{"id":3243,"date":"2011-10-17T19:08:44","date_gmt":"2011-10-17T23:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adam-jackson.net\/blog\/?p=3243"},"modified":"2011-10-17T19:08:44","modified_gmt":"2011-10-17T23:08:44","slug":"how-i-ditched-sms-and-how-you-can-do-it-to-or-how-to-save-20-a-month-for-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/10\/17\/how-i-ditched-sms-and-how-you-can-do-it-to-or-how-to-save-20-a-month-for-life\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2605 How I ditched SMS and how you can do it too or how to save $20 a month for life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Testing<\/a><\/p>\n

Texting is still the easiest and most common way to communicate with friends and family. Texting is not only a “first world” technology. You can find text messaging in every country with a mobile phone infrastructure. In fact, one of the killer features of Twitter is SMS. You can tweet from any mobile phone in the world in any country and you don’t need apps or an Internet connection. SMS is not going away. For me, the monthly ritual of handing over $20 to my mobile phone carrier for unlimited texting is now a thing of the past.<\/p>\n

We know that texting is overpriced and is a huge money-maker for carriers. I know from previous jobs just how profitable it is to carriers and to companies to rely on text messaging such as weather alerts and SMS contests. SMS is a way to quickly connect with friends and the only threat of the last decade to SMS is RIM’s BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) service but it was limited to BlackBerry phones. This isn’t a post about Apple iMessage which comes pre-loaded on iOS5 and acts as a BBM for Apple devices (a decade late in my opinion) but is instead an article about Internet services who have made SMS obsolete. I will never receive another text message on my iPhone. Let’s talk infrastructure and then steps to finally break free of the $20 a month SMS fee that we all pay because we have very little choice.<\/p>\n

Services<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Google Voice<\/strong>:\u00a0What is an area code you’ve always wanted? For me, it was 415 (San Francisco) and I got that area code through a service called Grand Central while living in Florida. Google bought the company and now Google Voice is free to anyone who wants to sign up. Google gives you a number in the area code of your choosing and you install an app to use it on the go. Voice.Google.com enables texting with friends and the ability to initiate calls and review voicemails. The issue with Google Voice is that you have to get all of your friends to start calling and texting you on that number. Start by changing your number on Facebook, message the people who you talk to most often and, over the course of 12 months, you’ll slowly move people to that new number. If your contract is up, you can port your current number to Google Voice and they make this simple. Porting your number may cost money with the carrier so make sure it’s not out of your price range. I went the route of getting a new number and spreading the world. Slowly, less people called my mobile number and instead called my Google Voice Number.<\/p>\n

Push Notifications<\/strong>: Smartphones are key. Each mobile phone has a notification for receiving an SMS message. Push notifications are triggered on smartphones via a data connection (Cellular or WiFi). Apps like Google Voice, iMessage and Twitter trigger these notifications. Without push notifications on non SMS messages, this switch would be impossible.<\/p>\n

iMessages<\/strong>: Apple will now allow friends to send me an iMessage to any of my 4 email addresses. Assuming I am on a data connection and they are using an iOS device (iPod touch, iPhone or iPad running iOS5), I can get a message that looks and feels like SMS through my data connection. iMessages will come to Mac OS soon and it will enable far less SMS message than before for most of us. For example, my girlfriend’s texting is 90% made up with me, her Mom, Sister and best friend. Each of us have Apple devices and I use Google Voice. They are all running iOS5 with iMessages so her texting bill just became far smaller than before because of this change. Once your phone realizes the person you are messaging is iMessage enabled, it will default send via her 3G \/ WiFi connection and thus not impact her SMS usage on AT&T.<\/p>\n

Direct Messages via Twitter:<\/strong> These are still the #1 communication I receive on a daily basis. Most friends have my Twitter ID and have no clue what my email or phone number are. These DMs are delivered to me exclusively via push notification (not SMS or Email) so, for the past few years, I haven’t had an SMS usage hit for receiving or sending a DM. I did at one point because push notifications weren’t available for iPhone and my AT&T data connection wasn’t strong enough to open a Twitter app and send a message. I would send and receive DMs via SMS and this cost money. Not anymore.<\/p>\n

Messaging via Facebook<\/strong>: The smallest communication medium I have is Facebook. It’s identical to my Twitter experience in I used to receive Facebook messages via SMS and I’d reply there but that’s not the case anymore. I use the Facebook iOS app and it’s great. Push notifications let me know that I have a new message.<\/p>\n

Email<\/strong>: Good ole trusty Email. Push notifications let me know I have a message, I review and often email via my Mac later but my iPhone and iPad keep me up to date on long-form communications that are mostly actionable and require a long-form and though out response. Email isn’t going away but it is still a replacement to SMS even if in an indirect way.<\/p>\n

Skype<\/strong>: I have a Skype-Out number. You call my Google Voice line and Skype rings. I use this overseas. I can connect to a WiFi network in my hotel room and anyone calling my 415 number rings over to Skype. I also use this for voice and video conferencing for people who are outside of USA. Skype is $50 a year on average and it’s portable in the way I can login to Skype on any device and have my connection with the world be active. I rarely use Skype to Skype. Most of the use is people calling a number that rings my Skype account.<\/p>\n

———<\/p>\n

The Path to SMS Freedom:<\/strong><\/p>\n

It took 24 months but my switch to Google Voice followed by a reliable 3G connection and the support for push notifications across thousands of applications have helped me ditch SMS. Kids these days, armed with an iPod touch can theoretically get by without SMS and I can do almost everything I would do on my iPhone via a MacBook, iPad or iPod touch. The synergy between these devices is bonded by data connections and apps and none of the communications needs I have require a text message. Technically, I receive dozens of text messages per day but they are not via SMS, they’re via other mediums.<\/p>\n

Once you make the switch to Google Voice, you can throw Messages and Phone (both pre-loaded iOS apps) in a folder and rely only on Google Voice for communications. This past Friday, for the third year in a row, I got a new iPhone and did not port my number. I’ve had 4 phone numbers in the past 4 years and not a single friend or family member knows that. My iPhone’s number is absolutely private. If you contact me, you’re messaging me on a line that is piped through Twitter, Email, AppleID or Google Voice and I have the ability in each these mediums to block you and screen your message. The portability of not having to keep a single number, not having to be on one device and not having to be on a specific carrier or line is freeing. I can call you from a pay phone in India (have Google Voice ring the number and connect to you) or throw in a SIM card in London and tell Google to ring that number if someone calls my 415 number. I can text you via my Mac or iPad (both of which don’t have a phone number associated with them) and I can ping you via Twitter from any terminal in the world. Losing my phone is no longer the end of the world.<\/p>\n

Finally, $20 a month for SMS is not something I think about these days. I haven’t received a text message directly to my phone via SMS in 2 years. To do that, you’d have to know my iPhone’s number and why? If you can text me and that message goes to my Skype account, Google Voice account, iPad and iPhone, why would I give you a number that only reaches one device that may be lost, battery dead or out of service area. It seems so 90s to use SMS these days and a huge waste of money.<\/p>\n

Good luck with your switch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texting is still the easiest and most common way to communicate with friends and family. 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