- Recent
- Popular
- Tags (0)
- Subscribers (1)
- Text messaging: How many times a day do you do it?May 8 2007
-
Americans send about 20 billion text messages per month, according to a cell phone industry group that has apparently counted them all. Sound like a lot? That's only 85 messages per month per cell phone subscriber, or not quite 3 per day.
By comparison, Korean teenagers are sending an average of 2,000 messages per month -- 60 per day.
How many text messages do you send in a day?
- Skype Cuts SMS Fees In HalfMay 3 2007
-
As you may know, if you use Skype, you can send SMS text messages to your friends' cell phones. Skype charges a small amount per message (less than your cell phone provider does) and makes it easy to send one SMS to multiple recipients, so this can be an easy and economical way to text several of your friends at once. Now, this week only, Skype has cut its usual SMS rate in half.
Between May 2 and May 8, Skype users who send SMS messages to recipients in the United States, Australia, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Belgium, Thailand, Ireland, Austria, and Italy will be charged half the usual rate. Before the week-long reduction, Skype charged $0.112 per message sent to recipients in the United States, $0.088 to Australia, and $0.063 to Thailand.
That means it will cost only about five cents per SMS message to US cell phone addresses. Cheap!
Skype Cuts SMS Fees In Half - Set up your own text-messaging service for free.May 3 2007
-
You don't have to be a big company to set up a text-message auto-response system. With TextMarks, you can set up a quick-and-dirty text message information system for free. It's a great way to stay in touch with your customers or friends, to promote your website or services, or just to provide useful information.
To use TextMarks for receiving information, you send short codes to the TextMarks number (41411). TextMarks then sends the information back that corresponds to the code you sent.
For example, someone set up the code "sftides" -- so if you send an SMS containing the word "sftides" to 41411, you'll get the latest ocean tides for San Francisco. The image of the phone on this post shows what you get when you send the code "kqed" -- it's what's currently playing on the radio station KQED.
The brilliant part is that it's really easy to set up your own TextMarks codes. You just need to pick a short code that isn't already being used on TextMarks. Then you tell TextMarks what information to deliver when somebody sends that code to TextMarks. This could be a short piece of text, or you can tell TextMarks to pull a specific piece of information from a page on your web site. - Send yourself reminders via SMS.January 17 2007
-
Wouldn't it be convenient if your phone could remind you about important dates, events you need to remember, and things you need to do on your way home from work?
With SMS reminders, you can easily use your phone as a memory aid. And it's far easier than trying to figure out your phone's calendar application to set yourself an alarm (or -- worse -- trying to sync your phone with your computer-based calendar).
The trick is finding a service that will send reminders to your phone. I know of at least three easy alternatives.
If you're already using an online calendar like Yahoo Calendar or Google Calendar, SMS reminders are already built in to the calendar. All you need to do is select the right option. And if you're not using one of these calendars, Backpack has a terrific SMS reminder service that's also free.
With both calendar services you'll need to confirm your phone number and carrier before you can use the SMS reminder service. They'll send a test message to your phone containing a secret code, and once you enter this code on the site, you're good to go.
With Yahoo Calendar, when you create a new event, look for the "Reminders" section about two thirds of the way down the new event form. In that section, you tell Yahoo when to send reminders (it can send you two -- for instance, one message t - Verizon Wireless increases SMS fees.January 15 2007
-
After Sprint Nextel and Cingular raised their SMS text messaging fees, Verizon Wireless is doing it too. Starting March 1, the price Verizon Wireless charges you for sending text messages from North America, and for receiving text messages from anywhere, will be $0.15 -- a 50% increase from the current price of $0.10 to send or receive messages. That brings Verizon's pricing to the same level as Sprint Nextel and Cingular. Bulk messaging plans cost the same as before.
The only major U.S. carrier left that charges just $0.10 per message is T-Mobile -- so if you're a heavy user of SMS text messaging, you know which service provider is your best bet. Just keep in mind that SMS prices aren't set in stone, and T-Mobile could raise its prices too.
Of course, if you're a heavy texter -- regardless of which carrier you're using -- you'll want to sign up for a bulk messaging plan, which will give you several hundred messages per month, or even an unlimited number of text messages, for a flat monthly fee.
More info:
