Free SMS chatting for GSM phone users<\/p>\n
By Lim Tri Santosa<\/p>\n
BANDUNG (JP): Johny Adrian, an 18-year-old student, taps at
\nthe keypad of his silver-metallic cellular phone as he sits with
\nfriends at a shopping mall, sending text messages to other
\nfriends.<\/p>\n
Each day, he says, he pumps out as many as 30 messages,
\ncontributing to massive congestion on Satelindo cellular
\nnetworks. In shopping malls or on park benches, groups of friends
\noften sit in silence, tapping out messages on their cell phone
\nkeypads.<\/p>\n
"It's fun," Johny says. "We just talk about stuff. It's like
\nchatting on the Internet."<\/p>\n
Most of the "texters" are teenagers or young professionals,
\nthat is a group labeled "generation TXT", I propose. To save
\nkeystrokes, the texters have developed their own vocabulary,
\ntyping for example "C U L8R" for "See you later".<\/p>\n
Melia, a 17-year-old student, said most of her messages are
\nin English instead of Indonesian.<\/p>\n
"It's harder, but it's supposed to be more cool," she said.
\nThe messaging has even spawned its own folklore, with thousands
\nof jokes able to be told in just two or three brief lines.<\/p>\n
Chatting<\/p>\n
An emerging application for the Short Message Service is chat.
\nIn the same way as Internet chat groups have proven a very
\npopular application of the Internet, groups of like-minded
\npeople, so called communities of interest, have begun to use SMS
\nas a means to chat, communicate and discuss. The amount of
\ninformation transferred per message tends to be lower with chat,
\nwhere people are more likely to state opinions than factual data.<\/p>\n
Over six million people all over the world per day use SMS to
\ncommunicate. And this fad is growing! Analysts estimate that
\nclose to 8 billion messages a month are sent using a technology
\ncalled Short Messaging System (SMS).<\/p>\n
SMS Text Messaging has its own secret, silent language. It can
\nsave time and helps make keying in, sending and receiving
\nmessages more fun than just talking on the phone. It does not
\nrequire the real-time availability of two parties. Like e-mail,
\nSMS is asynchronous, which allows users to respond when it is
\nconvenient.<\/p>\n
There are sufficient regular users and awareness of and
\nmomentum behind the services. SMS has become an integral and
\nimportant part of many customer's everyday business and personal
\nlives. The next quantum leap in SMS traffic volumes is caused by
\nthe introduction of SMS for prepayment customers. These customers
\npay for their cellular airtime as they go rather than having
\ncontracts. Enabling the prepay customers to send short messages
\ncauses large traffic uplifts because the typical young person who
\nis the main user of prepaid services is also ready, willing and
\nable to manipulate the phone keypad and originate short messages.<\/p>\n
SMSC<\/p>\n
Most network operators around the world recognize the need to
\nallow customers to send short messages to people on network
\noperators competing in the same country as them. The addition of
\ninterworking between network operators who are competing in the
\nsame geographical market gives customers of both networks the
\nopportunity to use SMS in the same way as they do voice. Just as
\nthey can make a voice call to each other's phones, so too can
\nthey send short messages to each other.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, that's not the case with Indonesian GSM network
\noperators. Technically speaking, network operators are reluctant
\nto allow their competitors access to their signaling channels,
\nover which short messages are transmitted. This is because these
\nchannels also handle voice call set up and other mission-critical
\ntasks. Because SMS is a store and forward service, every single
\nshort message of any type passes through an SMS Center (SMSC =
\nMessage Center Number).<\/p>\n
It is not possible to make SMS available without an SMS Center
\nsince all short messages pass through the SMS Center. To release
\nnational SMS interconnects, there are some issues.<\/p>\n
From a commercial perspective, network operators competing in
\nthe same country often charge different prices for SMS service
\nand offer different services. In such cases, knowledgeable users
\ncould benefit from accessing less expensive or more sophisticated
\nShort Message Services by changing SMS Center addresses or
\nsending their messages in a different way. A price has to be
\nagreed upon for such inter-network national messaging to
\ndiscourage or prevent such behavior.<\/p>\n
Internet SMS<\/p>\n
But what else is missing in this service? For one, how nice it
\nwould be if text messaging or SMS would go global without the
\nhigh cost that usually comes with international communications.
