Only a few days after the launch of its new task manager, Gmail has introduced a new feature allowing users to send free SMS messages through its integrated Chat. To activate the feature, visit the Gmail Labs page and scroll down until you see the appropriate listing (you may also want to activate a few of the other nifty features while you’re at it).
To send a message, just type a phone number into the search box at the top of the chat window on the left side of the Gmail interface, and hit ‘Send SMS’. Numbers can be associated with contact names so you don’t have to keep manually entering them. Recipients of these messages can respond by simply hitting ‘reply’ on their cell phones to send their own SMS message (Gmail ties a unique phone number with each of your contacts).
According to the Gmail blog post, the site is currently testing out the service with US phones only for now (messages can be sent from abroad, they just need to be directed at a US phone).
Gmail first toyed around with the feature in October, but wound up pulling it from Labs for a few weeks because of a number of glitches. This time, it seems like it’s here to stay.
This isn’t by any means the first chat service to offer free SMS messaging – major chat networks like AIM have been doing this for years. But it’s a handy feature, especially for the many people who use Gmail all day long.
Really no different to sending an email to a cell phone, ie xxxxxxxxxx@vtext.com for verizon. Just a fancy interface.
Pretty sure SMS works differently from email. But thanks!
No, you don’t understand.
Emailing to xxxxxxxxxxxx@vtext.com delivers the email as an SMS message to the recipient. Thus it is pretty much the same.
I’m getting a little annoyed with Google – they’re spreading themselves thin and offering the services for free which fine, but the level of transparency amongst their services is startling.
I don’t know why people aren’t alarmed by the rate at which this company is growing and becoming far too encompassing in not only people’s lives, but their information and privacy.
You’re right, Anthony.
It’s comments like Blogmerchant’s that that make me feel like this http://xkcd.com/386
Funny, because YOU are wrong.
Your only partially correct. you can text someone with xxxxxxxxxx@vtext.com but you have to know the carrier they are with.
Don’t know about you, but I don’t normally ask my friends who they are with, nor bother to remember it. So unless you do…
So how ever Google has chosen to work this, it’s just a tad bit more than sending an email
xxxxxxxxxx@teleflip.com
No need to know the carrier.
teleflip went bankrupt a long time ago
hey there, you can find out the carrier through a website called fone finder. search for that…
also, you need the path. like sprint isn’t ( )@stext.com. they are all different.
i’ve been using this for months. sometimes it doesn’t go through right away, but it works and is free.
well its not just a fancy interface…its a step via google in getting into more and more mobile space. Google will know phone numbers of all your contacts, friends and will have a worldwide access to the data, for anything that it may want to leverage upon. Voila!!! The androids are here already …:)
cheers, marvin
Just a couple comments above, you talked about using @teleflip to send texts. Enjoy having the receiving party’s phone number on a list in a company that is not beholden to a privacy policy.
Teleflip is free to sell their known list of cell phone number that can receive SMS to anybody they choose, including spammers.
But beyond that, Teleflip.com is nonfunctional and has been since September. http://en.wikip...g/wiki/Teleflip
Yahoo Mail has been doing this for years in an easier and more convenient way.
Google cannot grow by simply reinventing the wheel. Google is a one-trick pony.
really? how so. I have yahoo too but never knew.
I’ve got to agree with xworder… not only is the implementation on yahoo seamless and far more intuitive, the recipient also doesn’t receive a friggin’ additional sms indicating who from and how the preceding sms was sent.
Awesome.
Excellent new feature.
Yahoo! messenger is offering it since ages
No not really, yahoo doesn’t offer you a unique sms #.
yahoo! messenger offers free sms (in the US), AND it’s been doing so for years.
much better interface and service and everything than gchat, or gmail…
Absolutely a great way to send a text without have to go find your phone across the room. Also, for those of us sitting at a desk it’s a great way to sneak a TXT in while the boss thinks we’re working.
I can’t get it to work with Google Chrome… anyone else?
Worked once and failed thereafter. Net: *FAIL
not working with google chrome
@Holden – It works, you have to enable it through Labs gadgets.
It is not clear if it is just for US phones or worldwide. Do you know Jason?
us phones only
Works on Chrome for me. I just tried once.
thats sweet. gonna be great for contacting clients etc.
Orsm, this a handy little feature, loving the gmail labs
I’ve tried to send an SMS to a lot of people.. but all I get is this:
me: Hey
XX did not receive your chat.
not available for me yet
do recipients get charged for this?
