
Would love someone to do the maths on the wasted bandwidth of sending all these extra characters for nothing (unless sms is fixed length, not sure).
You guys are missing the point… We don’t want tagged sms for what ever reason. Imagine if ISP started tagging emails on paid accounts.. bottom line no tagging as long as the sms is paid for on the other hand free sms and call-me-back’s yes by all means tag all you want.
Econet needs to be stopped if they cannot stop themselves. This is mass spamming from a SP. The problem here is that 90% of Zim Service Providers are staffed by technically blind sales marketing people. I have been to quiet a number of there offices and its very easy to pick sales people pretending to be technical.
Its even more embarassing when yu try to engage them at technical level they start shavelling you from one office to another. Security my foot, when you enforce security, it must be an enhancement to the user experience than being annoyance. It must be transparent to the customer. What next ar they going to send? Debug msg to prove security or log files?
I challenge anybody from econet to come here and prove there case!
If it wasn’t so retarded it would be laughable Econet are one day going to find out the hard way that you cant take your customers for granted for ever!
You guys never cease to amaze me, all you do is complain about Econet poor customer care yet you never change… Wake up, if you want change, just STOP using econet, so they will feel the effects of their poor service. I myself switched to Telecel when I got fed up of Econet’s junk. I stopped using their internet when they really pissed me off with their terrible speed. If a million more of their customers did the same, they would wake up and improve their junk network… I REST MY CASE…
Has anyone read the terms and conditions on an Econet SIM certificate or on their website? They can legally do whatever they want with your line because YOU do NOT own your number- they do, and so can do whatever they please! Econet are the biggest hypocrites in the industry- they tout all sorts because all of you complain, but who has actually migrated off Econet because of this? Aside from me, my family and some friends- nobody has. I moved to Telecel- it works just as well, costs less and they have a lot more respect for the customer. But to be honest what prompted my move was their use of Christianity in marketing when all the while they blatantly cheat the customers and I could not stand for a company that touts Christian morals even at the recruitment level but is known for stealing upcoming entrepreneurs ideas, never refunding for failed messages, sell fake 4G, offering life assurance that doesn’t work (whoever got a dime from Ecolife???), have the worst corporate governance in the country, plagiarizes foreign ad campaigns… the list goes on! BOTTOM LINE: Econet is the perfect bed fellow for everybody who complains about Econet and doesn’t go and get on a new network- coz both parties are hypocrites!
Well that depends which Certificate you have the very first ones did not have these ludicrous statements but when they found that they would not be able to meet the promises they changed them and they keep changing them, starting to feel like am in animal farm or on facebook here
This @Econet Zimbabwe is a waste of time. If someone doesn’t know 077 is Econet then they should move on to Telecel, a better network with SO much more to offer.
I think its time to vote with our feet!.. Thanks anti econet 🙂
I’m happy I’m not the only one that just moved away, from their customer abuse.
@af40d9d4b68e6ac8bfbce5db94709aeb:disqus who knows maybe Telecel has a similar agreement, but they still respect us.
Econet treats its customers as if they are using their network for free.
I feel there should be an authority to protect us from such treatment. cant wait for number porting!
its annoying that econet does not listen to its customers on any issue.As to the point about changing to other networks there are not many else to go to.
I think it is high time maybe Techzim do a head-to-head review of TELECEL-ECONET-NETONE, so that we really see which one is better and move on but now as others are saying they have moved to Telecel, I will stick with Econet. Though yes there are a couple of products/services/behaviours I have not really enjoyed from Econet. I think it is all to do with MONOPOLY. Once people have a monopoly over something blogs included they try to ACT the Steve Jobs way where they think CUSTOMERS DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY WANT.
for those who use econet, lets make our pain felt. Lets hit them were it hurts more to them ie. MONEY. People lets organise days, even one day a week where we dont top up our mobile phones and spread the word. They are greedy lot and l bet they wont stand losing money.
