AFT - Use your free webtexts from your mobile - costs a fraction of a cent per text!

dal

I have created an J2ME application to run on (java-enabled) mobile phones through which you can use your online quota of webtexts.

Basically the application communicates with WebMonkeys' O2text program (link) so only the very mimimum amount of data is transferred from the phone to the web.

The cost of each message is a lot less than a cent (O2 currently charge 1c/kb for data). I have sent more than 4 without my balance changing, thats about .25c per text! This works with international numbers which are normally 25c for O2, so there are huge savings to be made.

Been working on this for a few weeks now so it is fairly well tested (tested on SonyEricsson k750i and Motorola v525, but should work on any java phone).

The application is designed to be as close to normal texting as possible.
Features:
- Saves your login details so you never have to enter them again (although you can modify them if desired).
- Supports predictive T9/predictive texting (if your phone has it) and contacts lookup (again if your phone supports it).
- Saves the 5 most recent phone numbers in memory for quick access.
- Tells you how many free texts you have remaining.
- Supports international numbers.

Would really appreciate any feedback on this, especially to see if it works on different types of phones. Currently the app only works for O2 but there is no reason why it can't be adapted for vodafone and meteor further on down the line if there is enough interest.

Many thanks to Webmonkey for his server-side work and for helping me test the app.

The application is called AFT (Almost Free Texts) and is available here:
http://www.killarneyonline.eu/o2text/aft.jar

So either save it to your computer and then transfer to your phone through USB/bluetooth/infrared or else use your phones web brower to go to the URL above.

Update 5th Sep 06 - Now has support for Meteor!

Random

Sounds rather good dal... must grab a look at this myself

Webmonkey

And weekends even better!, sent about 8 one weekend there using it and only a cent gone. Well worth it imo. And gets fairly easy to use once you make a shortcut to it on your phone.

Random

fyi the W810i doesn't seem to allow you to access your phonebook from within the program.
It also doesn't allow you to create a shortcut directly to the program.

App seems to work alright though

Webmonkey

I can't actually create an shortcut directly to app but i can to my applications folder which is good enough for me!

carrotcake

fantastic! thanks a lot

dal

Webmonkey wrote:

I can't actually create an shortcut directly to app but i can to my applications folder which is good enough for me!

Yeah pretty annoying from my k570i that I can't create a shortcut straight to the app (nearest is "File manager"), but if you install it under "games" instead of "applications", you can create a shortcut straight inside the games folder. AFT should appear right at the top of the list of games (listed alphabetically).

quintron

great ideas.. hats off on both the ajax scripts and jar file!

Pity there isn't an ajax/php portal for vodafone texts.... hint hint..

Webmonkey

quintron wrote:

great ideas.. hats off on both the ajax scripts and jar file!

Pity there isn't an ajax/php portal for vodafone texts.... hint hint..

Might see one in the future

donutface

lol how weird.
I just got my J2ME version of MeteorSMS working tonight after an entire weeks worth of headachese. Turns out you have to ask meteor permission to access the wider internet. Anyway i have an entire account system to sort out still, but a Meteor one is closer than you may think, if theres any willing beta testers email me at donut <@&gt; donutsoft dot net

quintron

Webmonkey wrote:

Might see one in the future

:eek: I'll keep an eye out!

donutface

donutface wrote:

lol how weird.
I just got my J2ME version of MeteorSMS working tonight after an entire weeks worth of headachese. Turns out you have to ask meteor permission to access the wider internet. Anyway i have an entire account system to sort out still, but a Meteor one is closer than you may think, if theres any willing beta testers email me at donut <@&gt; donutsoft dot net

The only problem with Meteor is that ISP access is taken in €2.50 512kb chunks. So when you send your first text it might look as if it cost you €2.50. But you won't get billed another €2.50 unless you exceed 512kb which, with an app like this, would take you absolutely ages.

Just tried this now, doesn't seem to work on a Motorola V535. Seems to be trying to access the WAP APN rather than the ISP. Am I doing something wrong? Haven't got my 6680 to test, awaiting its return after a bad flash.

dal

Karsini wrote:

Just tried this now, doesn't seem to work on a Motorola V535. Seems to be trying to access the WAP APN rather than the ISP. Am I doing something wrong? Haven't got my 6680 to test, awaiting its return after a bad flash.

