Sending messages via IM clients on your mobile instead of texting

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stonecold

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#39025 7-Aug-2009 18:30

Hey all, well I am new to geekzone but thought it could be a good place to post this question.

Thinking about data rates - 50c a MB (or cheaper on a plan) as opposed to Text rates which are >$1000 a MB.

If you had a phone which you could install an Instant message (IM) client on such as an iPhone, (or a phone with Windows mobile etc), and your friends also had one with a compatible IM client, what's to stop you sending messages with IM at this much cheaper data rate for exactly the same service. Even if message is charged at 5kB (i.e. one packet), that's still 200 messages for 50c!

So my question is - has any tried this to any extent? and if this is indeed feasible do you think the days of texting are numbered - once people catch on to this (and have phones which you can install apps on)

z2k

320 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#244029 7-Aug-2009 18:48

Whats stopping you?

1. Other people - Kiwi's are afraid of new things
2. Battery Life - Leaving the IM program on all the time

If only everyone started using push email instead of text messaging.. no one would care about txt 2000, for the same price you can send/receive 100000 emails..

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#244081 7-Aug-2009 22:44

Twitter is already replacing SMS at a much cheaper cost.

There are also applications such as Fishtext that allow you to send SMS's using a data connection for very good prices.

hallannz

33 posts

Geek

#246025 13-Aug-2009 14:11

Yup, it's a very good idea. Send one SMS: "Get on iChat". Then chat away almost for free. People do use SMS for conversations and it can be a very expensive business.

There's an official AIM client for iPhone which is very nice. Runs in the background. I have a client for my Symbian S60 5th Ed called fring which is very nice, seems to connect to most everything (Skype, IMs, etc). IM is always better than SMS as you can put status on IM. I once had some uber geek guy IM me to talk about some impressive cooling system he had seen for AMD CPUs, on my wedding night. No thanks. :)

If nothing else nobody knows where to sms me anymore as I have 4 phone numbers. Orcon, Voda, Telecom XT and 2degrees, but only one email and AIM which is always available.

Push email is indeed a killer app. I tell people to push email me instead of TXTing as it'll probably get there faster and cheaper too.

Only downside is when you get some kid wanting to rabbit on about his selfish devotion to his XBox 360 and hatred for Playstation when you're at the supermarket