@xxyyz :
1. There is probably no way to stop the charges. I call the Pre-paid phone number every 3 months and get credits for any spam calls that came my way.
https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Pay-as-You-Go/Prepaid-account/m-p/521259/highlight/true#M3827
2. Make sure you turn off Live Voicemail in your iPhone, otherwise voicemails may end up there and you'll get charged for the time. See my post on that in the following thread about live VM:
3. There may be other settings in your iPhone that may "allow" for these SMS. Check all the iPhone settings.
4. Do you use voicemail? If you don't, call them to make sure it's turned off on your account.
The Silent SMS messages to 49988 is most likely due to FaceTime Registration Request. If you use Face Time, your phone will periodically send silent SMS to that. You have Pay As You Go, not Postpaid, so its likely the Prepaid billing system does not recognise those numbers since the iPhone was never not designed for standalone prepaid use
Turn off Facetime will probably prevent those charges.
I have an iPhone SE2020 on a Pre-paid plan. I have never seen those "silent" SMS. I have FaceTime "on" on my iPhone and my iPad, but I FaceTime using my MacBook Air. I have my cellular data off. I use WiFi for everything excepting occasional calls, or the occasional text in a foreign country.
I really don't know what to suggest, other than looking at your various settings - perhaps some sort of notification?
Background below:
What do I use? Photos, Camera, Calculator, PC Optimum, Texts, iMessages, Arlo Camera security app, Weather apps, Rogers apps, FindMy app, Google Maps (without cellular data, but with WiFi before leaving and Offline maps when travelling). Calls and Texts are mostly "emergency" and I probably average less than $50/year on my grandfathered Anytime pre-paid plan (by paying $100 from my balance to stop "Auto-pay" for a year, every other year).
I take a screenshot of my Transaction History every month and call in to get the Spam message charges removed every 3 months.
It's also possible iMessage may be causing this sms too.
If you use your phone mainly at home and on Wi-Fi you should be fine, but what if you are out and about and someone tries to iMessage you or Face Time you, but your phone is not connected to wifi? I am by no means an apple expert but its possible the scenario you use your phone in may be the reason why your phone "connects" to the registration server thru sms when there is no wifi data connectivity? not sure, but you can always go to the apple iPhone store in the mall and explain your situation to an Apple Genius and see if they have some advice for you?
@Pauly wrote:
It's also possible iMessage may be causing this sms too.
If you use your phone mainly at home and on Wi-Fi you should be fine, but what if you are out and about and someone tries to iMessage you or Face Time you, but your phone is not connected to wifi?
For iMessages, for me, if I'm not connected to WiFi (where iMessages are free), then the iMessage comes through to me as a Text and I am charged the $0.70 per text. The same would happen if I send an iMessage and I'm not on WiFi, but I would usually have an indication of that when I compose the message because it would be "green" (chargeable), instead of "blue" (free iMessage). This is because I don't have Cellular Data. If you have Cellular Data, then it would work like WiFi. (There are quite a few settings under "Settings - Messages")
Since @xxyyz says he has FaceTime off, I don't believe that's the culprit, but who knows.
Your forgetting, people can ALSO send iMessage from an iPad, iPod, and a Macintosh Computer, when they do it thru this, since those devices are NOT connected to a cellular network, you will NOT be able to receive the message if you are out of Wi-Fi Coverage, we do not work for Apple Computer Engineering department so we do NOT know what scenarios the phone device will "poll" the iMessage or Facetime server when you are not in wifi coverage if you choose to not use cellular data for cost savings measures, but it might very well Ping the server by sending a silent sms, we just do not know which scenarios will cause this to happen because none of us work for Apple Computer Inc and are aware of how the server was designed
@xxyyz wrote: I don't know why you, @Re, are not seeing these charges in your Transaction History - do you maybe have a special deal with Rogers on this?
@xxyyz : Thank you for your question. I have had a pre-paid (Grandfathered Anytime) plan since 2009.07.04 - almost 15 years. I have all my transaction history records going back to that time and I went through them with a fine tooth comb after your request.
During that time I found TWO outgoing SMS to 49988. One was 2020.11.28 and one was 2018.06.11. Both had zero charge associated with them. I don't know why I don't see these otherwise and I don't know why there was no charge in 2020 and 2018.
P.S. I see 7726 when I report spam SMS. As I mentioned, I get the actual spam charges reversed - usually about $10 every 3 months or so. Since Rogers doesn't charge for 7726, perhaps they need to "code" the phone/service so that 49988 doesn't get charged...
Since most people have post-paid phones with unlimited texts, we represent a small portion of Rogers cellular customers and they may prefer to provide credits when requested instead of investing in proper coding? 😉
I just want to chime in to what 57 stated, It might make more economical sense for a company to just compensate the customer with a few credits here or there when ever there is an issue, instead of spending money to make upgrades or updates to the billing system. I believe there is very little profits made by customers using prepaid / pay as you go, so there is not much incentive to pour money into fixing it or making it better.
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