The phone has to be set up to use GPRS to access the internet and not WAP.

Webmonkey

Karsini wrote:

The only problem with Meteor is that ISP access is taken in €2.50 512kb chunks. So when you send your first text it might look as if it cost you €2.50. But you won't get billed another €2.50 unless you exceed 512kb which, with an app like this, would take you absolutely ages.

Just tried this now, doesn't seem to work on a Motorola V535. Seems to be trying to access the WAP APN rather than the ISP. Am I doing something wrong? Haven't got my 6680 to test, awaiting its return after a bad flash.

I amnt the expert on this side of things but have you GPRS set up correctly and your java internet connections to to this GPRS connection?

I got it working. But I had to set the ISP as the default in the Web Sessions meaning everything would use the ISP including the WAP browser. The phone just doesn't have a setting specific to Java apps. But that's hardly your fault, more like the phone's.

dal

ciaranfo wrote:

fyi the W810i doesn't seem to allow you to access your phonebook from within the program.
It also doesn't allow you to create a shortcut directly to the program.

App seems to work alright though

Thats strange. On the k750i, when you go to enter a new number, it takes you to a new screen, where the word "Lookup" appears on one of the soft keys.
Does this not happen for you?

Random

My bad dal... it comes up under "more-> lookup". I reckon I missed it the first time! Shame it's not just one-click though.

As for the login details - any way you can hide the password with astericks once it's been entered? In case someone robs your phone - or even goes nosy through your menus.

flodis79

thanks for this highly awaited piece of software! guess the o2 webtext is down for the moment cos it doesn't get delivered. but i get the message that i have 242 web texts left so it logged in alright. i get the html tag </strong> after the number of messages left. the number is not in bold or anything. i'm using the app on a htc tornado smartphone.

dal

flodis79 wrote:

thanks for this highly awaited piece of software! guess the o2 webtext is down for the moment cos it doesn't get delivered. but i get the message that i have 242 web texts left so it logged in alright. i get the html tag </strong> after the number of messages left. the number is not in bold or anything. i'm using the app on a htc tornado smartphone.

If the app tells you how many webtexts you have left then that means that the message sent. Are you sure you entered the correct number. Did you try sending a text to yourself?
As for the </strong> tag, I will look into this.

ciaranfo wrote:

As for the login details - any way you can hide the password with astericks once it's been entered? In case someone robs your phone - or even goes nosy through your menus.

Good idea, I will put this in the next version.

carrotcake

i get the </strong> tag too on my k700i. other than that, great work!

monosharp

Anyone doing this for vodafone ?

NiSmO

This post has been deleted.

flodis79

dal wrote:

If the app tells you how many webtexts you have left then that means that the message sent. Are you sure you entered the correct number. Did you try sending a text to yourself?
As for the </strong> tag, I will look into this.

it's working now when i put 00 before the country code. i just didn't put that before because it's not the syntax in the real web text.

dal

monosharp wrote:

Anyone doing this for vodafone ?

There is no reason why this couldn't be done for vodafone. It would involve *very* minor modifications to AFT.

Basically all AFT does on the web side is call a URL which contains 4 variables; username password, sendToNumber and messageText). Very, very simple. If someone can do this (set up a page which accepts variables in the URL) for vodafone then all I would need is the base URL. Perhaps someone has made progress on simultating the vodafone webtext already?

I know that donutface is currently working on this for meteor, so meteor integration into AFT might not be very far away.

Webmonkey

I done a vodafone script before too but it only works for my sisters vodafone number. As far as i remember, vodafone do different fields for every user, some sort of algorithm with their mobile number or something but when i get a bit of spare time i could work on this. If a lot of people are getting that </strong> tag then i think i might get rid of it as it isn't that neccessary.

