Text Messaging 101

[StreetDocRN]

Hi, all,

Another free text service provided by all US cellular carriers with the Department of Justice is the Wireless Amber Alert System.  Users with phones capable of receiving text messages can sign up and receive free text messages for Amber Alerts.  I believe just about every cell phone sold today is capable of text messaging, so this is really a great service.  It is free and it is specific for a particular area.  For example, I live in South Mississippi, so I receive alerts specific to my area when they are sent.  For more info on this go to http://community.vzw.com/t5/Messaging-Text-Picture-IM-etc/Text-Messaging-101/td-p/152289 on Verizon's web site.

Another texting service I like is getting weather alerts.  I get them from The Weather Channel and it is free to sign up and they don't charge you, however, if you do not have a texting plan or if you are on a text plan that is limited, you may want to think about this, as you will be charged by the Wireless provider for texts based on your plan.  I have unlimited texting, so it doesn't matter to me.  Just a couple of example of texting services and how they can help you day-to-day.

Doc

[SuzyQ]

Hey Doc - thanks for the Amber Alert and Weather services!  I use the weather alert too - it can be customized to alert you each day, or only when severe weather is forecast (watches, warnings for your area).  It's handy.

Twitter - is a fun one!  Once you have a Twitter acocunt, you can sign up for Twitter mobile - and text your tweets to 40404.  You can also use the settings to receive updates from any of the prople/businesses you are following, so each time they post, you receive a text. 

During the weeks before Christmas, I followed VZWOffers, waiting for the Env3 to drop in price or go on special - which it did, and I knew it when I got the "tweet" for the offer.  I still have it set up so twice a day or so I get a tweet (via text message on my phone) about the latest sale or BOGO offer.

I don't have EVERYONE I'm follwing set up this way, just a select few, but it's nice not to have to log into Twitter to follow things.

[spirithiker]

I'm looking for information on how to download my text messages. Is it possible? Thx

[SuzyQ]

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spirithiker wrote:

I'm looking for information on how to download my text messages. Is it possible? Thx

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The only way I know of isn't really "downloading" - you forward them to your email address.  If you need the date, time, and number of the message, you have to include that, as all the forwarded message contains is the text itself.

[SuzyQ]

A useful alert service I use (pretty specific to my neck of the woods) is an earthquake notification via Twitter.  I follow sfeathquakes on Twitter.  That is somehow connected to the USGS so a tweet goes out each time a measurable quake occurs in Northern CA.  I have the tweets sent to my cell phone via text message.

Living where I do, it's just one of those things that's nice to know.  Of course, if it's anything major, I think I'll know without the text message.....

[spirithiker]

Thx SusieQ I'll try that.

[somegirl]

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SuzyQ wrote:

TEXT MESSAGING TIP OF THE DAY

You can forward your email to yourphone#@vtext.com  and receive a text message with the subject, and possibly the first sentence or two of the email (before the 160 character limit kicks in).  Set up an automtic forward within your email program - it varies by provider, but can be set up pretty easily for most email accounts.

For those of you that have Mobile email or a data plan and do your email on the phone, this is superfluous.  For me, and anyone else who has texting but no data plan, and no email plan, it's a nice compromise.  I have my own business, and I have my business email forwarded to my phone via text.  When I am not at my computer (rare, but it does happen!), there are times I can glean enough info from the text to make a quick phone call and take care of things; at the least I get a text with a hint of what my email will contain when I get home to check it.  I like it.

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An important note: if you set your verizon.net email to forward, it will NOT keep a copy of the message on the verizon.net site. It is possible to set this up with your verizon.net address, but it requires the use of filters.

After some trial and error, this is the way that I've found to make this work with a verizon.net address successfully. You have to set up 2 filters.

Filter 1:

If To or CC matches yourusername@verizon.net then automatically move to folder: Inbox

This seems redundant, but this is how you get it to keep a copy of the message in your verizon.net inbox. Replace "yourusername" with your actual verizon.net username.

Filter 2:

If To or CC matches yourusername@verizon.net then automatically send notification to ##########@vtext.com

This sends the message to your vtext account. Replace "##########" with your VZW number.

BOTH of these filters have to be set up for you to get a copy both places.

[JYoung62]

I have a Motorola V276 phone.  When trying to text message, I can't seem to turn off the autofill thing.  For instance, I press the key for "T" and it automatically defaults to "U".  I've tried everything to turn this off.  Can anyone help this texting newbie?

[SuzyQ]

LOL - - sorry to laugh, but you are wanting to turn OFF a feature that most of us with just a number keypad want to turn ON!!  It's called T9 - and it "guesses" what word you are trying to type.  So when you type an 8 for t, by itself it defaults to U because that is the usual abbreviation for you.  Try typing 8-4-3 - and it should say "the". 

T9 is shorter for texting because you only need to type one time - just the numbers that spell out the word - if it's the right word, hit space.  If it isn't hit 0 for the next possibility....once you get the hang of it it IS much fasster than abc mode.

And if you do really want to turn it off, go to Messaging, Settings, and entry mode - put it on abc, or Abc (sentence caps) or ABC (all caps).

HTH, and I'm really not laughing at you. 

[TheGreatOne]

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SuzyQ wrote:

A useful alert service I use (pretty specific to my neck of the woods) is an earthquake notification via Twitter.  I follow sfeathquakes on Twitter.  That is somehow connected to the USGS so a tweet goes out each time a measurable quake occurs in Northern CA.  I have the tweets sent to my cell phone via text message.

Living where I do, it's just one of those things that's nice to know.  Of course, if it's anything major, I think I'll know without the text message.....

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Didn't know you lived in the bay area SuzyQ.We live close to each other! cool.

I have used once before KGB. Although you do have to pay for it. You can ask a question and receive a response within seconds. It does costs 99 cents.