Cell Phone text messaging, how does one use it? (1 Viewer)

[Jay H]

My friend of mine is considering getting a prepaid cell phone like me, we are both bike commuters and plan to be biking to Maine soon. If he was to buy an ATT cell phone (Free2Go program) would he and I be able to send text messages to each other since we'll both be on ATT? Is is free or is that dependent on my contract?

Jay

 

[Kevin_Spradley]

I believe it is dependent on the contract you have with your service provider. I am a Cingular customer and to get free cingular to cingular TMing I have to sign up for it for a small fee.

 

[Joel Mack]

I am a Cingular customer and to get free cingular to cingular TMing I have to sign up for it for a small fee.

Not really "free", then, is it?

 

[Jay H]

OK, I dug through ATTs hidden website on the free2go and found that it is included with my plan.. but I can't try it out because my phone is inactive now and I've never been in their database. I looked at the phone and figuered out how to go about sending and receiving one though. So it does look like if I put money into my account, I think I can send text messages for free...

Jay

 

[Shane Bos]

Usually on the prepaid programs there is like a 10 cent cost for sending a text message and receiving one is no charge. As far as how to send or receive a TM depends on what type of phone you have. If you post the make/model I may be able to give you instructions on how to do this or just take it to your local dealer and I'm sure they'll help you out.

 

[Craig Robertson]

in many cases, text msging works between providers as well. the providers have interconnected the TM on the systems. i have a Nextel phone in Oregon and can TM my friend on a non-Nextel phone in Canada. you just have to enter in their 10 digit # and send!

 

[Ryan Wright]

Call AT&T. I bet they charge you for each message sent. I have a standard plan with them, $50 a month, and they still charge a quarter for every message I send (or I can buy 500 messages per month for $5).

I just don't send text messages from my phone. I do receive plenty from my various servers, though.

 

[Jay H]

Thanks, I know how to send/receive one, I have an Nokia 5165 phone. 10 cents is still cheaper than a phone call. I was just curious about the cost, the website says it's just "included with the prepaid plan" but doesn't really say how much.

The ATT website did also mention that it works between other plans out there.

If we both bring our GPS units, we can simply txt message each other lat/long coordinates and say "Come over here"

Jay

 

[Shane Bos]

I can TM anyone with a cell phone world wide. Here in Canada with Roger's AT&T on the prepaid plan received TM are free but sending is 15 cents(however there is a promo that you get 200 free messages until May 15, 2003). Howevere cellular is cheaper in the US so maybe it is free.

 

[Philip_G]

I've never had a plan that charged for text messaging. I've never found it terribly fun or easy to use either. Especially sprint's "short mail"
never has there been a slower, more cumbersome way to communicate. Pigeons would be faster and easier.

 

[Ryan Wright]

If we both bring our GPS units, we can simply txt message each other lat/long coordinates and say "Come over here"

How far apart will you be?

These rock: http://www.rypsports.com/010-00270-02.html

FRS radio with built-in GPS. You can broadcast and track one another's coordinates in real time. Totally cool.

 

[Jay H]

Not that far, I have the only set of maps! ;-) I'm just joking on the lat/long thing, I can't imagine I will be that far from him, except for once we get to our destination, I'm leaving for Baxter State Park. The thing is I'm going to be on a mountain bike with front/rear racks and full panniers cause I'll be carrying all the tent/stove that we'll be sharing and my friend is going to be on a road bike with just a set of rear panniers. Naturally, I'm much faster than him but I imagine my weight disadvantage would even things out.

FRS radios are neat but that's just one more thing to carry, The idea to save as much space as possible is to double duty as much as possible. Since I need to carry a cell phone to make reservations and for other emergencies, we thought of using that for contacting each other and I'm sure text messaging is cheaper than actually calling each other so simple messages we could simply TM each other and save the minutes.

Jay

 

[Jay H]

It is supposedly free to receive a text message, however when I send a text message from ATT Wireless's website, I don't get it. Does anybody know if I have to have an active account (i.e. money in my cellphone) to receive a text message? I have a prepaid cell phone as a reminder.

Jay