MacGyver

this doesnt work on a smartphone, its a qtek 8100 if that helps. it runs until you enter the number your sending too and goes no where then

Brianb8802

Hi guys excellant idea. Only thing is im having a problem getting it to send the message. Im using a nokia 6600, when i try send the txt, it goes to the sending message screen, then asks me what access point id like to use, and i select O2 WAP GPRS, which is the one i got off the o2 website, and after a bit it says there was a problem sending your message. I have no problem browsing the net on my phone, any ideas what the problem is?

Brianb8802

Brianb8802 wrote:

Hi guys excellant idea. Only thing is im having a problem getting it to send the message. Im using a nokia 6600, when i try send the txt, it goes to the sending message screen, then asks me what access point id like to use, and i select O2 WAP GPRS, which is the one i got off the o2 website, and after a bit it says there was a problem sending your message. I have no problem browsing the net on my phone, any ideas what the problem is?

You need to use the O2 ISP GPRS access point. If it's not set up on your phone then create it using the settings in the sticky. If it doesn't work then you may need to call O2 to get it enabled on your account.

Brianb8802

Karsini wrote:

You need to use the O2 ISP GPRS access point. If it's not set up on your phone then create it using the settings in the sticky. If it doesn't work then you may need to call O2 to get it enabled on your account.

Cool ill try that now, thanks for the quick reply

dango

This seems like a great idea but ( i know it might have been asked before but i'd like an easy to understand answer) is there any issues with security here? I don't want to put people off here I'm just wondering about it...

Random

@dango
They creator could be stealing your login details. That's really the "only" security "issue". They've proven trustworthy in the past though

As for the </strong> error. I get that to on the W810i.

Webmonkey

</strong> Error should be gone now and if it isn't then I don't know that would be quite amazing

As with security - as ciaran says.

Brianb8802

Right got that sorted but now im getting another error "unfortunately it failedmore than likely o2 down as usual, but i just sent a few message to myself from the o2 and its fine. Can anybody else here confirm that the program will work from a nokia 6600.

Thanks

Brianb8802

Brianb8802 wrote:

Right got that sorted but now im getting another error "unfortunately it failedmore than likely o2 down as usual, but i just sent a few message to myself from the o2 and its fine. Can anybody else here confirm that the program will work from a nokia 6600.

Thanks

Did you use the correct ISP settings? O2 have a different access point for prepaid and billpay - pp.internet for prepaid and just internet for bill.

Brianb8802

Karsini wrote:

Did you use the correct ISP settings? O2 have a different access point for prepaid and billpay - pp.internet for prepaid and just internet for bill.

Oh ya sorry forgot to mention that, i got my settings off the nokia website, and updated my mms, gprs, and internet access point settings. Im guessin the interent access point one is the isp setting you were talking about and i set my browser to use this as its connection and it works ok. BTW im bill pay

Random

Ring O2 Data Support on 1850601740 and ask them to activate internet or pp.internet on your account. It's a provision they need to add which isn't generally added by default to your account, especially on Speakeasy. It's free to add.

Brianb8802

ciaranfo wrote:

Ring O2 Data Support on 1850601740 and ask them to activate internet or pp.internet on your account. It's a provision they need to add which isn't generally added by default to your account, especially on Speakeasy. It's free to add.

Thanks for the reply, tried ringing just there but they're closed till the morning, ill give them a shout then ill get back to you.

Thanks again

dal

Brianb8802 wrote:

Thanks for the reply, tried ringing just there but they're closed till the morning, ill give them a shout then ill get back to you.

Thanks again

Brian,
I version of AFT was posted at around 5 today. This version didn't work and *might* have led to the error that you were seeing (basically the password was not being saved on the phone properly), although I think it should have worked at least the first time upi try to send a message. Anyway the old jar file is back up now and this is the one that works. You may already have it tho.

Brianb8802

dal wrote:

Brian,
I version of AFT was posted at around 5 today. This version didn't work and *might* have led to the error that you were seeing (basically the password was not being saved on the phone properly), although I think it should have worked at least the first time upi try to send a message. Anyway the old jar file is back up now and this is the one that works. You may already have it tho.

dal your dead right that was the problem, just sent a few there and all workin ok. Thanks for such a handy program, im gona be using this all the time now.

