Wadja.com – Send Free SMS Text Messages Worldwide

Wadja.com is a Mobile Social Network. Sign up with Wadja social networking and you get the FREE UNLIMITED SMS to your friends’ mobile phones over 500 networks and 200 countries.

To send free SMS using Wadja.com, there is nothing to download or install. You just sign up and send free unlimited SMS (text message) to your Wadja friends. Once you add your mobile phone number to your Wadja profile, you can receive SMS from other Wadja users also. Wadja supports 80 character messages. There is no delivery confirmation.

The URL m.wadja.com is the mobile compliant URL for the www.wadja.com service. It is specifically designed to be viewed on your mobile phone or handset device.

How do I send SMS (text message) to Wadja users?

To message users you must be signed in to your Wadja account. Just select the friends Mobile Profile you want to message and click on the ‘Send message’ link. You can then write your subject and message body and click send. Your message is immediately delivered to your friends inbox and mobile phone handset through a text (sms) alert.

Can I message users that are not on my friends list?

Yes, you can contact any Wadja user with your private message.

Who can I text (sms) message? How do I text (sms) message Wadja users?

You can send a free text (sms) messages to anyone who is on your friends list and has added their phone number to their details page. To text (sms) message a friend simply sign in to your Wadja account and click on the Text SMS link. You can then add (click check box) your friends name to the message box. You will notice that Wadja do not actually show your friend’s mobile number, but rather their Wadja ID for security reasons.

How can I receive text (sms) messages?

In order to receive text (sms) messages from your friends list, you need to provide your mobile number in the ‘About me/Interests’ option of your account. Keep in mind that you can make your mobile number invisible to your friends list, but still receive messages, since your friends only see your Wadja ID as a ‘Send to’ option in their sms contact list. Your mobile number will only be available to your friends in your network.

Does my mobile number need to be a certain format?

Your mobile number should be in the following format: + country code, area code, and number…e.g. in the US (+1 602 2233445) with 1 being the country code.

Can I send text (sms) messages anywhere in the world?

Yes, you can send text (sms) messages anywhere in the world for free with Wadja. We cover over 500 networks in over 200 countries, so chances are that your friend will live in a place where your text message will reach them.

Are text (sms) messages really free?

Yes! You can text (sms) message between your friends list for FREE. Wadja text (sms) is supported solely by advertising, so Wadja can keep the service totally free for all our users.

Can I text (sms) message people who are not on my friends list or not Wadja users?

Yes you can message Wadja users who are not on your friends list. To begin a text (sms) communication with a Wadja user, simply make a friend request to them and wait for their approval. We have also added a feature to text (sms) someone who is not in the Wadja community. Just simply add their mobile phone number with + country code, area code, and number…e.g. in the US (+1 602 2233445) in the YELLOW ‘Mobile Number’ box and send your message. For security reasons, Wadja do have a limit on your text (sms) messages outside of the Wadja network.

Can I text (sms) message in my own language?

Yes, you can text (sms) message in your own language, but the characters need to be Latin based. Unfortunately non-Latin characters in the FREE text (sms) feature may not display properly

Rediff Bol to Send Free SMS to India Cell Phones

Install Rediff Bol Instant Messenger to chat with your friends or send SMS text messages to cell / mobile phones in India, from anywhere in the world, for free.

Rediff Bol allows to add friends with their rediff email id or with India mobile number. You can send upto 3 (three) only ONE free SMS to a specific Mobile Number without getting a reply. As soon as you send an SMS to your friend he/she will get an SMS request. Your friend needs to needs to accept that request for you to interact on SMS OR ask your friend to send GET as an SMS to 57333. The SMS message is limited to a maximum of 141 117 characters. You can also save your SMS messages in your computer as a text file. This is a reliable service I personally used many times. You can always send 1 more free messages per day to a number, if your friend do not respond.

Privacy: You can block a Rediff user from sending you SMS from Rediff Bol to your mobile phone. All you need to do is send BLOCK to 57333
Example: BLOCK RediffUser

Charges: You will not be charged any money when you send SMS to mobile phones via the Rediff Bol. When your friend sends a reply, he/she will be charged according to the standard SMS rates by their mobile operators.

Rediff BOL supports the following GSM operators as of writing this article.

