Send Free Text Messages With Your iPhone

From Wired How-To Wiki

Steve Jobs touted the iPhone 2.0's $200 price tag until he was blue in the face. But anyone paying any attention at all quickly noticed that AT&T is making up the difference by upping the price of SMS messages. Under the iPhone's new data plans, you pay $5 per month for 200 messages (which is what was included with the original plan), $15 per month for 1500 messages, or $20 per month for unlimited messages. Given that data is much easier on the network than voice, SMS has to be one of the bigger scams the telcos are currently running -- and not just for the iPhone.
It may not be rocket science, but Jeff Carlson over at Tidbits has a tip to help you avoid exorbitant fees: use AOL's free instant message client for iPhone and iPod Touch. For those not using an iPhone or an iPod Touch, IMing instead of texting is old news. But now iPhone users can get in on the money-saving fun.
In fact, you can use just about any AIM client -- iChat, Adium, Fire or whatever you'd like -- to send a text message to any mobile device capable of sending and receiving text messages.
For those new to setting up AIM-to-phone connections, follow these instructions.
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Step 1: Get a chat client for your iPhone

(Note: You can obviously skip this step if you just want to send text messages from your desktop.)
If you're using an iPhone, go to the Apple App Store and download the free AIM client for the iPhone. Either enter the App Store using your iPhone, or, if you're on your desktop, use this direct link to the AIM client in the iTunes App Store.

Step 2: Add your friend's phone to your buddy list

From your desktop AIM client (iChat, Adium, Pidgin or whatever you're using) add a new contact. Instead of entering your friend's AOL chat handle, enter their phone number using this format:
+14152765000
or
+1[area code][7-digit phone number]

with no breaks or hyphens. Put in the contact's name as something that identifies it as "Jeff's Phone" or "Scott's SMS" -- anything that helps you differentiate it from your friend's regular IM account.

Step 3: Log in and send a message

Your friend's mobile contact info should now appear in your buddy list. It will show up in all of your clients, too -- your iPhone, your work computer, your home computer. Your AIM buddy list is stored on AOL's servers, so you have access to the same list of buddies no matter what device you're using or where you're logging in from.
Tap on the buddy's name, type a message, and click send.

Step 4: Handling the replies

When you send a message this way, the AIM servers will translate it into an SMS and send it to the recipient's phone number. If your buddy is using an iPhone, they will receive your message as an SMS (and they'll pay for it). They'll have to sign up for an AIM account and download AOL's free chat app if they want to receive messages from you for free.
When you send your first message, you may get an instant auto-reply saying "Your IM has been sent to my mobile device..." or something along those lines. The text of this notice may vary slightly depending on the mobile carrier your friend uses.
Likewise, your friend may receive an SMS alerting them to the fact that an AIM user has sent them a text message, followed by instructions on how to disable AIM-to-phone text messages.
If your friend has already disabled AIM-to-phone text messages (or has disabled text messages altogether) your SMS won't go through.

Tips & Tricks

Remember to keep it short, as SMS is limited to 140 characters.

Also, AOL adds some additional information to your text message, like your AOL username and the note "You can reply to this message." This further limits the length of your messages, putting your new limit at about 120 characters.

If your note exceeds the character limit, it will arrive as two separate text messages. This means your friend will get dinged for an additional SMS.

A six-digit "short code" will show up at the top of the first message you send. Your buddy should be able to keep the conversation going by sending additional messages to that short code.

Conclusion

Maybe a bit more work than you'd like, and there are some drawbacks. But if you're a heavy text messager, it could save you quite a bit of money. In fact, it could save you as much as $480 over two years -- which is probably more than enough to cover the cost of an iPhone 3.0.
Still confused? Take a look at a video demonstrating the same steps, as part of a video series of iPhone 3G tips and tricks.
Have other iPhone tips and tricks?

This page was last modified 09:14, 16 August 2008 by dennisc. Based on work by dnynumberone, mderrick15 and snackfight.

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Send_Free_Text_Messages_With_Your_iPhone

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Rabu, 25 Januari 2012