vB Easy Archive - Text messaging with Sprint

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Text messaging with Sprint
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Posted by: jagga

Hi
does sprint allow for incoming text messages? If so, how do I send one to my cell number? Btw; is there any charge for sending text messages? receiving text messages?

Thanks all

PS: online account info system still down!!

Posted by: jaggrey

phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com is the format to do a one-way text message. To do 2-way you would have to go into the wireless web and use the "Short Mail" feature, in which case you just type the 10 digit phone number.

Posted by: jagga

Any costs information that you know?

1) is there any cost to receive messages on my cell?
2) Is there any cost to send messages from my cell?

Thanks!

Posted by: jaggrey

As long as you have wireless web on your account, it's free. It just uses up your minutes, whether they be anytime or nights/weekends.

Posted by: martianviking

Correction. It depends on whether you are talking about 2-way texts or 1-way texts.

2-way texts are all messages you send from your phone or messages someone else sends to you by sending a regular text to your phone number from their handset (these are called "Short Mail" if you're talking about a Sprint customer).
* 2G customers are charged minutes from their plan just as if they were talking on the phone for the entire time they are reading and composing messages (you have to use your web browser). If you don't have the "Wireless Web" option active on your account (WW costs $5/month) then using your web browser costs airtime plus an additional $0.39/minute.
* 3G (Vision) customers are charged per-kilobyte data usage. It comes out of your monthly allotment of bandwidth, and if you go over it costs $0.02 per extra kilobtye.
1-way texts are sent from a form on the Sprint messaging website (messaging.sprintpcs.com) or via email (2225553333@messaging.sprintpcs.com) directly to your phone, where 2225553333 is your 10-digit phone number. You do not need to log on to read them, as they are sent directly to (and stored on) your phone just like an alphanumeric page. 1-way text messages only work if you pay $3/month for "text messaging" (you get 30/month) or $5/month for Wireless Web (you get 50/month). If you do not have one of those options on your plan you cannot receive 1-way texts. Any overage is billed at $0.25 per message.

EDIT: As jaggrey mentioned, 2-way texts can be sent from a web browser as well as a phone, but you need to be a Sprint customer logged on to your account first. Anybody can go to messaging.sprintpcs.com and send 1-way texts to a Sprint phone with 1-way texting enabled on it. Only logged-in Sprint customers can send 2-way texts from the web. (They can also send 1-way texts, if they want to).

Posted by: jagga

martianviking.. thanks for your detailed post!

Posted by: martianviking

No sweat. Thanks to jaggrey, too; it's always good to see members roaming the threads and answering peoples' questions.

Posted by: nokia4life

Hi guys!

But what about if I am with Cingular and send a text my friend with Sprint? Do they get charged? and do they get my message?

Intercarrier text messaging has been available for some months now so I was just wondering...

Thanks in advance!

Posted by: meballard

When a Sprint user receives a message, it's billed the same regardless of where it comes from.

Posted by: jaggrey

Quote:

Originally posted by martianviking
No sweat. Thanks to jaggrey, too; it's always good to see members roaming the threads and answering peoples' questions.

No prob at all...you must be willing to give in order to receive!!!

Posted by: martianviking

Quote:

Originally posted by meballard
When a Sprint user receives a message, it's billed the same regardless of where it comes from.

Yes, incoming text messages from all other carriers will show up as Short Mail messages. Of course it's different if they're coming from email or the 1-way form at messaging.sprintpcs.com, but this is how it works if it's from another carrier's handset and the Sprint recipient doesn't have a Vision phone:

The person will receive a message on their phone stating that they have a new "web alert" from Short Mail. They have to start their wireless web browser to read the message. (They will only be charged airtime if they have Wireless Web active on their account, but if not they will be charged airtime plus $0.39 per minute while they connect and read the message.)

EDIT: I wholeheartedly agree, jaggrey.

Posted by: corosario

I have the Sanyo 4900. If I sign up for Wireless Web, I'll be paying $5/month, but will they charge me also per Kb because of my 3G phone? When I go to my optional services on the Sprint web site, wireless web is one of the option and vision is not. I'm not that interested with Vision right now. Thanks!

Posted by: martianviking

Quote:

Originally posted by corosario
I have the Sanyo 4900. If I sign up for Wireless Web, I'll be paying $5/month, but will they charge me also per Kb because of my 3G phone? When I go to my optional services on the Sprint web site, wireless web is one of the option and vision is not. I'm not that interested with Vision right now. Thanks!

It's really one way or the other. You can't access the "old" style wireless web at all with a "Vision" phone, so putting Wireless Web on your account probably won't do anything other than maybe give you 50 1-way text messages (if the system even lets you add it).

"Vision" is not an add-on service. Think of it more as a type of service plan. You would need to change your plan to a Vision plan in order to "have it on your account." You can't really add Vision like you can the Wireless Web option.

EDIT: Either way, the only billing option for using the web on a Vision-capable phone is per-kilobyte billing.