• Aircel – Chennai
• Airtel – Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Mahrashtra & Goa, Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat
• BPL – Mumbai, Maharashtra & Goa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala
• BSNL – Uttar Pradesh(W), Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Maharashtra, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Andaman Nicobar, Kolkata, West Bengal, Assam, North East, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Kerala, Karnataka
• Hutch – Delhi, Haryana, Mumbai (Orange), Gujarat, rajasthan, Kolkata, Uttar Pradesh(E), Uttar Pradesh(W), West Bengal, Chennai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab
• Idea – Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (W), Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh
• MTNL – Mumbai
• Reliance (CDMA) – All India
• Reliance (GSM) – Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, North East, Assam
• Spice – Karnataka

Source: Rediff Bol Help 1 and Rediff Bol Help 2

Send Free SMS to India and Abroad From Yahoo! Messenger

If you are a Yahoo! Messenger user, you can send free SMS to your friends’ mobile phone, and receive their replies as well.

In India, you can send an SMS to Aircel, Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, MTNL, Reliance India Mobile, BPL, Spice Punjab and Spice Karnataka mobile users.

To continue receiving SMS from you, the mobile user needs to reply to at least one of the three SMS sent by you from your Yahoo! Messenger. Each message can contain upto 143 characters.

You can also send SMS to the following countries and the respective operators’ mobile users:

Country	Mobile Operators
Argentina	Telecom Personal
Australia	Vodafone, Telstra, Orange
Bolivia	Entel Movil
Canada	Rogers
Hong Kong	Hutchison
Indonesia	Telkomsel, Excelcom
Kuwait	Wataniya
Malaysia	Celcom, Digi, Maxis, Tmtouch, Maxis
Pakistan	Mobilink
Philippines	Smart, Globe Telecom
Singapore	M1, Starhub
Thailand	Dtac, AIS Thailand
United States	AT&T, Cingular, Verizon, T-Mobile
Vietnam	Mobifone, Viettel, Vinaphone

If you receive a message on your phone from a user who you would like to ignore, reply to it with just the word “block” in your message.

The following commands are also possible from your mobile phone when you receive a message from Yahoo! Messenger.

SMS Message Commands from Your Cell Phone, to 58242

Function	Text Message Command
Block a user	block YahooID
Block everybody	block all
Unblock a user	unblock YahooID
Unblock everybody	unblock all
Reset a user	reset YahooID

Send the commands from your mobile phone to 58242. When you respond to messages sent from a PC to your mobile phone, use the Reply option on your phone, as you do in regular text messaging.

Illustration – Send SMS Text Message from Yahoo! Messenger

To send SMS from Yahoo messenger download the latest version of Yahoo! Messenger and follow the steps given below.

1. Open Yahoo Messenger window. In the menu, go to Actions -> Send an SMS Message…

2. You can select an existing contact with a mobile number from My Contacts tab

3. Otherwise you can type in the mobile phone number in Other Contact tab. The number should be typed in International Telephone number format. That is, start with a + followed by country code, area code if any, and cell phone number. In India, it would be +91 followed by 10 digit mobile number.

4. You get a new SMS window, just like your regular Yahoo chat window. Type in your message, not more than 143 characters and hit Send. You can send the message from any of your Yahoo profile identity.

In order to continue the conversation your friend need to reply to the message from his cell phone.

Reference: Yahoo! India Mobile

Way2SMS.com – Send Unlimited Free SMS to India

Way2SMS.com offers unlimited free SMS text messaging to any mobile phone across India.

Way2SMS supports all mobile networks in India (both GSM & CDMA networks), including Reliance and Tata Indicom.

Out of the 160 characters of a standard SMS, Way2SMS offers only 110 characters to the user to send out their personal SMS. Another 10 characters are reserved for displaying the sender’s mobile number. The rest of the characters are reserved for mobile advertisement. So you get free SMS for viewing the ads attached to the sent message.

The messages are delivered almost instantly. It worked well on my Reliance Mobile. At Way2SMS you can keep address book of your contacts. You can also create Groups and send a message to your groups.

Way2SMS.com has a WAP version of the site at http://wap.way2sms.com which you can access from your cell phone directly. So you can send free SMS anywhere in India right from your mobile. You can use the same Way2SMS web account from your mobile.