\nWell, here is good news for us; and maybe not so good for the
\ntelecommunication giants. Thanks to the geniuses in the Internet,
\nthis service is now available -- for free.<\/p>\n
This means that if you have a text-capable cell phone, your
\nrelatives abroad can now send you short text messages, and vice
\nversa. Log on to the Internet and visit www.quios.com and see for
\nyourself. This San Francisco-based start-up will surely make
\nwaves. But alas, Quios only gives each registered member a
\nmaximum 10 messages per day. Another site is www.mtnsms.com, very
\nreliable for Telkomsel subscribers, but also good enough for
\nSatelindo users. You can send as many messages as you can type.<\/p>\n
The disadvantage of Quios and mtnsms service is you have to
\nlog on to their web site first, before you can start sending your
\nSMS messages. Now, you need not, as a new software called
\nCellBuddys can bridge those web sites. CellBuddys
\n(www.cellbuddys.com) is a compact but highly efficient cell phone
\nmessaging application that enables you to send SMS text messages
\nto cell phones all over the world via Internet.<\/p>\n
Easily installed and instantly accessible from your system
\ntray, this program features a modest-sized interface displaying a
\nlist of your cell "buddys" and a simple menu that lets you add
\nmore "buddys" to your list.<\/p>\n
Features include a buddy message history that can be
\nenabled\/disabled and an Update Servers function that enables you
\nto update\/add the latest available plug-in servers. Connecting to
\nservers such as MTN SMS and Quios, this free text-messaging
\nprogram broadens your reach to global proportions.<\/p>\n
CellBuddys can only determine if the message was successfully
\nsent to the server. Sometimes the servers are backlogged and
\nthere may be delays in delivering messages. Usually messages are
\nsent after a few seconds. If you are sending using the mtnsms
\nserver you can log in to their site and view your "outbox", it
\ngives you a list of all pending\/delivered\/failed messages.<\/p>\n
Neither Quios nor mtnsms displays your original cell phone
\nnumber (CLI= the calling identification number). Hence, the
\nrecipient will not know who is the sender, unless you state your
\nname in the message. Hold on! There is a new SMS service from
\nNetherlands called XOIP.com.<\/p>\n
XOIP.com is the best, because the CLI displays your original
\ncell phone number, hence the recipient will know who is the
\nsender. When you register to XOIP.com, you should fill in your
\noriginal cell phone number, this number will be used by XOIP SMSC
\nas the CLI. For convenient chatting with XOIP, I suggest you
\nshould press Ctrl+N (if you use Microsoft Explorer) to open
\nseveral "sms-sending" windows.<\/p>\n
It is a good idea to send a test message to your cell phone
\nfirst, to know how fast the delivery time is at the present time.
\nIf the message is delivered within a few seconds, then you will
\nbe sure that the foreign SMSC is not in full swing (below normal-
\ntraffic usage), then you are ready to chat with your friends. Do
\nnot try to change the Message Center Number setting on your cell
\nphone menu, because it will not work! Especially for Telkomsel
\nusers, please do not try to change the setting. Even though you
\ncan send SMS with foreign SMSC, the message will not reach the
\nrecipient and your account will be debited Rp 500 for nothing.<\/p>\n
Yes, there are a lot of foreign SMSC numbers, but
\nunfortunately, we, as the subscribers of Indonesian GSM network
\ncannot utilize them. I think either foreign GSM network operators
\nor Indonesian GSM operators have already protected their SMSC
\nfrom being used by other networks. Thus, they cannot be accessed
\nunless they enter into a mutual agreement. That is why you cannot
\nsend SMS in Indonesia to different network operators, unless you
\nbuy a relatively expensive SMS token like smsoke.com or use free
\ne-mail-sms technique (as mentioned in my previous article:
\nSending SMS between Satelindo and Telkomsel, JP, Aug. 21, 2000)
\nor use the above free sms web service. (abbaml@rad.net.id)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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