how to communicate cheaply via sms outside the USA?

April 27, 2009 10:29 AM

I want to obtain a US-based phone number solely for the purpose of easily (and cheaply) communicating with my American friends via SMS. A web interface (or iPhone app) to send and receive the text messages would be perfect. Does anything like this exist?

Skype can almost do this, but not quite: It can give you a US number for incoming/outgoing voice calls, and it can send text messages to US numbers, but will not allow you to receive SMS messages on your skypeOut number.

Also, it has to be cheap for the people I'm talking to as well; that is, it should cost nothing for people who have unlimited text plans to send me a text message.

posted by helios to technology (13 comments total)

Maybe I'm missing something, but most providers let people text to email addresses and let people email text messages to their phone numbers. (e.g. You can send a text to a friend on T-Mobile by emailing [e-mail].) Why not just use email?
posted by ignignokt at 10:38 AM on April 27

AIM can send/receive SMS and there is a free iphone app.
posted by camcgee at 10:48 AM on April 27

Google Voice does this with free unlimited texts. You can check for texts online or have them forwarded directly to your phone (when you're in the US). Unfortunately, I'm not sure when Google will allow new registrations but you can always check Ebay for people selling their accounts. There is currently an iPhone app for it called GV Mobile that makes sending texts easier, but it only works in the States atm.

I really wish Skype allowed you to receive texts, too.
posted by some idealist at 11:07 AM on April 27 [1 favorite]

ignignoki: if I send them a text via e-mail, then they can't respond by simply using the "reply" button on their phone, which is too confusing (for them).

camcgee: This is really close to what I'm looking for, but when you send a message, it comes from "265XXX" It's not clear whether or not someone could add that number to their contacts to send me a message anytime. Also, it's not clear whether the receipient would have to pay an extra fee to reply to me since it's not a regular US number.

What I'm really looking for is something that is dead-simple to them, even if it's somewhat complicated for me. That is, I give them a normal US number and say "add this to your contacts" and they just send and receive SMS like normal whereas I use my iPhone or a web app.
posted by helios at 11:07 AM on April 27

On non-smartphone phones I've had, you can just hit "reply" to text back to an email. YFPMV (Your friends' phone may vary.)
posted by ignignokt at 11:14 AM on April 27

I text back and forth with a fellow who uses YahooIM to text me. I receive the texts on my iPhone just like a normal text and can reply the same way as I normally would. It doesn't cost me anything (beyond my normal unlimited texting/monthly fee).

When he first texted me, the number came across as a 404XX number. I added this as a contact for my friend and it now comes up as his name instead. I can initiate a text conversation using that number, too.

I don't think this would work, though, if both of us were on our phones, attempting to text through an application such as YahooIM. We haven't tried that; usually one of us is at a computer while the other is on his/her phone.
posted by LOLAttorney2009 at 11:24 AM on April 27

I SMS my family via email and they reply in the same way as if I texted from my phone. Verizon's SMS adresses are [ten digit phone number]@vtext.com
posted by rtimmel at 11:46 AM on April 27

Google voice. You can send and receive SMS. Since you're outside the US, you'll have to login to see the received SMS. There's no official iPhone client but the web site is mobile friendly, the free/paid version of the GV iPhone app mentioned earlier may be an easier way to check for incoming messages.
posted by wongcorgi at 12:00 PM on April 27

Yup, Google talk. What is really cool is your message comes to them from a 406 area code number. They can use this number to send an sms to you anytime. If you are running the Google talk application on your computer, their sms to you will pop up.
posted by cosmac at 12:55 PM on April 27

ignignoki: if I send them a text via e-mail, then they can't respond by simply using the "reply" button on their phone, which is too confusing (for them).

If they hit reply their message will arrive to your email, if that's where your message to them originated. There is nothing about this that would be confusing, really.

Also, on many phones they can scroll to your address within the message you sent and save that to their phone's address book so that they can text you first next time, if they want.

As for iPhone apps, I haven't found a great one for SMS. I've tested a few. AIM may actually work the best.
posted by Piscean at 4:03 PM on April 27

Oh- someone above mentioned Yahoo IM. Can you and your friends use Yahoo, AIM or Google Talk? I use Meebo, which combines those services into one app (you choose which service to use after you open the app).
posted by Piscean at 4:24 PM on April 27

If they hit reply their message will arrive to your email, if that's where your message to them originated. There is nothing about this that would be confusing, really.

It sounds easy to me too, but my friends and family at home have a very wide range of comfort with technology, use different carriers, have different budgets (and cell phone plans and providers), and so forth. Some of them would be quite intimidated to receive an email in the form of an SMS and refuse to try to reply or save it to their contact list for fear that they would mess up their phone or be charged extra fees.

That's why I'm looking for something which is unambiguous and dead-simple from their side. I don't want to have to start a whole conversation with each person that goes something like, "hey try to save this contact to your phone but if that doesn't work then just reply to this message when you want to text me and if that doesn't work then email me." Instead, I just want to say "hey here's my new number." and be done with it.

You would think these same people would be uncomfortable using SMS in the first place, but it seems that pretty much everyone I know is comfortable with it now, even older family members.

Anyway, Google Voice sounds like a perfect solution, so I'm going to try to get an account and see how well it works.
posted by helios at 4:25 PM on April 27

Just an update: I found a service that does this perfectly: 3jam.
posted by helios at 2:40 PM on August 4