Way2SMS.com is an unlimited messaging platform where millions of text messages are exchanged each day. You can send SMS text messages for free of cost to any mobile subscriber across India.

If you have any further questions or issues that you did not receive the verification code, send them an email at support@way2sms.com describing the problem, mobile network and the mobile numbers, approximate message sent time etc..

If you want to block all messages from Way2SMS to your mobile, send an email mentioning your mobile number in the body of the email and send it to support@way2sms.com with subject as “Block all messages from Way2SMS to my Mobile“.

And if you want to block message from a specific mobile phone number, please mail waysms mentioning your mobile number, number to be blocked, in the body of the email and send it to support@way2sms.com with subject as “Block Way2SMS messages from a particular Mobile“.

Way2SMS.com also has premium account services. You can send 160 characters long short messages with your name displayed instead of the 10 digit number. You can schedule messages and create alerts and notifications.

Chikka Messenger to Send Free SMS Text Messages

Chikka Messenger is the first two-way PC-to-mobile instant messaging client. Chikka Messenger provides free instant messaging to online friends and to mobile phone users. Chikka is brought to India by Indiatimes.com.

Send Free SMS

Use the Chikka Messenger to send text messages directly to mobiles around the world. When your friend receive a reply, they can simply hit reply to send messages directly back to your computer. Chikka Messenger supports up to 320-character long SMS messages.

Mobile Message Forwarding: If you register your mobile number as your Chikka ID, messages sent to you – both SMS and instant messages – follow you to your phone when you are away or logged off.

Now you can add your Google Talk buddies to Chikka. That means, you can even receive incoming Google Talk messages on your mobile when you’re away from your PC.

Download Indiatimes Chikka Messenger. To use the Chikka Messenger, you need to register with your mobile number.

Supported Networks in India

Indiatimes Chikka Messenger connects to all major Indian mobile carriers including Aircel, Airtel, BPL Mobile, BSNL, Vodafone, Idea, MTNL, Reliance Telecom, Riliance Mobile, Spice Telecom and Tata Indicom.

I use my reliance mobile number and it worked perfectly. Instantly received the password on my cell phone and was able to login with it.

You can send and receive messages from your friends mobile. To reply to messages received, simply reply with your message and send like any normal SMS message.

Register for a Chikka ID from Your Mobile Phone

Before you can use Chikka, you will need to register to get a Chikka ID. On your mobile phone, send an SMS to 58888.

IM R [your name] and send to 58888

You’ll receive your temporary password through SMS. Once you do, you’re ready to use Chikka Messenger. Now you can launch the Chikka Messenger application from your computer and login with your Chikka ID, which is your mobile phone number, and password.

Cost of Sending and Receiving Messages

When Registering for a Chikka account or sending a message using your mobile phone will cost you regular value-added service rates. In India, the value added service rate is as follows:

• For Aircel, Airtel, Vodafone, RIM, RTL, BPL, TTSL and Idea mobile subscribers, the rate is Rs 3.00 per SMS sent.
• For BSNL mobile subscribers, the rate is Rs 1.50 per SMS sent.
• For MTNL mobile subscribers, the rate is Rs 1.00 per SMS sent.

In India, receiving messages from Chikka on your mobile phone is free!

Sending and Receiving Messages

To send a message from your mobile phone, check your list of buddies by texting the IM C to 58888. Note the buddy digit and you can send the message to the buddy by texting IM .

You can send an plain email to your friend by texting IM TXT .

To reply to a Chikka message you have received on your mobile phone, there is no need to remember any short codes or keywords. Chikka’s intuitive system allows you to simply reply to the message you received, as if you are replying to a regular text message. The message will be delivered directly to your friend’s Chikka chat window.

Message Credits

A PC user is given only limited credits for sending messages from the computer to mobile phones. The daily message credit allocation depends on the wireless provider of your recipients. Your daily message credit allocation applies to SMS and MMS collectively. Credits not used during the day are not carried over to the next day.

If you have run out of message credit, you can wait for a mobile user to reply to your message so that you’ll regain a credit. Otherwise, you can wait 24 hours from the first time your account was active for the day to receive your daily message credits.

