Most of an SMS bill is not messages — it is short codes, subscriptions and notifications you forgot about.
Where the money goes
- Short-code messages. Four- and five-digit numbers are paid: a single message can cost more than a month of ordinary texting.
- Subscriptions. Content services that were activated once and keep charging monthly.
- Notifications. Bank alerts and delivery notices are usually free, but premium ones are not.
How to check
Ask your operator for a detailed bill and look at short-code charges — they are easy to spot by the number length. Most operators list active subscriptions in the app under services.
How to stop them
- Disable the subscription in the operator app or with a USSD command.
- Block premium content at the operator level — this stops new subscriptions from being activated.
- Never reply to a short-code message asking you to confirm something: a reply can be a purchase.
What is not a subscription
Free incoming messages, bank alerts you enabled yourself, and delivery notifications from shops are not content subscriptions. Removing them does not save money — they cost nothing.
See also: short numbers and SMS, fake bank SMS.