Short codes

Five digits, because a service number does without the rest.

A short code is a five-digit service number, easier to remember than a full number. The best known relate precisely to SMS: 33700 lets you report an unwanted message, while 36111 is often used to opt out of commercial SMS.

In summary

A French short code is made up of five digits.
33700 is France's official service for reporting spam SMS and calls.
Reporting to 33700 is free and is not deducted from the plan.
Short codes are not all free: some are premium-rate.

Their brevity is not just a convenience: it makes the number easy to memorise and to pass on aloud, an asset for a service turned to in urgency or annoyance. It is the logic of emergency numbers, a little longer.

The point to watch concerns pricing. A short code is not free by nature: 33700 is, as are opt-out keywords like STOP, but other five-digit numbers fall under value-added services and are billed. Receiving an SMS from a short code costs nothing; it is replying to it or calling it that may be charged.

A short code cannot appear as a recipient from this service: the form only accepts ten-digit French mobiles, the only ones compatible with an anonymous send.