Country – Telecos	Credits per day	Credits earned from each reply
Philippines – All Telcos	30	2
India – All Telcos	10	1
United States – All Telcos	20	1
United Kingdom – All Telcos	30	1
Guam – Guamcell	Unlimited	1
Saipan – Saipancell	Unlimited	1
Spain – All Telcos	30	1
Thailand – DTAC	30	1

Blocking and Unblocking

When someone adds you to his buddy list for the first time and sends you a message on your mobile phone, you can easily block the sender by replying to the text message with the keyword BLOCK.

Otherwise, create a text message and key in IM B then send it to 58888.

To unblock someone, create a text message and key in IM UB then send it to 58888.

Mobile Keyword Commands

Here’s a quick guide to some important mobile commands.

Keywords	Description	Send To
IM R	To register	58888
IM C	To see who is online and instructions to send a message
IM	To send a message to a buddy
IM P	To get your password
IM ADD	To add a buddy
IM TXT	To send a message to an email address
IM B	To block someone in your buddy list
IM UB	To unblock someone
IM HELP	To get help info
IM QUIT	To never receive messages from anyone

Chikka Text Messenger on the Web

Chikka Messenger installer works only on Windows operating system. If you are using Mac or Linux you can try the web version.

If are not allowed to install applications at your school, college or office, you can still access Chikka through your web browser.

Visit indiatimes.chikka.com and click on Launch Chikka Javalite to launch the browser based chikka messenger on the web.

Send Free SMS Worldwide as Email

I have collected the following list of world’s mobile careers from fatwallet.com. This provides an eazy way to send SMS (text messages) as email, free of charge for the sender.

I do not endorse thi list and I have no means to test whether this works or not. Use this list at your own risk! The SMS receiver may be charged by their mobile career! Do not send the bill to me!

T-Mobile (USA): phonenumber@tmomail.net
Virgin Mobile (USA): phonenumber@vmobl.com
Cingular (USA): phonenumber@cingularme.com
Sprint (USA): phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Verizon (USA): phonenumber@vtext.com
Nextel (USA): phonenumber@messaging.nextel.com
Alltel – number@message.alltel.com.
Ameritech (ACSWireless) – number@paging.acswireless.com
Arch Wireless – http://www.arch.com/message/ (assumes blank PIN)
AT&T Wireless – number@mobile.att.net
BeeLine GSM – number@sms.beemail.ru
Bell Mobility Canada – Enter your phone number, including the “1″ prefix. number@txt.bellmobility.ca
BellSouth Mobility – number@blsdcs.net
Blue Sky Frog – number@blueskyfrog.com
Cellular South – number@csouth1.com
CellularOne (Dobson) – number@mobile.celloneusa.com
Centennial Wireless – http://www.centennialcom.com
cingular – number@mobile.mycingular.com
cingular IM Plus/Bellsouth IPS – Enter 8 digit PIN or user name. Goes to @imcingular.com
cingular IM Plus/Bellsouth IPS Cellphones – Enter phone number. Goes to @mobile.mycingular.com
Dutchtone/Orange-NL – number@sms.orange.nl
Edge Wireless – number@sms.edgewireless.com
Fido Canada – number@fido.ca
Golden Telecom – number@sms.goldentele.com
Idea Cellular – number@ideacellular.net
J-Phone – number@jp-t.ne.jp
Kyivstar – number@sms.kyivstar.net
LMT – number@smsmail.lmt.lv
Manitoba Telecom Systems – number@text.mtsmobility.com
Meteor – number@sms.mymeteor.ie
Metrocall Pager – number@page.metrocall.com
Mobilfone – number@page.mobilfone.com
NBTel – number@wirefree.informe.ca
Netcom – number@sms.netcom.no
Nextel – Goes to 10digits@messaging.nextel.com
NPI Wireless – number@npiwireless.com
NTELOS – 10digits@pcs.ntelos.com
O2 (formerly BTCellnet) – Enter O2 username – must be enabled first at http://www.o2.co.uk. Goes to username@o2.co.uk
O2 M-mail (formerly BTCellnet) – Enter phone number, omitting intial zero – must be enabled first by sending an SMS saying “ON” to phone number “212″. Goes to +44[number]@mmail.co.uk
Optus – number@optusmobile.com.au
Pacific Bell cingular – number @mobile.mycingular.com
Pagenet – number@pagenet.net
PCS Rogers AT&T Wireless – number@pcs.rogers.com
Powertel – number@ptel.net
PSC Wireless – number@sms.pscel.com
Qualcomm – username@pager.qualcomm.com
Qwest – number@qwestmp.com
Skytel (Alphanumeric) – 7-digitpin@skytel.com
Smarts GSM – http://www.samara-gsm.ru/scripts/smsgate.exe
Sprint PCS – number@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Sprint PCS (Short Mail) – number@messaging.sprintpcs.com
SunCom – number@tms.suncom.com
SureWest Communications – number@mobile.surewest.com
T-Mobile Austria – Enter your number starting with 43676. Email will be sent to number@sms.t-mobile.at
T-Mobile Germany – number@T-D1-SMS.de
T-Mobile Netherlands – Send “EMAIL ON” to 555 from your phone, then enter your number starting with 316. Email will be sent to number@gin.nl
T-Mobile USA – number@tmomail.net
Telefonica Movistar – number@movistar.net
Telus Mobility – 10digits@msg.telus.com
uBoot – Enter your username as the phone number. See http://www.uboot.com for more details
UMC – number@sms.umc.com.ua
US Cellular – Enter a 10 digit USCC Phone Number. Messages are sent via http://uscc.textmsg.com/scripts/send.idc and only contain the message field
Verizon Wireless – number@vtext.com
Verizon Wireless (formerly Airtouch) – Enter your phone number. Messages are sent to number@airtouchpaging.com. This is ONLY for former AirTouch customers.
Verizon Wireless (myairmail.com) – number@myairmail.com
Vessotel – roumer@pager.irkutsk.ru
Virgin Mobile UK – number@vxtras.com
Virgin Mobile USA – number@vmobl.com
Weblink Wireless – number@airmessage.net
WyndTell – username/number@wyndtell.com

