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Technology

Wireless Text Messaging w/o A Phone? 19

Posted by Cliff from the take-my-cell-phone...please! dept.
beroul asks: "I don't want a mobile phone (I'd never use it for voice), but I'd like to be able to send and receive text messages using some sort of small, inexpensive wireless device. Does anyone know of such a thing? I've looked for a send-and-receive pager, but they seem to have vanished as everyone opts for mobile phones. I live in the UK, so I'm looking for something that will work here. Being able to send SMS messages to people who have mobile phones would be a plus."
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Wireless Text Messaging w/o A Phone? More

Wireless Text Messaging w/o A Phone?

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  • The Siemens M20 is a GSM in a box, you can use your PC with a serial interface to send AT commands (like AT+SMS::message) to send an SMS. For some windows related software see:

    http://www.pswin.com/pcsengdesc.asp

    Mark
  • You won't find a solution that's cheaper than a GSM phone with a prepaid card. Permanently forward the voice calls to your fixed number or a voicemailbox and you won't be bothered by calls.

    If you ever get in trouble you can even violate your principles and dial 112 (Europe's 911).

    Regards,
    Xenna

  • The blackberry may be cool... For North America. Everywhere else in the world, you are already able to send and receive short messages (as well as email) on your cellular phone. It is also easy to write emails on them, especially with dictionary based word-prediction, like some of the Nokia's.

    I don't understand why everyone thinks RIM is the best thing in the world. As soon as 3G or even GSM is taken up in North America, they are out of the market...

    Jason Pollock

  • Why not just get a cheap prepaid cellular phone? You don't _have_ to give anyone your number.

    It's like buying a PC. You may only want to play quake, but are you really going to turn down the free copy of Unreal Tournament that came with the network card? :)

    Jason Pollock
  • For Palm and Handspring, The PalmVII isn't the only way to go. OmniSky [omnisky.com] offers hardware and an ISP.
  • I'd say best choice is to buy inexpensive phone. Here in Finland cheapest GSM phones are about 10£. If you buy little more sophisticated (used Nokia for example) you can connect it to your computer to use it for sending messages. Friend of mine made his own SMS service by buying some old Nokia and connecting it to Linux. Simple script polled the phone frequently via cable.. and once you've got the message to some parser imagination is the limit :). Sending messages with some automated script is also possible.

    I'm personally waiting to get my GPRS phone. Here operators are offering GPRS with fixed monthly charge without pay-per-byte policy. With that I'm able to use email instead of expensive SMS messages.
  • Funny little blue thing, with big screen and small keyboard. Designed just for SMS - but you can use it as a phone with a hands-free kit. Orange/BTCellnet have them, I think. HTH
  • GSM phones are excellent at handling data like text messages. GSM is also the cellphone standard in Europe, so it should work there.

    I know you said you don't want a cellphone, but you could just get one of the inexpensive plans and use text messaging only. With mine, I pay $US4.99/mo and I get to send a number of text messages equivialent to the number of minutes in my calling plan (300). Receiving messages is free.

    Messages can be sent to other GSM users, or to any email address. People can also send me text messages via email. Very handy.
  • I am not sure whether it is available in your part of the world or not, but the Motorola T900 has served me quite well. Its a small, easy to type on, pager that can send/recieve messages via wireless devices or email. http://www.motorola.com/GSS/CSG/direct_pagers/T900 / [motorola.com]
  • Noo, motorola telephones, and devices in general just don't cut it any more, at least in human interface terms. Their software is developed in the US, where txt msgn hasn't taken off to nearly as much extent as it has over here in Europe.

    For example, receive a text on a Motorola Phone - mine's a Talkabout T2288e and at the end of the text, it can't do a simple phonebook lookup - it only tells you the sender's number, not their name!

    I have heard that although the v.box looks promising, the interface is even worse than on the phones (they all share the same software) and, whilst usable, it has several annoying niggles, such as the one mentioned above. Also, the keyboard is actually HARDER to use than a standard numerical keypad for texting, because the buttons are so small, and the functions so confusing.
  • Install ICQ on your computer. You'll be able to send text messages and receive replies. But its not portable. Or buy a prepaid phone package. No monthly bills, you can ignore phone calls and send messages...
  • Agreed... the Blackberry is one sweet, sweet piece.

    I'm not sure if it's supported outside north america though. It's kinda funny... I cut through the research in motion parking lot every day on my way to class. One of the neatest things is that it's a 386 processor... and it's the size of an overgrown pager. (well, ther's a big palm-size one too)
  • In this article [forbes.com] Timex recently announced a new watch with messaging capabilities. They worked with Motorola and Skytel, apparently. The only problem is that there is no way to send messages, only to receive them for now. Still, it might be good for IT guys who need to get urgent "our network has been compromised by script kiddies get your ass over here" messages, but don't want the inconvenience of carrying another device.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I know you said you didn't want a phone, but it's probably the cheapest option. I'm on the Orange OVP (orange value promise) tariff - it's their price match for Virgin/One-to-one.
    The trick is that you purchase the phone outright. So you could get a really cheap model. Then after that, there is no line rental, and SMS messages are (I think) 10p each.
    Matt
  • I used a SkyTel [skytel.com] pager for a few years. The technology was fine, but the customer service sucked so hard that you could just call their 800 number, put the phone handset in a bell jar [tiac.net], and create a laboratory-grade vacuum in under a minute. I may have received a bill that was correct once, but if so, it was by accident.

    I eventually just got a PCS cellphone [nokiausa.com], and pretty much ignore the cellphone part. It's cheaper and it seems to work just as well.

    I also hear good things about the blackberry [blackberry.net] but I haven't had a chance to try it myself yet.
  • The Motorola pagers have much better in-building penetration than the Blackberry devices. My colleagues and I with our Motorola 2-way pagers can be sending email back and forth inside a conference hall, or basically anywhere, while RIM users sitting next to us are left in the dark. I've seen this both at a conference in a hotel, and in our office.
  • I dunno how this applies to Europe -- probably not at all, but - A few weeks back, I purchased a Glenayre messaging pager, in leiu of a cellphone (I _hate_ cellphones, especially the ones I have to carry myself). This provides send/recieve internet email, voicemail, and your usual paging functions, and the service provided by SkyTel even lets me send a text message to a regular telephone (where a text-to-speech system reads it to whomever answers).

    In short, it meets all my comm needs w/o having to be a telephone. Oh, and it can also act as a modem of sorts for my Palm :)

  • Blackberry (Score:3)

    by jcausey ( 253286 ) on Thursday February 01, 2001 @08:43AM (#464154) Homepage
    The Blackberry [blackberry.net] is awesome! I had mine for a year and a half (until I gave in to my friends and got a Palm VII) [palm.com]. Check out either one -- I still prefer the blackberry, but since most everyone else I work and interact with either has a Palm or Handspring, I can't go back. gl -- John

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