Using text messaging

OK, you know what text messaging is, and what you'd want to use it for, but how do you use it?

Message Settings

You'll find a menu entry named something like this. The only setting you can usefully amend is the Short Message Centre (SMSC) number, which is the "phone number" of the SMS message centre the phone sends messages to for delivery to the destination. Think in terms of a "Postal Sorting Office" and you'll not be far wrong.

There is generally no reason to change the SMSC, but you may want to use a different SMSC to send picture messages or ringtones if your network's SMSC doesn't support them.

Some people think that using a Foreign SMSC (FSMSC) avoids paying to send them. Cellnet, Virgin and Vodafone charge you anyway.

Sending messages

There will probably be a menu entry on your phone called Edit Messages or similar, which you use to prepare messages to send. The difficult bit is typing the message into the phone's tiny keypad. Some models have "Predictive Text" facilities, which learns phrases you use and "types ahead" for you. Ericsson offer Smartboard, a plug-in QWERTY keypad that mimics the phone's keypresses when you use it, and there are some mobile phones designed with keyboards specially for writing text messages.

Sending text messages from a web page

There used to be several web pages that let you send text messages to any mobile phone. Unfortunately, since a change in charging structures, many of these are no longer available.

Reading Messages

When you receive a message, there will probably be an envelope symbol on the phone's display. Once you have read the message, the symbol will vanish, but unless you delete the message, it will continue to use space on your sim card, so it's best to get into the habit of deleting messages straight away.

Computer links

The easiest way to write lots of text messages is to connect your phone to a computer. Nokia Cellular Data Suite and Motorola SmartCellect, for example, give you not only fax, data and phonebook management, but also the ability to read and write text messages using your PC.

PDAs

Some PDAs have the ability to connect to mobile phones, and of course there are PDAs that are also mobile phones, such as the Nokia 9000 series of phones. Expect new models from several manufacturers in the next few years, bringng PDA and mobile phones together, following the lead of the Pogo, the Nokia SPV and the Sony Ericsson P800.

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