Next Generation Messaging SMS 2.0 on Airtel, Powered by Affle

A few months ago, we wrote about Airtel SMS 2.0, which was the world’s first upgrade to SMS 2.0. Here is more about the technology, it’s advantage and how to get it in your Airtel Nokia phones. Affle, which has operations in UK, Singapore, Malaysia, USA and India, is providing the SMS 2.0 technology for Airtel.

SMS2.0 is the next generation messaging providing a great platform to build a scalable mobile media. The SMS2.0 application gives the consumer access to an enhanced experience at no additional cost and with no change in the behavior of the mobile handset. SMS 2.0 provides personalized messaging experience, color messages with fun emoticons and scheduling of SMS to send at a later time. It also provides enhanced messaging features like the best of MMS, IM and E-mail features, SMS to e-mail service, graphic and multimedia attachments, customized content and peer 2 peer content,

SMS2.0 is an upgrade to SMS providing personalization experience of SMS. The SMS 2.0 upgrade gives users access to information of interest – movies, cricket, etc, for free, on their mobile phone, and is delivered in a non-intrusive fashion. Users of SMS 2.0 can jazz up their SMS by using background and text colors, expressive emoticons, customizable signatures, send SMSs to e-mail, do Internet searches, and get updates on discounts and promotions.

The SMS 2.0 application runs on the Symbian operating system, and is currently available only on Nokia handsets. Those who have GPRS enables handsets can access the service by sending a message SMS2 to 543210. In order to enable SMS 2.0, you have to make sure that Airtel Live is activated on your phone. This application is completely free of cost. Mobile advertising and marketing is expected to taking off in a big way in India, enabling marketers and mobile operators to monetize services and develop new sources of revenue. Affle is also planning to release Mobile Social Networking and Local Search shortly.

The following Nokia phones are supported at the time of writing this article. – 3230, 6260, 6600, 6681, 7610, N70 Music, 6630, N72, N70, 6670, 6682, 6620, N72 Music, 6680, E50, N73, N73 Music, E65, N91 and N91 8GB

How to Install?

Ensure that the software installation option in the settings of your mobile phone’s Application Manager is turned on. In general this step is not necessary, however if the application fails to install, the user should check to ensure that the Application Manager allows the installation of downloaded applications.

