The Best Ways To Send A Free SMS Text Message Online

In an era where smartphone ownership is becoming the majority, it’s hard to imagine someone who can’t (or won’t) send out text messages. When was the last time you knew someone who didn’t have a text messaging plan on their mobile? Or better yet, when was the last time someone told you “don’t text me because I’ve hit my limit!”?
You probably don’t remember. And yet, there are still millions of people out there who (whether involuntarily or by choice) don’t have access to free text messaging. Maybe you’re one of them. Sometimes people lose or misplace their phones and need to shoot a quick SMS to their friends or family.

In either case, these free services will send free SMS messages to your recipients at no extra cost. Very handy for those rare situations!

SendSMSNow

SendSMSNow is one of the simplest web services to send free SMS texts. The process is simple – you select a country code, enter the recipient’s number, enter your own phone number, type the message, and off it goes. The text message limit is 130 characters, which is more than most free services will offer!
But the coolest part of SendSMSNow, in my opinion, is that you have an inbox on the site and all replies go straight to that inbox. This way, you don’t even need your phone to continue communication. This inbox also tracks a history of all messages you sent using SendSMSNow.
You can send unlimited free texts with this service. That’s just extra icing on top of an already delicious cake.
Regional Availability: 34 countries, including United States, Canada, Austria, France, Germany, Phillipines, Russia, and more.

Online Text Message

Even though the website interface for Online Text Message doesn’t look so modern, the service is stronger than most. It supports a whole slew of countries and carriers – so many, in fact, that I had a hard time finding my right selection in the drop-down selection menu! What it lacks in aesthetics, it makes up for in functionality.
You don’t even need a phone number to use this service. Recipients can respond to your texts and those responses will be directed to your email address. Quite convenient, actually. There’s a “Quick Text” option with hundreds of pre-written texts in case you just need to send a fast “Be right there” or whatever.
Text messages are limited to 100 characters.

Regional Availability: All major carriers, including Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Nextel, SunCom, AllTel, and more.

Text ‘Em

The Text ‘Em website looks simple, but that’s just indicative of how easy it is to use their service. All you need is the recipient’s phone number, their carrier, and your message. Text ‘Em supports dozens of different carriers, so it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll be able to text your recipient as long as they’re in the US.
Optionally, you can input your email address, which is presumably used for responses to the texts you send out. Text ‘Em imposes a 155 character limit on texts, which is nearly 50% more than the average free SMS service. Take advantage of it if you can!
Regional Availability: United States.

TXTDrop

“Our goal has always been to make web-based text messaging free and as simple as possible…” Those are the words of promise that come out of TXTDrop’s creators and, as far as I’m concerned, they’ve delivered on that promise. The interface for TXTDrop is probably the easiest I’ve ever seen. All you need is an email (for replies), the recipient’s number, and a message that will be delivered instantly.


With TXTDrop, you can install a Mac OS X dashboard widget or a Windows 7 gadget which you can use to send free text messages right from your desktop. Extremely useful if you spend a lot of time on your computer and don’t want to retrieve your phone to send out messages.
Regional Availability: United States and Canada.

Yakedi

The one downside to Yakedi is that you need to register an account, but if you can get past that, it’s great. With Yakedi, you can be sure that your phone number won’t be misused to send you spam SMS messages. Your information is secure and will private.
With a Yakedi account, you can keep track of all of your sent free text messages. In addition, your account has a built-in address book that you can keep updated with important numbers in case you ever need to send an emergency text to someone.
Unfortunately, Yakedi’s availability is rather limited, so most readers won’t be able to use their awesome service.
Regional Availability: Australia and New Zealand.

TextFree

If you’d rather have a free SMS alternative on your mobile device, TextFree is the app you want. It’s been consistently ranked as the #1 free texting app and it can send SMS and MMS messages even when you don’t have a carrier or a texting plan. All it requires is an Internet connection.
TextFree for Android
TextFree for iPhone


With TextFree, you are assigned a unique number that is used whenever you send outbound SMS messages. These texts can be sent to anyone, even if they don’t have TextFree, because they act just like regular SMS texts.
Regional Availability: Over 30 countries, including United States, Canada, Bahamas, Hungary, India, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Venezuela, and more.

Conclusion

With the tools listed above, you’ll never again have to worry about being unable to send a text. If one service goes down, there’s always another one there. If you don’t want to use a website, get the TextFree app – as a bonus, it’ll feel like you’re actually texting someone.
What other free SMS services are out there? Share them with us in the comments if you know of any that weren’t included here!

Source: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/whats-the-best-way-to-send-a-free-sms/

Bonus Tips:

Send a free SMS to your friends from Gmail

Did you know that you can now send free text messages (SMS) to your friends directly from your Gmail account?
Try Gmail SMS today and start texting your friends from your computer.

New to Gmail? Sign up now!

Already have an account? Sign in and try Gmail SMS

 

Log into your Gmail account. In the Send SMS box above Chat, enter the phone number you want to send a SMS to.

In the dialog box, enter Contact name of the SMS recipient and check that country and phone number are correct. Then, click Save.

