Depending on your mobile plan, AT&T generally offers a limit of 200 SMS’s to users on a monthly basis, which include sending and receiving. For the majority of users this number is simply not sufficient, but surprises await your monthly bill when exceeding this limit.
Keeping track of messages sent and received
Unfortunately the iPhone does not keep track of the number of SMS’s sent and received on the phone. For American users the only manner in which this can be established is by visiting www.wireless.att.com and visit the ‘My Account’ section. Elsewhere in the world, the various service providers may have other means of displaying these statistics. Always ensure that you contact your service provider and request more information on viewing your usage statistics.
Free Messaging Options
For users intending to send and receive more messages than the restricted limit there are fortunately two free options in doing so.
Option 1 – Teleflip
Teleflip is a free service that converts e-mail into text messages. In joining this service you are not required to sign up for an account, pay any fees, sign any contracts or divulging any personal identifiable information.
The main aim of Teleflip was to send text messages from a personal computer to another user’s mobile phone. The iPhone opened a new generation to Teleflip as users can send an e-mail from their iPhone, which is totally free, to another persons’ mobile phone, which will arrive as a message, totally free.
In order to use Teleflip, you will create a new e-mail address for the person you wish to send a message to, which will look like this: 1245620288@teleflip.com. All messages sent to this number will be delivered as a text message.
Option 2 – AIM
The AIM chat program is yet another method of sending free messages. Here you simply create a buddy whose address is his mobile phone number. Any message sent to that address will be delivered as a text message at no costs to you.
The advantage of this service is that a buddy can reply to any message sent to him.