Follow the steps below to install SMS2.0 in the Nokia phone of Airtel subscribers.

• Type SMS2 and send it to 543210 (For Airtel users). You would receive a message with a web link to download the SMS2.0 application.
• Open the link and launch the web browser on your phone. A page is displayed with the text “You are just a click away from upgrading to SMS2.0. Begin Download!”. Click the Begin Download link.
• A pop up with the text “Install SMS2.0 Installer?” is shown. Select Yes. Next select Install.
• You may then be displayed a message “Unable to verify supplier. Continue anyway?”. Select Yes.
• Next, a pop with the text “Install SMS2.0?” is shown. Select Yes. Next select Install.
• You may then again be displayed a message “Unable to verify supplier. Continue anyway?”. Select Yes to complete the installation.

160by2.com – Send Free SMS in India

160by2.com allows you to send free SMS to cell phones in India from your computer. The PC-to-mobile SMS provider enables you to send maximum of 50 messages a day, up to 80 characters long, to any mobile user within India. You can send only 10 messages to one particular number in a day.

This service is currently by invitation only.

Though SMS Text Messages are generally upto 160 characters, 160by2.com uses the first 80 characters for the user’s message and the next 80 characters for advertising. Advertisers are allowed to append a contextual advertisement to the SMS, making up the rest of the 80 characters. It is said that 90% of the SMS messages are less than 80 characters long. Hence, 80 characters for the user and 80 for advertisers would suffice most of the time.

Due to TRAI (Telecom Ragulatory Authority of India) restrictions your mobile number cannot be displayed as sender number in receiver’s mobile. Instead, the message will be displayed as being received from 160by2.com and the message will start with your number, so that receiver can identify who is the sender. The software at 160by2 has in-built spam guard and firewalls also.

The Hindu reports that 160by2.com is in talks with cellular service providers Airtel and Idea to offer cell-to-cell SMS (short messaging service) facility to all their subscribers free of cost. 160by2 hopes that the move translates into a reality by the end of 2007.

160by2.com is an allied company of smscountry.com, headquartered in Hyderabad.

National Do Not Call (NDNC) Registry – START DND to 1909

For subscribers who would like to register/de-register their request for NDNC registry may dial 1909 or SMS to 1909 with keywords ‘START DND’ for registration and ‘STOP DND‘ for de-registration

The National Do Not Call Registry (NDNC Registry) is setup to curb the Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC), which is any telecommunications service message, which is transmitted for the purpose of informing about or soliciting or promoting any commercial transaction in relation to goods, investments or services which a subscriber opts not to receive.

The NDNC Registry will be a database having the list of all telephone numbers of the subscribers who do not want to receive unsolicited messages. Telephone subscriber (land line or mobile) who does not wish to receive UCC, can register their telephone number with their telecom service provider for inclusion in the NDNC. Telecom Service Provider shall upload the telephone number to the NDNC within 45 days of receipt. The Telemarketer will have to verify their calling telephone numbers list with the NDNC registry before making a call.

An amount of Rs 500/- per call/message for the first call has been prescribed to discourage telemarketers who make calls to numbers registered in Do Not Call list. The second call will have a fine of Rs 1000/- and third time the line will be disconnected. The defaulter telemarketer will face disconnection of telecom service.

Each user need to register their number with their communication provider such as BSNL, Airtel, Reliance, Hutch etc. in order to register their cell number of land line number with the NDNC Registry. The provider may provide website interface or SMS interface for registering your number in NDNC Registry. Check with your provider for the details.

BTW, Hutch also provides a Do Not Disturb registry, to keep you off from any customer service calls from Hutch itself. If you register in this, you will not be contacted to recommend tariffs, offers or services from Hutch.

SMSGupShup.com – Create Your SMS Group for Free

SMS GupShup s a free group messaging service to connect with your friends by webaroo. Using SMSGupShup.com is easy. GupShup provides both the website and the SMS interface for managing the SMS Group. Currently GupShup allows only one SMS group per mobile phone. GupShup supports only the Indian mobile phones, including Reliance Mobile.

