One of the big negative factors about the new iPhone (for me anyway) is the lack of text messages in the basic plan. While the old plan had 200 messages with the standard data fee, the new generation only gives you those 200 messages after a $5/month fee is tacked on. If you still want to text message for “free,” there are a couple options for you, though.
The best one I have seen so far is the TxtDrop service. If you go to TxtDrop.com/iPhone, you’ll be taken to an iPhone optimized site for sending a free text message. There is a small adsense unit at the bottom, but otherwise the service is free. You’ll be prompted for your email address (which is used as the name of the sender), your friend’s number, and the message you want to send. There may be some trunkating of the message as TxtDrop adds their URL at the very end, but it still works ok.
There are other options (aside from identical services to TxtDrop), but you need to know the network your friend is on. For Verison sending an email to [their 10 digit number]@vtext.com will convert your message into a text message and go to that number. AT&T uses [their 10 digit number]@txt.att.net and Alltel uses [their 10 digit number]@message.alltel.com.
The downside to these text message alternatives are that they cannot make use of the great iChat-like interface for having text conversations. It isn’t possible to reply directly to a text sent by one of these services, so the communication is one way. Also, if they could reply to the email address attached to the message…then you could just talk by email in the first place, right?
Even so, this may turn out to be a handy tool for you new iPhone users, so good luck and post your own ideas in the comments.
[Via Macsimum News] [Image from GearLive]
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July 3rd, 2008 at 1:39 pm
No Problem?
I’d say a more appropriate title would be…
No Texts in the 3G Plan? Slight problem…. Only ONE WAY messages are free
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:23 pm
You still get charged for the texts that you get sent by friends who either dont care that you dont have any SMS on your plan or forget. I guess you could have them text your email address, but some phones dont do that.
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Good point Jon
July 4th, 2008 at 10:51 am
sorry but the @vtxt.com, or ten digit number@txt.att.net don’t work. i try to send text message to friend with verizon and att. they don’t work. that’s what we get for $200 for iphone. att sucks anyway to begin with because all they care about is money. so in order to get an iphone for $200, we have to suffer for other fee and contract and lots more craps. at this point i wish that they should leave the price for $400.
July 4th, 2008 at 10:56 am
I just tested the AT&T one on my own phone and it worked fine. Make sure you’re not sending it to “tendigitnumber” and you’re replacing that part with your friend’s number. I know you probably already know that, but just making sure we’re on the same page.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Another alternative I’ve found is by using the AIM program from the App Store. You can type in any mobile phone number as +15551234567 and send a text message for free from any data network (wifi or cellular). The best part being the fact that they can reply, so you essentially get 2 way communication.
Of course, there is a downside. I’ve found that the AIM app has to be open in order to get replies or for someone to initiate a conversation with you.