3 no-international webtext workaround....kinda..

coolegrain

one thing that bugged me being on 3 was losing the ability to use my webtext to send international texts, like o2 who i was previously with.

this may sound a little messy but bear with me here.

i was looking for apps that would send free texts to people outside ireland, and those without smartphones...people with the most basic phone could get a text from me without me being charged.

i came across 'text free with voice' app...
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/textfree-with-voice/id399355755?mt=8

first problem is...its only available in the u.s. app store....although it is a free app.

i have a u.s. itunes account....it has been documented here a lot in threads how to do that.

anyway...got the app...and it comes with its own number...so when people get a text it is from a strange number....but you have the ability to add a signature to the text saying its yourself...and if they reply to that number it comes to your phone like a normal text...and the app doesnt need to be open on your phone or anything.

it also...and this caught my eye...the ability to send picture messages for free...but theres a 'but' to that it seems.
people were getting text messages from me but not the picture message...apart from one friend in new york who got picture messages right away every time.
after scratching my head..i found small print saying only certain us networks support recieving picture messages from the app.

but...it does function fine for texts...it seems...and i am trying to test it by sending texts to all the main networks here and in the uk...but so far, it seems perfect for international texting.

and, well, thats it really....someone might find this useful.....or even better, tell me a better way of doing this.

naasrd

Thanks, gonna give it a shot.

Got it, there's an iPad version too; textfree for iPad. Looks and works great. This is a must have. I just got a text from a mate in Boston on my iPad!!! Brilliant, gonna save me a few bob texting him.

On the iPhone version you also get 10 minutes free call time from your USA number and you can buy more or get free minutes by downloading free apps.

naasrd

Mods. This thread is worth a title change. This app gives you free international texts to mobile phone numbers in the States, free MMS to some US service providers, a personal US phone number and 10 minutes free call time. On a wifi iPad you can receive and send texts. It's like Viber & jellysms rolled into one but better.

culabula

naasrd wrote: »

Mods. This thread is worth a title change. This app gives you free international texts to mobile phone numbers in the States, free MMS to some US service providers, a personal US phone number and 10 minutes free call time. On a wifi iPad you can receive and send texts. It's like Viber & jellysms rolled into one but better.

You can put Textfree with Voice on iPad too. I use it all the time. In addition I have earned over 100 minutes to US numbers, but the app works fine for users to call one another. One could be in Conamara and the other in Tombouctou and you can still call each other for free if you have access to data.

The number is a US one and it still sends to all the Irish networks. To avoid others incurring costs you should inform your contacts to reply to your national number. If sending internationally, it does not matter to those recipients whether they reply to your Irish or US number, as they are both foreign to them.

In the beginning this app sent everywhere -I regularly used it to send to Morocco, Tunisia and Japan, but like Heywire, that has dried up.

jc_eire

coolegrain wrote: »

i have a u.s. itunes account....it has been documented here a lot in threads how to do that.

...I can't seem to find out, how do you do that???

gingernut79

http://www.cultofmac.com/get-a-u-s-itunes-account-anywhere-in-the-world-how-to/43040

this worked great for me.

culabula

Textfree appears to have stopped sending to Irish numbers now :-(