Saturday, October 13, 2012

GOOGLE LAUNCHED FREE SMS SERVICE IN INDIA

Google has extended its free SMS chat service to India, whereby users can send text messages to mobile phones via Gmail Chat.

"You can send SMS messages to your contacts' mobile phones using Gmail Chat ... Google does not charge for using this service," according to information available with Google's website.

The SMS service is available in India and 51 other countries in Asia, Africa and North America.

The feature was activated for Indian users on October 10 and is available for regular Gmail users as well as those on Google Apps.

As per Google's website, this feature is available on all the mobile operators in the country.



The company said in order to send an SMS, users would have to add phone number to their contact list.

Responses to the SMSs would appear as replies in Gmail Chat and conversations will be stored in users' Chat history, like regular chats.

Google initially provides free SMS credit of 50 messages for each user. For every message sent, users' credit woud decrease by one. However, this credit would increase by five every time a user responds to the text message by sending a return message.

In case, the SMS credit limit slashes down to zero, one credit would increase automatically after 24 hours.

Google said users can also 'buy' SMS credit in case of shortage by sending a text message to their own phone and then by replying to that message.

The internet firm has also provided the facilities for those users do not wish to receive any messages on SMS from any Gmail user.


In order to use this feature you have to enable the SMS (text messaging) in Chat lab.
You can send SMS messages to your contacts’ mobile phones using Gmail Chat. To do so from Gmail:
Enter your contact’s name in the ‘Search or invite friends’ box in Chat, and select Send SMS from the box of options that appears to the right of your contact’s name. Or, if you already have a Chat window open for this contact, just click Options, and select Send SMS.
In the dialog box, enter a phone number in the ‘Send SMS messages to this number’ field. This feature is only launched in selected countries. Click here for the list of supported countries and operators. If you are not located in one of these countries you can still use it, but you won't see the SMS option in Chat until you enable it manually in the Chat settings page.
Click Save.
A Chat window appears. Just type your message as you would normally. When you hit Enter, the message will be sent to the phone number you entered.

If your contact replies, the text message response will appear as a reply in Chat. These conversations are stored in your Chat history just like regular chats (but keep in mind that you can’t go off the record while communicating via SMS).

SMS charges: Google does not charge for using this service. However, mobile providers' standard charges will apply to any SMS messages sent from a mobile device to Google Chat. Please check your mobile provider's price plan for details.
Note regarding mobile phone subscribers in North America: depending on which mobile plans your contacts in North America have, they may be charged by their mobile providers for receiving text messages.
Note regarding phone subscribers of Pelephone in Israel: your contacts on the Pelephone network will receive your SMS messages for free, and will be charged for replying according to Pelephone's pricelist for core service. Special rates and packages do not apply.
Note regarding mobile phone subscribers in Zambia: your contacts in Zambia will receive SMS messages for free, and will be charged for replying according to their operator's price for sending an international SMS to the USA.


Courtesy:Indian express.

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