Shortcode lookups in the UK

I wrote a post earlier this evening about plusCONNECT.

I wanted to know the end-user identity of a UK shortcode I’d seen advertised — 82822.

I used 3UK’s shortcode whois service to lookup the shortcode. It told me it was managed by plusCONNECT.

I called them; the chap there thought it was their shortcode but wasn’t sure, asked me to phone back on Monday. Fair enough. I wanted to know who their customer was so I could do a story about the service. It turns out that had I managed to speak to the Operations Manager at plusCONNECT, they’d have told me, in no uncertain terms, that this information is strictly, strictly private. Again, fair enough.

I am puzzled at why 3UK is telling all its customers that, if they’ve got a problem with shortcode 82822, they should call plusCONNECT. 3UK appear to be in error. Or out of date.

I just tried PhonepayPlus (the new name for the UK regulator, ICSTIS) and did a lookup for the 82822 shortcode there. It’s telling me totally different information. It reckons the shotrtcode service is operated by ‘Wireless-MS’ on phone number 08717503155 or support email cs [at] mxtelecom.com.

Industry aggregator MX Telecom? The shortcode must have been registered via MX as I did a Google and found that Wireless-MS equates to Wireless Media.

Well it’s all mute. All I was doing was trying to find out who was the smart cookie behind the 82822 service.

So do you trust your mobile operator to provide accurate shortcode lookups? Or do you resort to checking with the regulator? I’d have thought that a mobile operator service would be highly reliable. It seems not, in this case.