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Free SMS On IPhone 3G Via AOL IM Client

Posted by kdawson on from the dodging-the-gouge dept.

Glenn Fleishman writes "Jeff Carlson has discovered that you can bypass the 20 cent per message or $5 to $20 per month fees for SMS (text messaging) with the iPhone 3G and AT&T by using AOL's downloadable instant message client for iPhone 2.0, which is free. Just like the full-blown AOL IM system, you can add buddies that are the phone numbers of cell phones you want to send SMS to, and you establish a two-way conduit. The recipient still pays for SMS (if they have a fee) on their end, but if it's another iPhone user, you could coordinate with them via SMS to use instant messaging instead."

8 of 267 comments (clear)

  1. Oh lord by negRo_slim · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Someone figures out to chat instead of text and it makes front page...

    --
    On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
    1. Re:Oh lord by MrHanky · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As long as it's about the bloody iphone, it makes the front page. Who the fuck are these idiots who vote up every crap story in the firehose as long as it's about fucking Apple? This can't be interesting, not even to the die-hard Apple fanatic, and it's certainly not something specific to the iPhone. It's weak advertising for a feature you may find in any other phone.

      Enough with the iphone stories, already. I fucking hate the device now, and only because of the incessant spamming.

    2. Re:Oh lord by ari_j · · Score: 5, Insightful

      My answer to all of your questions: kdawson. Well, okay, there have been others, but he's the current one. The reign of terror is dynastic.

  2. Ummm... by antifoidulus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    but if it's another iPhone user, you could coordinate with them via SMS to use instant messaging instead.

    Or you could just....email them? They will have push email, and I assume if they have an iphone they have an email address, so why not just use that instead of creating these elaborate schemes....

    --
    Monstar L
    1. Re:Ummm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Or, instead of email, I hear these crazy little contraptions let you talk to one another just by talking. It's quite shock to some, but I think you can dial a "phone" number and say something like, "Put AIM on your phone so you don't have to use SMS for texting." when the other person picks up.

    2. Re:Ummm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      I've worked with the iPhone SDK and 3rd-party apps cannot push to the UI unless they are selected and running.

      So yes, email FTW. Because it's pushed to the UI. Unlike 3rd-party app messages.

      Next.

  3. Why hasn't a provider made SMS free yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It seems like in this semi-competitive market, one of the providers would've made the unusual move of switching to free SMS. I realize it's pure profit for them, but it seems like they could make up the difference with the influx of new customers, and potentially less voice bandwidth usage.

  4. You're missing the point by c0d3r · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think the point is that telco's are gouging people for text traffic, which has a very small impact on their infrastructure. If you compare the network traffic for text vs. picture vs. video, they are ripping people off. I even get messages sometimes from the telco, which means they are getting free money everytime they send a promotion to every cell phone. Say 1 million cell phones are sent one $0.25 message that's 1/4 million dollars for each message sent with very little impact on their infrastructure. What am I going to do? Spend an hour asking them to refund a quarter?