SMS messages people have received lately:
1. “I miss you so much, I wish I could be with you @ Econet Wireless”
2. “Sekuru vashaya @ Econet Wireless”
3. “Ndawana basa @ Econet Wireless”
… 4. “Kwave nemwana mutsva @ Econet Wireless”
5. “Mukoma, chazobvondoka kuno @ Econet Wireless”
6. “Mari yako yaita, chiuya utore @ Econet Wireless”
7. “Mwana apisa muviri @ Econet Wireless”
8. “I love you babe @ Econet Wireless”
Econet can you please remove your nonsense from our text messages.
This is very Annoying even when I travelled to the UK using an O2 line all SMS from zim econet had the @ Econet Wireless tag. free international marketing these chaps should make them free if they want to continue
Following the previous techzim Article about carrying a number across a network. It could be a marker so that in future when for example you have an 073 number that is hosted by Econet for example and you sms out the reciever knows that you are on Econet Network????
Long shot but hey . . . .
The tag has nothing to do with spoofing (pretending an SMS is originating from a number that is fake). That is done invisibly in the background by most operators. The tag is simply advertising.
Maybe the techies at Econet are dumb enough to think that “@Econet:twitter Wireless” is a secure “Network ID tag”. Or, they are dumb enough to think we will buy their excuse.
Either way, this is was obviously not well thought out.
I end all my messages now with @craponet wireless
My 2 cents worth on this issue is.
First Econet should remove the @econet wireless tag from all SMSes.
Secondly, if they indeed have a reason of why smses should be tagged for marketing purposes then why don’t they offer it too us as a subscribed service where if I subscribe to tagged smses then I get a discount when sending messages. This would make it a win-win situation, where I get to benefit from tagged smses. It shouldn’t be default and bulldozed on everybody.
In fact, these guys have been bulldozing onto us all the time. Does anyone remember the “EcoLife” days??? You could get 5 or more smses a day from ecolife.
They never did give us a ‘OPT OUT’ option that worked.
I love Econet in spite of all it’s faults, and I am not moving anytime soon, but someone has messed up with this tag business. It’s not the end of the world when you mess up, but you just have to clean up your mess. Econet should just stop the tagging for I am sure the benefits are outweighed by the negativity – by far. This is not about egos
econet has crossed the line. they are now a monopolistic company who just do whatever it is they please. first they terminated the eco-life service without any consultation and customers lost their points now this. I don’t want to see they @Econet Wireless tag on my texts at all, it is simply annoying and unacceptable. if texting were a free service like those offered by BiNu or Dasuba then hell yeah they could by all means tag those texts.
Why now, why didnt they care about the security issues before, we’ve been sending texts for years and its been fine. We are a very intelligent nation if we see a text from a 077 number we know its from econet, we dnt need the @econet wireless tag. Why dnt they spend more effort on improving the speed of their internet as well. ECONET THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN LET THERE BE NO TAGS ON OUR TEXTS, FAILURE TO COMPLY WILL RESULT IN US BOYCOTTING YOUR NETWORK!
Hahaha, oh goodness me! PDN! I love how we are all getting our knickers in a knot over this whole @Econet Wireless business. The sad thing is we all know that they couldn’t give a rat’s arse even if we all complain till we’re blue in the face, being the arrogant bunch they are. NEWSFLASH: They don’t care! The only way we could make a difference is if a whole load of us would just stop recharging even for just one full day. That would make a dent in their profits. But we all know not enough of us have the balls to do that soooo…Have Fun @Econet Wireless!
I see someone has created a Facebook page for this
http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-hate-Econet-Wireless/307630882602037
If it bugs you as much as it bugs me then let it be known and seen, share the page with everyone. Sooner or later they have to give into bad publicity… or not…
I think they should join techzim and facebook and know how much we dont like that tag. We pay to send sms’..
Thanks for your comments. Have raised this to managment @ Econet Wireless 😉
I say at the end of your text, add the following
– Poor Customer Service @ Econet Wireless
– Mbvava @ Econet Wireless
– Bad Network @ Econet Wireless
– Xpensiv calls@ Econet Wireless