Yahoo and AIM may be doing it for years but I believe, Gmail is the first one to implement TWO-WAY messaging which means that not only you can send a text message but also receive one. For a email app, two-way messaging is probably the first in the world. I love Gmail even more now.
No, I’m pretty sure you’ve been able to respond to SMS messages using your phone for a while (not sure about Yahoo).
Yeah the AIM goes back and forth, also not sure about Yahoo
You can reply on Yahoo! messenger, this is old age stuff.
It’s great news indeed, sooner expecting this to hit other countries too
- Mani
ExcuseMeWorld . com
plz send m
seriously this service is there in Yahoo and AOL, dont know people are getting excited about this.
Excited because Google gives you a sms telephone number, so the conversation doesn’t have to “start” with a send – I can give you my “google SMS #”and you can send me a message, w/o me sending you one first from the chat client. This is what Google has done above and over yahoo and aim.
Too bad it doesn’t work on their own browser.
What is the name of the Yahoo service? This Google version is really buggy.
You can also sms people by emailing xxxxxxxxxx@teleflip.com – try it – it totally works.
Teleflip.com is already out of business. See http://www.lasn...ut-of-business/.
Teleflip didn’t always work – if you had ported your number from one service provider to another, it wouldn’t find the new provider correctly.
This is a nice feature ,is this feature rolled into all Gmail users I have not got his option in lab settings
I wish every new feature like that would be implemented in Israel as well as there are many users here that would love that and even will start a new account with gmail just for that.
‘the site is currently testing out the service with US phones only for now…’
Just checked Google Labs and not available here, although just seen that they have mapped Mars
Great feature – looking forward for it to be available in Denmark
nice feature, really
SMS should be free anywhere, who needs it when you can email.
Gmail SMS Bomber incoming. All your phone are belong to us!
negative. you can only send the receiver 3 text messages in a row unless they respond…
this is a great feature, however, i hope they shut down the gmail bot that sends the receiver an extra message telling them that they can stop the text messages by replying “STOP”.
Wadja is the only site that really offers free sms worldwide, but when I tried to send it to a local friend of mine in singapore, the message took like half an hour or so to arrive.
AIM has been doing this since donkey’s years. Why the f do you go gaga at anything that Google does?
AIM does NOT give you a unique SMS #, Google does, huge difference.
Check this one out on GTalk Fraud
http://www.qvvo...m/link/45fe1bc0
this is great
http://www.yout...h?v=763vmCrRBDg
This is Sexy, I Love GOOGLE!
Heii
Does this work for all Countries? I’m from Maldives
Google trying best in everything.
I remember ICQ doing the same about 7 years ago. It got killed off pretty quickly because people liked it, and it delivered the phone companies to little $$$$.
That is why it took so long again, great work google, thank you phone companies for sending us back in time
it is a good service. but how many people will be using it is a big question?, because sending a SMS through mobile is far convenient than internet.
http://svp.bhan...googlepages.com
It is interesting that they are using the Montana area code (406) for the SMS numbers…
Really?? Why is that “interesting”?
Look guys, of course Google is NOT the first company to do this. However, a lot of us use gmail and would rather not switch to yahoo or load up AIM just to send a SMS when we can now do it from our email page.
All of you guys who keep asking why people are “freaking out” about google doing this… People aren’t freaking out, look at their comments. You guys need to realize that just because someone comments on something in a positive manner, it doesn’t mean they are head over heels freaking out and they are a fanboy for life.
People are just happy to see their favorite email client implementing a feature that other email clients have had for a while and that was lacking.
So please, chill out.
I agree with you, it is more convenient for us.
hello
fyi
i’ve already got the mobile phone numbers in my contacts…why is gmail asking for it again…i should just be able to type contact name and select ’send sms’…anything more is ridiculous
this is really cool. works great for me since I don’t have texting enabled on my cell.
One quick question I didn’t see covered – with Google’s service, can people still respond to my sent SMS messages when I don’t have gmail open? (would they just show up the next time I opened it?)
I’ve been using AIM to send texts, but if I sign off AIM the person won’t be able to reply.
Isn’t it a first step to open their India-Lab product SMS channles (http://labs.goo...channels/browse) for international numbers ? .. Google sms channels is currently available only for Indian numbers.
Wonder if they will expose it via xmpp
if i were to send sms to a cell phone will the charges still apply?
i.e. person 1 with cell phone has X number of text per month. person 2 sends an sms to person 1 cell, does it count as those kind of text or a different text.
This is a cool feature to send free SMS messages.
You don’t even need to text anyone from a phone.
Gmail is a great free service.
thanks from tony