You can create the group, manage it and send SMS to the group members – all from within your mobile phone using SMS (text messaging).
To create your own group, send CREATE GROUPNAME to 567678.
Now that you have the group created, add your friends’ mobile numbers to the group by inviting them.
Send INVITE number1, number2 to 567678.
New members can subscribe to a public group by sending JOIN GROUPNAME.
If someone want to unsubscribe, send LEAVE GROUPNAME.
To recommend a group to your friends, SHARE GROUPNAME number, separate phone numbers with spaces.
Send DND to temporarily stop receiving messages, and DND OFF to cancel the DND.
Use MUTE GROUPNAME duration to suspend receiving messages for the duration.

SMS GupShup also provides the web interface for working with your group. You don’t need to have any SMS minutes for that! You can create a group (public or private), invite your friends by giving their mobile numbers or email addresses. Your friends will receive a welcome message. You can search for groups, and join the groups online.

SMS GupShup also supports Google Talk for message broadcasting. You just need to activate this functionality at the website and start sending SMS messages right from the Google Talk chat window. Visit the help topics

Only the group owner can post messages to the group, like broadcaster. Group members can just receive updates from the owner. Group owner can also unsubscribe a user from the group. Currently only one group can be created per mobile number. The web design is not as usable as you expect from a web 2.0 company. I have seen the website going down many times, for immediate fixes. And sometime I have seen phone numbers of the anonymous subscribers to the list. Hope GupShup would have fixed such bugs by now. Still, being an Indian startup, this is great service!

GupShup prefer your message length to 100 and maximum up to 140. The rest is used for advertising. With pure SMS advertising (m-ads), I am not sure how profitable the service is going to be. For the last one week usage, I have not seen any real good ads which somebody would have paid for it. This being a group messaging, one messages and the ads reach many people. Anyway, all the best for GupShup.

We have created a group, serviced by the Ananthapuri.com Board admins. The group name is JOKEZ. To receive clean SMS jokes daily, send JOIN JOKEZ to 567678. The messages to this group are sent fro Google Talk. We are now writing an piece of program using Google Talk API to read the SMS jokes from the Ananthapuri. com database and sent to the GupShup’s Google chat id, which will automatically get distributed to the JOKEZ members.

Free SMS to Mobile Phones Wordwide Using Gizmo SMS

Gizmo SMS, by SIPphone, lets you send SMS text messages from your desktop browser to cell phones worldwide, for free. To use this service, you need not install any software, it has got an easy to use web layout. Also, you don’t have to know the mobile carrier of the receiving phone.

Gizmo SMS supports Aircel, Airtel, BPL Mobile, Celforce / Fascel, Escotel, GSM Mobile, Hutch, Idea Cellular, RPG Cellular, Skycell / Airtel in India. It does not work for Reliance and BSNL phones.

Check out the list of Gizmo SMS Supported Countries and mobile carriers. Supports more than 50 countires. Gizmo Project Forum, helps answer any queries you may have.

Indian Railway Ticket Reservation Through SMS

Indian Railway offers online railway reservation through www.irctc.co.in (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited) web site. IRCTC also offers rail reservation through mobiles using Speech recognition, GPRS and CDMA technologies available on various mobile Operators. IRCTC also introduced the simplest way to book your Railway ticket using just two SMS messages (Short Messaging Service). This service is introduced with the following mobile operators across the India.

1. IDEA Cellular – Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi & NCR
2. MTNL /Delhi – Delhi & NCR
3. Reliance Infocomm – All circles
4. Other operators like BSNL, Hutch,MTNL-Mumbai and Tata Indicom will soon integration with Indian Railway for SMS booking.

How to Book Tickets using SMS

In order to book rail tickets using SMS, the following are a must:

• The user needs to be registered with www.irctc.co.in and opted to use the mobile reservation services.
• User should have created at least one “Passenger List” in his profile registered with IRCTC. This list will be used for the SMS booking process.
• The customer has to be registered for the Mobile Banking services of ICICI Bank (Other banks will be integrated soon)
• The user must have a mobile connection with any one of the operators listed above (more operators are also being added.)
• The entire process of “book ticket” can be done through two SMS messages, using IRCTC’s short code 7245

How to Register?