Type your message in the chat window and hit Enter.

Your message will be sent to the phone number you entered.

If your contact replies, the text message response will appear as a reply in Chat. These conversations are stored in your Chat history just like regular chats. Learn more about Gmail SMS.

Note: Gmail SMS is currently available in Israel with orange and Pelephone.

Source: http://www.google.com/mail/help/intl/en_il/sms.html

Google Voice

Last but not least, if you’re in the US you can also use Google Voice.
This solution won’t use the phone number that’s associated with your phone, but rather the phone number which was given to your Google Voice account. However, because all of the SMS messages are stored on Google’s servers in Google Voice, you can use your phone, tablet, computer, or any other device to check all of your SMS messages and reply to them. This solution is only ideal for people who actually use their Google Voice number and other Google Voice features — otherwise, you’d be completely switching your phone number (at least the one you give out to people) just for the SMS features. Additionally, MMS messaging doesn’t work with Google Voice.


The best part about this solution is that you don’t need to have your phone on the Internet, or even turned on for that matter. You can just have your computer turned on to send SMS messages just fine. This is because any calls or SMS messages sent to your Google Voice number will first be received by Google, where it will either store your SMS messages or forward phone calls to your actual phone number. Therefore, SMS messages received via your Google Voice number are stored on Google’s servers rather than your own phone, and you can use the Google Voice Android/iOS app or web app to access them.
When you first install the mobile app, it should set you up for the Google Voice features, if you don’t have them already, or simply connect to them if you already do. This is a fairly easy process, but beware that Google Voice will try to replace your wireless carrier’s voicemail with its own. You can skip this part if you’re not interested in that.
Send & Check Messages From:

• any browser via the web app
• any Android or iOS device with the Google Voice app

Source: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-ways-to-send-and-check-sms-messages-from-your-pc/

Send SMS Text Messages from Computer to Mobile Phone via Outlook

How to Send or Receive SMS Text Messages from Your PC computer to any mobile phone number in the world ? We use Microsoft Outlook 2007 with SMS Officer that gives you 10 SMS messages for free at the time of registration.

With Microsoft Outlook 2007, you can easily send (or receive) SMS text messages from computer to any mobile phone – just write a new SMS text message (like the way you compose emails in Outlook) and hit Send.
Similarly, you can also forward emails, pending tasks and calendar items from Outlook to your mobile phone via SMS.

How to send SMS text messages from computer using Outlook 2007 ?
To SMS enable your copy of Microsoft Outlook 2007, first register your mobile phone number at SMSOfficer. This new service from Microsoft supports almost all cellular operators in US and other international countries including India.






You will soon get an SMS verification code on your mobile phone, confirm and the SMS feature is activated in your Outlook without you having to download any additional software – you will need to click on a configuration link which sets the entire configuration for you.

 

Forward Emails as SMS Text Messages

To compose an SMS message in Outlook, select New -> Text Message.   Outlook is automatically set up to use the standard text message limit of 160 characters. If your message exceeds the 160 character limit, the extra characters are truncated and delivered as a separate text message.

There are no registration charges and you also get 10 SMS credits for free at the time of joining SMS Officer. Once you exhaust the free limit, you need to pay for using the Outlook SMS service – payment can be made via PayPal.
When the other person replies to your SMS message, it will arrive in your mobile phone. Am not sure if you can use Outlook 2007 to send bulk SMS messages – i.e., one SMS message addressed to multiple recipeints. Visit SMS Officer.

Source: http://www.labnol.org/software/tutorials/send-receive-sms-text-messages-from-pc-computer-to-mobile-phone-outlook/2866/

Outlook 2010 - How to send and receive text messages (SMS)

 

 

With Microsoft Outlook 2010 and Office Mobile Service (OMS) or a Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 account, you can send and receive text messages (SMS). But beyond just sending and receiving text messages, you can also configure Outlook to send notifications to your mobile device as a text message.

For example, you can receive an alert on your mobile device that an important e-mail message has arrived — you can even have the e-mail message forwarded as a text message. You can also have Outlook calendar summaries sent to your mobile device.
There are two ways to use text messaging with Outlook 2010.

• Use an Exchange Server 2010 account to connect to a Windows Mobile device running Windows Mobile 6.5

• Or subscribe to a third-party Short Message Service (SMS) provider using OMS

In this article

• Advantages of text messaging (SMS) in Outlook
• Features of text messaging (SMS) in Outlook
• Set up text messaging (SMS) in Outlook
• Microsoft Exchange 2010 with an existing phone
• Third-party text messaging (SMS) service
• Send a text message (SMS)
• Set up text message (SMS) notifications

Advantages of text messaging (SMS) in Outlook

Communicating with a wireless device by sending e-mail messages can be awkward — not all mobile devices can connect to an e-mail account, and accessing e-mail messages on a mobile device is typically slower and more difficult than reading text messages.
An easier way to send and receive text messages is with your computer and Outlook 2010. With Outlook, you can send messages to multiple people simultaneously, and a full-sized keyboard enables you to write messages more quickly and comfortably. Also, incoming messages are received in your Outlook Inbox. You can save your text messages just as you would with an e-mail message. This helps you maintain an ongoing record of your mobile communications. Finally, you can configure Outlook to send important notifications to your mobile device.
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Features of text messaging (SMS) in Outlook

• Text messaging (SMS)    Send text messages (SMS) to one or more wireless devices from Outlook. With the Outlook text message interface, you can choose recipients from your Outlook address book, type a message, add emoticons, and then preview the message on a simulated phone screen before clicking Send.

