Premium Rate Services

Premium Rate Services (PRS) are goods and services that you can buy by charging the cost to your landline or mobile phone bill. These services would include the likes of TV/Radio competitions, subscriptions services. charity donations & voting activities.

Premium telephone services

Telephone numbers that begin with the following prefixes: 1530, 1540, 1550, 1559, 1560, 1570 and 1580.

Premium SMS services (PSMS):

These are recognised by a 5-digit Short Code beginning with the number 5 e.g. 5XXXX.

There are a couple of options for doing this. Take a look at the steps below to see which option suits you best.

Stop a single premium rate SMS

To unsubscribe from a premium rate SMS service, text the word STOP to the 5XXXX number that is sending you the messages. The provider should unsubscribe you from their service within 24 – 48 hours of sending the message. If this is unsuccessful, you may need to contact the provider directly. You can search for and find the contact details tied to any specific provider here

Apply a premium SMS bar

This will prevent you sending texts to premium SMS numbers between the range of 50XXX – 57XXX. You can block your phone from being able to use premium rate services through MyVirginMedia by going to ‘my mobile’ and scrolling to ‘Call destination limitations’ for your subscription where you can toggle these services on or off.

You can also contact us directly to have these services turned off.

 

 

What is the Premium SMS bar?

The premium SMS bar will prevent a Virgin Mobile customer from sending texts to premium SMS numbers between the range of 50XXX-57XXX.

How do I activate the bar?

You can block your phone from being able to use premium rate services through MyVirginMedia by going to ‘My Mobile’ and scrolling to ‘Call destination limitations’ for your subscription where you can toggle the Premium SMS barring setting to ‘On’. You can also contact us directly to have these services turned off.

When will the bar be applied?

Your bar will be in place within 5 minutes of confirming the change.

Can I remove the bar?

Yes, you can also remove the bar on Premium SMS through MyVirginMedia by going to ‘My Mobile’ and scrolling to ‘Call destination limitations’ for your subscription where you can toggle the Premium
SMS barring setting to ‘Off’. You can also contact us directly to have these services turned off.

What services does this affect?

Examples include:

50XXX - 51XXX.
This will include most Irish charities. The charity in question should always call out that you are about to donate money. For example, Text DONATE to 50300 to donate €2.50 to Charity Name.

53XXX: 
Virgin Media TV competition lines
RTE Voting lines  
NewsTalk comment lines
ParkingTag.ie
Dublin bus realtime passenger information

Horoscopes

Newspapercompetitions

57XXX:

RTE radio competitions   
RTE TV competitions 
Newspaper competitions

Subscriptions services

Quiz television services

Ringtones and wallpapers

Games  
Sportsalerts (e.g. goal alerts)

Weather forecasts·     
Chat services

Certain TV advertised charity services

 

What if I am already subscribed to a premium rate service and I request the bar?

The bar we put in place stops you from sending Premium SMS to the specific shortcodes, meaning you may still receive these messages and be charged for them. We would always recommend that you text STOP to the number in question before you put the bar in place and also follow up with the company in question if you continue to receive these messages after the stop request. Click here to search for the specific provider sending you the messages.