In comments on Australian Clarity

Hi zhasper,

We use a UK number to serve many countries outside North America, Australia included. The old UK number did not work *at all* for some Australian users. In some cases it even routed the SMS through the US costing Australian users even more. The old number was not good, we simply had to replace it.

It sounds like you are disappointed that there is not a local Australian access number. If that is indeed the case, then consider your wish added to our wish list. Thanks for your feedback!

I don't understand what they're saying about a UK number; the only number I'd ever seen was the US number. Yes, my messages would have been routed via the US - because that's the number Twitter told me to use.

The new number costs just as much to use as the old number did (ie, in my case, no more than a local access number would - but for many people, up to 4 times the cost of a local number, or more in some cases[1]). Yes, we'd like a local access number

I'm slightly placated by this comment. It's starting to sound as though the original promise of a solution cheaper for users was not a deliberate lie, just a complete misunderstanding of the actual costs involved. I can't remember who the law is named after, but it seems to apply here: never blame on malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity and ignorance.

Either that, or it's a slightly less transparent lie ;)