Incoming text messages are delivered to your Inbox. You can then move messages to a folder or do many of the same actions, including forwarding, flagging, or categorizing that you already do with e-mail messages.

• Calendar summaries    Even when you are away from your computer, you can stay on top of your Outlook calendar. Configure Outlook to send a text message summary of your schedule to your mobile device each day.
• Mobile reminders    Get helpful appointment reminders no matter where you are. A text message reminder of upcoming appointments and events can be sent to your wireless device automatically.
• Mobile notifications    Have important e-mail messages sent to your mobile device as a text message. In addition to notifying you when you receive a new e-mail message, the content of the e-mail message can be forwarded as a text message. Use Outlook rules to choose which messages are forwarded and the notifications that are sent to your mobile device.

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Set up text messaging (SMS) in Outlook

There are two ways that Outlook can send and receive text messages.

• With an Exchange Server 2010 account    Outlook can send messages to a phone running Windows Mobile 6.5 or later.
• Third-party text messaging service    If you don’t have an Exchange Server 2010 account, you can use a third-party text message (SMS) service that sends and receives text messages on your behalf.

•  Note    Third-party text messaging service providers may charge a fee for this service. This charge is in addition to any charges from your mobile carrier.
  

Microsoft Exchange 2010 with an existing phone

To use text messaging in Outlook with an existing phone requires an Exchange Server 2010 account and a Windows phone running Windows Mobile 6.5 or later with a data plan.
In this configuration, Outlook uses Exchange 2010 and Exchange Active Sync to communicate with your Windows Mobile 2010 phone to send text messages (SMS) using your existing wireless service.

Security   For security reasons, a digital certificate may be required for your phone to connect to the Exchange Server. For more information about configuring Exchange Server to work with mobile phones, see Deploying Phones with Windows Mobile 6.5 on Microsoft Exchange Server 2010.

1. On your mobile phone running Windows Mobile 6.5, on the Home screen, choose Exchange ActiveSync, choose Menu, and then choose the Configure Server tab.

If the phone has never been synchronized with Exchange Server, Add Server Source appears.

2. In Enter Email Address, type your e-mail address and then choose Next.
3. In Edit Server Settings, if your Exchange Server address does not appear automatically, restart this procedure, or contact your network administrator.
4. Enter your user name, password, and domain name, and then choose Next. Make sure to select the Save password check box.
5. Select the Text Messages checkbox. You can also select other content to synchronize.

6. Choose Finish.

An e-mail message confirmation is sent to your Outlook e-mail account.

7. Wait several minutes, and then restart Outlook.

Third-party text messaging (SMS) service

This is the simplest and quickest method of enabling OMS, but you might be required to pay an additional monthly fee for the service.
In this scenario, Outlook communicates with a third-party SMS provider to send text messages.

To select and subscribe to a third-party service, do the following:

1. On the Home tab, in the New group, click New Items, and then click Text Message (SMS).

2. In the Configure a Text Messaging (SMS) account dialog box, click Next

3. In the Outlook Mobile Service Account dialog box, click Find a text messaging service for your mobile operator.

4. In the Hosting Providers Web application, choose the country or region in which you have wireless service.
5. Choose your wireless service provider.
6. If service is available in your area, links to third-party text messaging (SMS) providers appear. Click the link for a provider, and then follow the instructions on your screen for subscribing to SMS and configuring a new Outlook account.
7. In Outlook, when asked if you want to add an account in Microsoft Outlook for this Web service, click Yes.

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Send a text message (SMS)

After setting up your text messaging service, you can use Outlook to send text messages (SMS).
 Important    To send text messages in Outlook, the texting service in Outlook must be enabled. For more information, see Set up Office Mobile Service.
To send a text message (SMS):

1. On the Home tab, in the New group, click New Items, and then click Text Message (SMS).

2. In the Text Message window, type or choose a recipient, and then type your message.

3. To insert an emoticon, on the Text Message tab, in the Insert group, click an emoticon.
4. Preview your message in the Preview pane, and then click Send.

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Set up text message (SMS) notifications

You can configure Outlook 2010 to send text notifications to your mobile device to:

• Alert you to upcoming calendar events
• Summarize your calendar schedule for the coming day
• Forward specific email messages

 Important    To use text notifications, the text messaging (SMS) service in Outlook must be enabled. For more information, see Set up Office Mobile Service.

1. Click the File tab.
2. Click Options.
3. Click Mobile.
4. Click a notification type to add or change, configure the notification, and then close all of the dialog boxes.

Source: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/send-and-receive-text-messages-sms-HA101823438.aspx