What is Text messaging?
Text messaging, officially Short Message Service (SMS), is a system that allows 160 character text messages to be passed to and from GSM mobile phones using the control channels. This means that a text message can get through even when a call in in process.
SMS doesn't go direct to the destination, but you send it to a message centre, which sends it on to the destination as soon as there is capacity available.
Normally messages arrive within one minute, but at busy times there can be a few hours delay. For more detail of how all this is done, see the SMS page of the How It Works section.
There are several sorts of SMS message described in the GSM standards, but the "normal" ones reach the recipient and are stored in the sim or the phone memory, and a small icon (and sometimes a beep) tells of its arrival.
Reading messages
How you read sms messages varies from handset to handset, so you should check your phone's user guide. Most sim cards can only store five or ten messages, so when you have read a message, it is best to delete it to leave room for more.
Is it used?
SMS used to be a technical curiosity, but in recent years "texting" has become much more popular, and you can send .vcf format visiting cards, pictures and customised ring tones as well as text, if you have the correct mobile handset and use a suitable Short Message Centre. The amount of SMS traffic has grown hugely in recent times, despite the relatively high costs of sending them.They generate more profit for the networks than voice calls do!
Some networks are developing information services, which use SMS as a delivery medium. You can get news, weather, stock prices, sports results and the like, sent to you for typically 10p per message. Some handsets can interact with sim cards to show customised menus to help you request information.
Where can you send text messages?
Basically, you can send text messages to any GSM phone anywhere in the world.
Special SMS types
There are two special types of SMS which you can send.
A Flash SMS does not flash, but it does appear directly onto the recipient's screen, with no need to use menus to get the message inbox. Variants of this are sent to switch on and off voicemail waiting indicators and the like.
A Flashing SMS is a normal sort of SMS, but it flashes! This attribute is only supported by some models of mobile handset (notably recent Nokias) and other phones won't be able to display them at all.
The easy way to send either a flash SMS or a flashing SMS is to use the latest version of Logomanager, but if you don't have a Nokia phone supported by Logomanager, you may be able to use flashmsg.exe, from Panuworld but this seems to need a Nokia phone as well.
In the message settings menu, you may find the option of sending messages as fax or email, as well as text and other formats. Don't be fooled: these options are not available on any UK network. You can send and receive email by SMS, though.
Receiving email by SMS
Some networks will provide you with an email address associated with your mobile phone, and you can send and receive messages that way. It tends to be expensive, though, and you can be charged for the SMS used to deliver each incoming email: potentially a very high expense if you get a lot of mail.
Luckily, there are alternatives. You can receive email by SMS for free by registering with O2 at http://www.o2.co.uk/. This service is provided by O2, but can be used by customers of all networks. You choose a name, and get an address of the form yourname@genie.co.uk Genie only sends the first 160 characters of each email, and will "bounce" very large emails back to the sender. Another option is Locust at http://www.locust.net which will split incoming emails into several SMS messages and send them to your phone. This service costs £3 per month, with no per-message charge. Locust also offers some information services for free, and allows you to send email by SMS.
Sending email by SMS
You can't send an email by text message directly: you have to send it to a gateway that will convert the text message to email. There are several services that do this for free, such as Excell at http://www.excell.to, but there are some UK SMS to email gateways, but most now charge for their services.
If you use use the Demon Internet email to fax service to allow you to send faxes in the same way. Prefix the message with the fax number (no spaces in the fax number) For example:
+1427891231 Dear Mobileshop, Your mobileshop.org web site is marvellous.
Demon add an advertising slogan, but if you can live with this, it's good value for money!
See also [ SMS : How To ]
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