Posted by: UnhappyA460Owne

Are you saying you still have to pay $5.00 per month, as well as kb???

You would be better off paying the $10 for 2 mb.

Posted by: dacman

No you do not pay $5 per wireless web, the system won let you add it or the scsr wont do it, so you just change the plan to vision plan. And that is just a rip off.

Posted by: corosario

I have one of the old plans and I really don't want to get a new plan with Vision and lose the 8pm N/W. I've had the same plan for almost 2 years now. If they offered Vision plans with 8pm N/ W minutes I will sign up right away. Also, they are offering better plans but with the 2 year service agreement which I think is unfair and ridiculous.

Posted by: martianviking

There are a lot of people in your position, corosario. They've been a Sprint customer for a while and they've got a few conditions on their account that they don't want to lose. (Night/weekend minutes staring at 8pm, retention plan bonus minutes, etc.) So even though they have/want a new Vision phone, they don't want to sign up for a Vision plan and lose those conditions. (I am one of these people; I would be perfectly happy with the plans currently offered if I could keep my 8pm n/w mins. That is a deal-breaker.)

If you look around on the boards, you will see some suggestion that it is possible to get around these issues.

The first option is just to keep your current plan and have customer service set you up to be able to just pay the $0.02/kilobyte overage charges to use your Vision phone.
It has been suggested that it is possible to keep a rentention (or similar) plan and still move to Vision. People have reported being able to switch to a Vision plan, and have extra monthly minutes (daytime and n/w starting at 8) added to your account. You just need to say the right things to the right Sprint representative, apparently. Of course this is the more desirable option.

Good luck, and let us know how it works out for you.

Posted by: corosario

OK, this is what I did. I called Sprint a couple of times trying to get a better plan keeping the 8pm N/W option and adding vision but no luck. I didn't expect much since I just renewed my contract one month ago. But they allowed me to add the wireless web option for $10/month. It might sound a little high but I don't have a bandwith limit. They will pull the minutes from the minutes alloted in my service plan. They gave me three months to try it. I'll see how much data/use I can download on three months and then decide if I want to keep the option or not.

Posted by: kittykatt

Quote:

Originally posted by corosario
OK, this is what I did. I called Sprint a couple of times trying to get a better plan keeping the 8pm N/W option and adding vision but no luck. I didn't expect much since I just renewed my contract one month ago. But they allowed me to add the wireless web option for $10/month. It might sound a little high but I don't have a bandwith limit. They will pull the minutes from the minutes alloted in my service plan. They gave me three months to try it. I'll see how much data/use I can download on three months and then decide if I want to keep the option or not.

So your deal is that you are being charged double for what regular people are getting for free? I have 2 phones on an account and it costs $5 for WW. Whats the difference with what you got?

And as for a vision plan. Im assuming you have a 3G phone right? Well if you have a 3G phone then why are you buying WW? With a 3G phone then the web is being measured in kb and not in minutes. In fact, i am told it cant even count WW minutes anymore since youre on a 3g phone. So it sounds to me like you are being ripped off. (But correct me if im wrong. I probably misunderstood what happened to you)

Posted by: martianviking

I'm guessing they allowed him to add 2mb of "Vision" transfer for $10/mo to his existing plan. I'm guessing that he's saying "unlimited" because as I understand, they aren't billing for actual usage until they can get an accurate monitoring system up.

That's just my guess.

Posted by: dtc

I've had some horrible experiences with that feature both ways... sometimes they don't arrive (although SMS is not guaranteed to arrive), sometimes they arrive 2 days late.

Supposedly the intercarrier bridge is Verisign. That would explain the evilness.

Quote:

Originally posted by nokia4life
Hi guys!

But what about if I am with Cingular and send a text my friend with Sprint? Do they get charged? and do they get my message?

Intercarrier text messaging has been available for some months now so I was just wondering...

Thanks in advance!

Posted by: corosario

Quote:

Originally posted by kittykatt
So your deal is that you are being charged double for what regular people are getting for free? I have 2 phones on an account and it costs $5 for WW. Whats the difference with what you got?

And as for a vision plan. Im assuming you have a 3G phone right? Well if you have a 3G phone then why are you buying WW? With a 3G phone then the web is being measured in kb and not in minutes. In fact, i am told it cant even count WW minutes anymore since youre on a 3g phone. So it sounds to me like you are being ripped off. (But correct me if im wrong. I probably misunderstood what happened to you)

I have the Sanyo 4900, so yes it should be Vision and not WW. If I want Vision I have to change my plan to one of the plans advertised, which I don't want because of the 2 year agreement. I e-mailed the CS department and they confirmed that with my plan I'll be using the minutes of my plan and will not be charged by Kb usage (so they say). If they start charging by Kb and minutes, I will definitely remove the option. If they don't charge me for kb usage and only by minutes from my plan, I think is worth it. I can easily keep track of the minutes used and forget about how much I'm surfing.