You need to sign up in www.irctc.co.in in order to avail this service. The User has to select “mobile booking” option in the profile / registration page to avail all types of Mobile Booking facilities including SMS booking. The user needs to input mobile number, mobile operator, and preferred payment option (At present ICICI Bank only). ICICI Bank will be charging Rs 10 for this service for each booking. You will need to be registered to the “Mobile Shopping Service” provided by ICICI Bank and enter the ‘mShop Name’ through SMS.

For more details please visit IRCTC Mobile Booking web page.

Service Provided Operators

RELIANCE

• PNR Alert Service on 7245
• Ticket Reservation through R-World( Payment through Credit Cards)
• SMS Booking on 7245

IDEA

• PNR Alert Service on 7245
• Voice Based Ticket Reservation on 456( Payment through Credit Cards)
• SMS Booking on 7245

MTNL Delhi

• PNR Alert Service on 7245
• SMS Booking on 7245

MTNL Mumbai

• PNR Alert Service on 7245

HUTCH

• PNR Alert Service on 7245
• Voice Based Ticket Reservation on 123( Payment through Credit Cards)
• GPRS Based Ticket Reservation( Payment through Credit Cards)

TATA INDICOM

• PNR Alert Service on 7245
• Voice Based Ticket Reservation on 12900( Payment through Credit Cards)

AIRTEL

• PNR Alert Service on 7245

Already registered users of www.irctc.co.in can use their existing user id and password to log in and transact through Hutch / Idea/ Tata Indicom / Reliance handsets.

First time users can avail the registration facility offered by the mobile operator or visit www.irctc.co.in and use the normal registration form.

• Booking through Voice Based Process- Hutch, Idea and Tata Indicom
• Booking through CDMA phones – Reliance
• IRCTC Mobile Booking web page

Google SMS Channel on 9870807070 – Free Group SMS for India

Google SMS Channels is Google’s solution to SMS groups message broadcasting and subscription. This service enables you to get content from Google, Google partners, and all other websites and blogs with RSS support.

You can create your own channel and publish content that other users can subscribe to. You can also create groups over SMS to communicate with your friends, family, and co-workers, just like the SMS GupShup service.

This is a free service. You don’t pay anything to send or receive messages using Google SMS Channels website. When you post a message to your channel, all the members of your channel get the message forwarded for free. Any Indian mobile number will work with this service.

Google SMS Channel uses the normal number 9870807070, and not the premium short codes. So any SMS charge you incur is as low as you sending an SMS to your friend. There is no charge for receiving the updates.

SMS tariff charges may apply when you configure the service or publish to a channel using a mobile phone. Most of you don’t do this unless you want to start a new channel.

You can use the service on the website or via your mobile phone.

How Do I Use SMS Channel from Mobile Phones?

Create a Channel

To create a channel using phone, send the following SMS to 9870807070:

CREATE

The Channel name should be at least 8 characters long. I have created a channel for TECK.IN using the format

CREATE TECKUPDATE Updates from TECK.IN on SMS, mobile, web development, information technology, management and the internet

This creates a public channel with name TECKUPDATE.

Modify Channel

You can change the properties by using the MODIFY command as below:

• To make the channel “private” (only allow people to subscribe by invitation by the owner) send the following SMS to 9870807070: MODIFY PRI
• To make a channel “public“, send the following SMS to 9870807070: MODIFY PUB
• To make channel publish privilege limited (only the owner can publish), send the following SMS to 9870807070: MODIFY PRISEND
• To allow all subscribers to publish to a channel send the following SMS to 9870807070: MODIFY PUBSEND

Search

To search for a channel SMS SEARCH to 9870807070. You’ll be sent up to 3 channels matching your keyword(s) over SMS. To see more channels, you can reply MORE

Subscribe to a Channel

Send an SMS ON to 9870807070. is the name of the channel.

To subscribe to the TECK.IN blog update channel, you would send the following SMS to 9870807070:

ON TECKUPDATE

You’ll receive a confirmation message and the last message posted on the channel to confirm your subscription.

Control Maximum Alerts and Timing

To specify the maximum number of messages along with the time interval when you wish to receive the alerts in a day, send an SMS PREF to 9870807070. to be specified in hh:mm:am(or pm)format.

Unsubscribe

To unsubscribe using your phone, SMS OFF to 9870807070.