Send text messages ten times cheaper

Although it has been mentioned in a previous VoIP article, I wanted to cover it again as I have saved a lot of money on text messages using this method. In the past when I have texted from my phone I find the cost adds up quite rapidly and over time becomes a financial black hole. The cheaper alternative is to use a particular internet service to send messages.

The average text message is about 10p. Some people pay 12p, some pay 8p, and some people get “free” texts as part of their monthly contract. Considering what a text message is and how many characters you can fit into one message compared to emails, which are free to send, 10p is quite extortionate. What’s so special about texts and why are these prices the norm? It’s because mobile network customers are simply willing to pay these price and see no substitute.

For the last 6 months I’ve been using an SMS site called 18185.co.uk to send text messages over the internet for 1 pence each; 10 times cheaper than the average text. All you need to do is sign up with 18185.co.uk for free, register your mobile number(s), enter payment details and begin texting.

You’re only charged when your incurred charges reach a certain amount, which for me was £1.50 charged recently to my debit card.

The other great thing is that once you’ve logged in are ready to send a message, rather than manually type in the recipient’s number, you can instead copy and paste it into the “recipient” phone number field. This simply means:

1. Writing and saving a draft email with all your contact’s names and numbers, plus your 18185 log-in information.
2. Adding and updating contacts to this email phonebook
3. Highlighting recipients phone numbers, copying from the email and pasting into the text message software.

If you’ve understood so far, this means you can send your text messages from any computer with internet access as all your phone numbers are stored in the draft email.

Tips

• 18185.co.uk loads up as a normal website, but when you click “send SMS”, a pop up opens which is the main interface for sending messages. I highly recommend using internet explorer for this as Firefox seems to be hit and miss for sending messages successfully.
• It’s a good idea to keep your phone topped up if you’re a PAYG customer. I always have some credit on my phone in order to make emergency calls or send texts if it’s urgent and I’m away from a computer with internet access.

Useful links

18185.co.uk