Do you feel like your cell phone's text message bill is getting higher every
month? You're not alone. By some accounts, text messages cost more per megabyte
to send than do messages from outer space to Earth. But you can email and
Instant Message texts to phones for free. Here's how.
At roughly 20 cents a pop, text messages are expensive. But it takes a bit of
perspective to realize just how pricey they really are.
Short-message-service messages (that’s the official name for text messages,
often abbreviated to SMS) have a maximum of 160 bytes of data. Unless you
purchase a bulk text-message package (which can cost as much as $20 per month),
the 20 cents-per-message rate adds up to $1310.72 per megabyte. This is double
the cost three years ago and, quite literally, astronomical: A space scientist
at the University of Leicester in the U.K. did the math and discovered that this
is several times as much as it costs to transmit data from the Hubble space
telescope back to Earth. And most of this cost is pure profit for the phone
companies, who are able to deliver text messages for nearly nothing by
piggybacking them on other transmissions.
Thankfully, there are ways to bring your bill down to earth. The key is to use
what are known as SMS gateways. These are backdoors that transform other
(usually less expensive) types of communications, such as e-mail and instant
messages, into text messages. The upshot: You can send all the texts you want
without paying for the privilege.
All major mobile-phone carriers have e-mail addresses that feed into your SMS
inbox (see our diagram for specific addresses). If you have a smartphone and an
all-you-can-eat data plan, you can use your phone’s e-mail client to send as
many texts as you want for no additional cost. Of course, this method has its
limitations: In order to determine what address to send your message to, you
first need to know what cellular provider your friends have. I suggest asking
your most-texted contacts who their providers are. With that information, you
can program the proper e-mail address next to their names in your phone’s
address book.
Easier yet: Send your text message over AOL Instant Messenger (versions of which
exist for most mobile phones). Instead of sending your message to a screen name,
send it to “+1” followed by the area code and phone number. So if your friend’s
number is 212-555-5555, sending an IM to “+12125555555” will ensure it pops up
on his cellphone screen. If your phone has Web access, you can also send free
texts through sites such as txtdrop.com.
Of course, you still have to pay to receive text messages from other people. If
somebody replies to a text message that you sent as an IM or e-mail, his reply
will come to you in the format you initially sent it in, and reading it won’t
cost you a thing. You can cut your bill even further by asking your most-texted
friends to program your e-mail address into their address books. Even if they
insist on using SMS, sending a text message to your e-mail address will cause it
to appear in your e-mail inbox. And as long as you have an e-mail program on
your phone, it will be just as easy to retrieve.
Your target’s e-mail address depends on his mobile provider:
Sprint: phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Verizon: phonenumber@vtext.com
T-Mobile: phonenumber@tmomail.com
AT&T: phonenumber@txt.att.net
AIM: +1phonenumber
Source:
popularmechanics.com
