3jam is a new SMS conferencing service. The service allows users to simultaneously text up to 15 other users for the price of one SMS. If a recipient replies all the other members of the group receives that reply. The only charge to users is that of their mobile company with the 3jam component being free. To make this feasible 3jam may have a deal with US mobile telcos which gives them a low interconnect rate in return for generating extra SMS traffic (when multiple users reply). Noteworthy, is that users can also include international numbers in the recipient group. The following example is given by 3jam:
Add International friend
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add sarah cox +44123152346
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Shortcut
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sarah cox +44123152346
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Tip: For non-U.S. numbers, specify + and then the country code
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This raises the question of whether such an addition varies the price. 3jam's PR and their website say only one charge applies per message. International SMS, however, are generally charged differently (read higher price) than domestic SMS. The international carrier will want their termination fee which can be high compared to domestic SMS prices. This leaves two possibilities. First 3jam should place better pricing information on their website to make clear that a user would pay two rates (or the higher rate) for the one text. Or, if this is not the case, they should be congratulated on providing a new way to bypass high international SMS rates simply by having a domestic number on CC.
One aspect which is unclear, however, from the 3jam website
