Text Messaging 101
SuzyQ
Community Leader
Community Leader

I'm starting this thread, hoping others will chime in and share ways they have found to use texting to access various information and services WITHOUT incurring Premium messaging charges, or data charges (for those of us still stubbornly holding out for NO DATA, or who have the limited 25 MB plan).

 

With unlimited texting (and I do recommend unlimited - it's too hard to keep track and stress about overages!), there are many ways to access information typically available via the internet, on your computer, but without accessing the internet on your phone.  I'll start with two of my most used and we'll see how this goes....

 

FACEBOOK MOBILE - When you are logged in to your Facebook account, way at the bottom of the page in tiny letters, is a link called Mobile.  It will bring you to a page with many possibilities - I use the one on the left - Facebook Text Messages.  It's all text, no internet required on the phone.  You can update your status, receive a text when your friends update theirs (you choose which ones, or all), you can comment on their updates, "like" their updates.  You can upload pictures to your album.  All text.  :smileyhappy:  Facebook verifies your mobile number with a confirmation text; just be sure it IS a Facebook confirmation - I got slammed with a Premium service sign up thinking it was Facebook's confirmation - just read the messages carefully.

 

GOOGLE - Google via text message is just awesome.  Text your question to 46645 (GOOGL).  Within seconds you have a text back with the answer.  You learn how to refine your "questions" to get better results, but this is a very handy use of text messaging.  Need the score for the playoff game in progress?  Text Score Saints to 46645 - it comes back with score, quarter, and time left.  Need an address?  Text Staples, San Francisco - and you'll get a list of nearby stores with addresses and phone numbers.  After a few searches locally, Google asked me to set my default location - so now all I have to do is text "carpeting", and I get three pages of local carpet stores, with addresses and phone numbers. 

 

PS--800-GOOG411 is also a very cool tool - it's a FREE information call, and it will dial the # for you too, for free...unlike other 411 services.

 

OK peers - share your favorite TEXT ONLY, free, and useful tools you have discovered!

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Re: Text Messaging 101
supitsmike
Specialist - Level 2

We should all make sweet 101 Threads, and make it a power-house of help.

 

:smileyvery-happy:

 

But I seriously wasn't aware of the Google thing, that's pretty awesome. Thanks for the thread. I learned something, and, you're saving people some data! Kudos!

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Re: Text Messaging 101
MambaFace
Newbie

I've used the text Google before, however, I did not know that you could use it for so much.  I've only ever really used it for finding a restaurant or things of that nature, mostly to get the phone number.  Kudos!

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Re: Text Messaging 101
acraftylady
Specialist - Level 2

I love texting google for info.  Don't do facebook but will pass that tip along.  Mary

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Re: Text Messaging 101
TheGreatOne
Master - Level 1

I also like how you can text ChaCha. You send (text "ChaCha" or "242242") with a real answer and you a response quickly.

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Re: Text Messaging 101
acraftylady
Specialist - Level 2

TheGreatOne wrote:

I also like how you can text ChaCha. You send (text "ChaCha" or "242242") with a real answer and you a response quickly.


 

I have been thinking about applying for a job at ChaCha.  I am very good and researching and looking up stuff so would be perfect work at home for me.  There is also another one the same KGB or KBG, forget.  Mary

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Re: Text Messaging 101 - Email alerts
SuzyQ
Community Leader
Community Leader

TEXT MESSAGING TIP OF THE DAY

 

You can forward your email to yourphone#@vtext.com  and receive a text message with the subject, and possibly the first sentence or two of the email (before the 160 character limit kicks in).  Set up an automtic forward within your email program - it varies by provider, but can be set up pretty easily for most email accounts.

 

For those of you that have Mobile email or a data plan and do your email on the phone, this is superfluous.  For me, and anyone else who has texting but no data plan, and no email plan, it's a nice compromise.  I have my own business, and I have my business email forwarded to my phone via text.  When I am not at my computer (rare, but it does happen!), there are times I can glean enough info from the text to make a quick phone call and take care of things; at the least I get a text with a hint of what my email will contain when I get home to check it.  I like it.

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Re: Text Messaging 101 - Email alerts
acraftylady
Specialist - Level 2

I


SuzyQ wrote:

TEXT MESSAGING TIP OF THE DAY

 

You can forward your email to yourphone#@vtext.com  and receive a text message with the subject, and possibly the first sentence or two of the email (before the 160 character limit kicks in).  Set up an automtic forward within your email program - it varies by provider, but can be set up pretty easily for most email accounts.

 

For those of you that have Mobile email or a data plan and do your email on the phone, this is superfluous.  For me, and anyone else who has texting but no data plan, and no email plan, it's a nice compromise.  I have my own business, and I have my business email forwarded to my phone via text.  When I am not at my computer (rare, but it does happen!), there are times I can glean enough info from the text to make a quick phone call and take care of things; at the least I get a text with a hint of what my email will contain when I get home to check it.  I like it.


 

If you are using AOL there is no automatic forward that I know of.  I use windows mail to send and receive my AOL mail so no forwarding.  I know if you pay for yahoo mail plus you can forward though.  I can open the AOL program and go to keyword alerts and put in e-mail addresses from my address book and get a text alert on the phone every time one of those contacts sends me an e-mail on the computer, just displays the subject of the e-mail since it's only a text alert.  Mary

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Re: Text Messaging 101 - Email alerts
SuzyQ
Community Leader
Community Leader

I use Gmail, and you can use filters and actions to specify which emails get forwarded....I love gmail!  (But that's another thread/tutorial on another forum....)

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Re: Text Messaging 101 - Email alerts
acraftylady
Specialist - Level 2

Yes g-mail will let you forward to 3rd party mail programs free as I tested it out with windows mail and it worked good as I use that for my junk address so don't have to log into g-mail all the time to get the messages.  I just can't stand online mail and would much rather a mail program on the desktop.   Mary

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