At first glance, an unlimited text messaging cell phone plan seems excessive. After all, if a person sends 50 messages per day, that’s an average of 1,500 per month. A plan covering that many monthly message is relatively inexpensive.
Reaching Unlimited
Even 50 messages per day can seem a bit much, but considering it doesn’t include the number of return message, which are also counted against the monthly total, 50 becomes a bit smaller. Add in a multi-line, or family plan, and the monthly text message count can reach several thousand. At .10 or .15 per message in excess of the monthly allotment, text messaging becomes an expensive luxury for the consumer. No, "unlimited" can’t be reached, but it can certainly be needed.
Unlimited text messages added to a cell phone plan can cost around $30 or so each month. That’s $360 per year. Pinger, Inc., and their Textfree Unlimited iPhone app, also usable on the iPod Touch, has lowered that cost dramatically, all the way down to the $5.99 one-time cost of purchasing the app.
How It’s Done
After purchasing the Textfree Unlimited app through Apple’s App Store, owners will choose an email address with the @textfree.us suffix to use with the app, for example yourname @textfree.us. Although the app works like, and looks much like, the regular SMS feature on the iPhone, users will effectively be sending texts from the email address. They’ll simply choose a person from their contacts list, or type in a cell new number, and send as usual. Absolutely no discernable difference on the sending end of text messages.
Receiving texts are another matter. Sure, users will receive texts just as they would without using the Textfree app. There is, however, one issue; messages sent by friends go to the SMS feature included with the iPhone, unless the friend is aware of the @textfree.us email to which they can send messages. In that instance, non-Textfree users can simply type in the email address and send a text message as normal, or they can email a message to the address and it will arrive as a text message. Once a Textfree user sends a message to a non-user, all return messages in that message stream will come to the Textfree app.
Therein lies the problem with Textfree; the inconvenience to the user of having to notify non-users of how to send a message to them. Of course, they can always buy the iPhone app for themselves.
The Real Cost
Pinger, Inc. also offers Textfree Lite, which is completely free. Users of the Lite version are served advertisements and they’re limited to15 messages per day. As mentioned, the purchase price of the Unlimited version is $5.99. Until recently, in order to continue using the app, customers were required to pay $5.99 per year, which is still a good value. In the past few days, users were provided the option of continuing to pay the yearly fee, or have ads served to them and pay only the initial purchase cost.
There’s no known way, yet, to ensure all incoming messages are sent to Textfree. Given that, there are those that will argue that "Textfree" is a misnomer. Strictly speaking, that is correct, but there can’t be a successful argument that a significant savings can’t be had.
Other Pros and Cons
During a three week review period, there were five instances, four of which were in the evenings after 5:00 p.m., that messages were unable to be sent. On those occasions, a pop-up message stated that Textfree servers were too busy. Given the number of people switching, either fully or partially, to the application, that is easily understandable. In each instance, an immediate follow-up message was successfully tried and sent. What isn’t known, is how an incoming message will be handled during times when servers can’t handle the load.
Aesthetically, the app has much the same look as the traditional SMS program. Textfree users can choose from 11 background themes and 30 tones. Other themes and tones can be purchased from the App Store.
The application also gives some phone functionality to the iPod Touch. Touch owners need only to be within reach of a wireless network to use it. Textfree on an iPod Touch could be a good alternative to a cell phone and texting for children.
Conclusion
There are still a couple of obstacles, namely, the issues of receiving texts and ability to handle the message demand, that Pinger needs to overcome. It’s almost certain they’re working on them. All things considered, Textfree Unlimited is a reliable and cost effective tool for sending and receiving text messages.
Sources: "Text Messaging," Wikipedia; Textfree Unlimited iPhone application.
Author’s Note: The writer of this review has not been compensated in any fashion by persons or entities mentioned in this article.
Alan L. Hammond - In addition to his Suite 101 Golf coverage, Alan is an editor and writer for SportsMD Media LLC, which publishes GolfersMD.com and ...
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