And for your info, my connection manager recorded data downloaded as 723b and uploaded was 554b, for one message sent, using all 160 characters.

flodis79

dal wrote:

Brian,
I version of AFT was posted at around 5 today. This version didn't work and *might* have led to the error that you were seeing (basically the password was not being saved on the phone properly), although I think it should have worked at least the first time upi try to send a message. Anyway the old jar file is back up now and this is the one that works. You may already have it tho.

is there a new version of the jar file with the strong tag taken away? or is it back to the old version again so no need to download if i downloaded the first version?

flodis79

flodis79 wrote:

is there a new version of the jar file with the strong tag taken away? or is it back to the old version again so no need to download if i downloaded the first version?

The </strong> tag would have been generated by the server, should be no need to download a new version of the client.

dal

Karsini wrote:

The </strong> tag would have been generated by the server, should be no need to download a new version of the client.

You are absolutely right, all the text on the confirmation page is a server response. This might be tightened up in the future to minimalise data transfer (eg. reponse codes), but it really doesn't make that difference.

Brianb8802 wrote:

And for your info, my connection manager recorded data downloaded as 723b and uploaded was 554b, for one message sent, using all 160 characters.

I checked this out myself a few weeks ago when testing, but I am not really sure what this information tells us. You would assume, in your case that 2 messages would therefore cost 1c, but this was not my experience (i could send 4 or more before reaching 1c). There must be a certain part of the data downloaded that isn't included in the 1c/kb charge.

egan007

So how ethically sound are you guys?
I love your texting app - o2 could learn from you
http://www.killarneyonline.eu/o2text/
but am i going to get spammed or anything?

dal

egan007 wrote:

So how ethically sound are you guys?
I love your texting app - o2 could learn from you
http://www.killarneyonline.eu/o2text/
but am i going to get spammed or anything?

As far as the client (j2me) side goes, you can decompile the jar file to see exactly what is in it and that the code is doing nothing untoward.

As far as the server side goes, WebMonkey is responsible for this and has assured me that no information is saved (I also have ftp access to the live code so I know for a fact that there is nothing being saved) and has previously made the source available (see link in first post).

You won't get spammed.

flodis79

i'm using this app on a smartphone where i cannot get access to the phone book from within the app. thus i would like to have 10 or 15 numbers in the recent numbers list instead of only 5. would that be possible?

dal

flodis79 wrote:

i'm using this app on a smartphone where i cannot get access to the phone book from within the app. thus i would like to have 10 or 15 numbers in the recent numbers list instead of only 5. would that be possible?

I'll make it configurable in the next version of the app (shouldn't take me too long). A further enhancement might be the ability to assign names to the recent numbers list, hopefully I will get round to doing this soon.

Airwaves

Nice work Dal

egan007

dal wrote:

As far as the client (j2me) side goes, you can decompile the jar file to see exactly what is in it and that the code is doing nothing untoward.

As far as the server side goes, WebMonkey is responsible for this and has assured me that no information is saved (I also have ftp access to the live code so I know for a fact that there is nothing being saved) and has previously made the source available (see link in first post).

You won't get spammed.

Cheers Lads
I hope you win the lotto

yapyap

I've downloaded this to Moto V620, Nokia 6230 & Nokia 6230i

I'm putting in login details okay as on O2.ie

Enter recipient number as 003538xxxxxxxx, 08xxxxxxxx, 3538xxxxxx

Message says sending, but app then freezes

On webmonkey site, can send no problem

Can access the web on all phones on Moto through speakeasy, and on Nokias through Voda billpay

So what's the story?

donutface

ring up o2 and ask them to send you the internet access point, not the GPRS one. Thatll sort it out

yapyap

donutface wrote:

ring up o2 and ask them to send you the internet access point, not the GPRS one. Thatll sort it out

o2 hadn't a clue what i was talking about so i got these sent to my phone

nokia website>advanced settings>internet settings>o2 value prepay settings
nokia website>advanced settings>internet settings>vodafone isp gprs settings - but only on post pay and I think there's a minimum charge per session!

with nokia 6230i go to Web>settings>configuration settings>Account>value prepay as the default settings sent from Nokia are for WAP GPRS