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Comment by eliasmacpherson | Hacker News Reader

Are you using a pay as you go mobile? Under that definition, everyone that 'tops up' is connected.

I also receive free text messages from my provider (Edit: e.g. the texts that say 'thank you for paying your bill'). Does that mean that I'm connected to every subscriber on the network that also receives these free texts?

I didn't think of that, I suppose it would by the same standard. They aren't really 'free' but they are offers and information and so on, about 25% of my inbox is from them.

Or if you text 40404 to tweet? This is really ridiculous. In my opinion, no sane person would sign off on it if they knew these details.

What about the emergency alerts that we get on mobile?

Recently I got a pair and they did help: http://imgur.com/a/03Ipl , but as always this is what that companies FAQ says about the process:

WHAT: ----- Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) are free wireless notifications that are delivered to your mobile device as part of a new public safety system provided by Authorized Senders. They are designed to inform you of imminent threats to safety or missing persons alerts in your area.

In order to receive WEAs, you must have a capable device and be located in an area (e.g., county) targeted by Authorized Senders to receive the alert.

If every provider has some sort of program like this that connects everyone on that network.

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