I have a smartphone right now (HTC Dash). Most people with a smartphone have web access through their wireless carrier. I do not because I just don’t need it. I can’t justify paying an extra $30 a month so I can browse Facebook while on the bus. Yeah, it might be a bit nifty, but there are things I’d rather do with that money.
However, despite not having true web access and a data plan, I still stay connected to the internet. Here’s how.
SMS and MMS
SMS = Short Message Service = Text Messaging
MMS = Multimedia Message Service = Photo Messaging
I can access most social networks through either SMS or MMS from my cell phone. My mobile plan includes unlimited messaging which covers both text messages and photo messages. Most social networks will require to you to enable SMS in your account first by sending a code to your cell phone that you have to enter on the web. Once your accounts are SMS-enabled, there’s a lot you can do simply by sending and receiving texts.
GOOGLE SMS
Google offers a great SMS-based service that I use quite often. It’s almost like I have real web access! You just send a properly worded text to 466453 and Google will text you an answer in less than 10 seconds. Here’s some of what you can do with examples in brackets:
Find a business near you:
type-of-place location [pizza 90027]
Compare prices for something you want to buy (great for when you’re in a store):
price product [price oster 6812 blender]
Get the current weather conditions plus the next two days:
weather location [weather los angeles]
Get a definition (love this feature!):
define word [define unagi]
Get sports scores:
score team [score boston red sox]
See what movies are currently playing and get show times:
movies location [movies 90027]
Get an answer to a simple question (wording is very important here and doesn’t always work):
text your question in simple terms [capital of vermont]
You can also get driving directions, airline schedules, stock quotes, snippets of wikipedia entries, and more. Check out the full list of commands at Google.
TWITTER
You can set it up so you’ll receive SMS tweets from people you specify. Here’s other things you can do:
What to send - what it does
Any message within 140 characters - Posts to your account as your latest tweet
FOLLOW username - start following someone and subscribes to SMS notifications of their tweets
LEAVE username - stop SMS notification from a particular user
@username MESSAGE - reply to a particular user
D username MESSAGE - send a private direct message to a particular user
RT username - retweets the user’s last tweet to your followers
WHOIS username - gives you the profile info for a particular user
GET username - gives you the latest tweet from a particular user
Click here for a full list of Twitter text/sms commands.
FACEBOOK
Like Twitter, you can set it up so you’ll receive SMS copies of wall postings, picture comments, private messages, and more. Replying to these texts in return posts replies to Facebook. Other things you can do:
What to send - what it does
sometext - updates your status
MSG full name - sends a Facebook message to the person
CELL full name - gets the cell phone number of the person if it’s something that’s already public to you
EVENT - see current/upcoming events
WALL full name sometext - writes on the person’s wall
ADD full name - sends a friend request to the person
Click here for a full list of Facebook text/sms commands.
I use a service called Ping.fm to update my Facebook and Twitter at the same time by simply sending a text to them. I can integrate a lot of other networks with my Ping.fm account, but I’m mainly active on just those two.
BLOGGING
I can post a blog message from my phone by sending an MMS message. For most services, it’s not a phone number (or shortcode) I have to send a text to, but rather, it’s an email address. In order to text an email address, I have to send it in MMS format. I have contacts in my phone that are just email addresses and it works great though I very rarely want to blog via texting.
UPLOADING PHOTOS
I also send MMS messages when I send photos from my phone. There are specific emails provided by both TwitPic (photo hosting for Twitter) and Facebook where I can easily send my photos to be shared and uploaded.
CHECKING EMAIL
If there are any urgent emails I want or email alerts I need, I just use my T-Mobile email address. This is my cell number @tmomail.net. For example, if I want a text as soon as my UPS package arrives, I’ll give the UPS notification system that email address instead of my regular gmail one. This is becoming unnecessary as more and more services are now offering direct SMS-based alerts and notifications. If I’m waiting for an important email to my gmail and won’t be near my computer, I create a filter to have the email, whenever it arrives, forwarded to my T-mobile email which, as I mentioned above, goes to my cell phone.
Below are the main phone numbers, shortcodes and email addresses I have saved to my contacts.
Google: 466453
Twitter: 40404
Twitpic: unique-email@twitpic.com
Facebook: 32665
Facebook Photos: unique-email@m.facebook.com
Ping.fm: 1-918-814-4042
Ping.fm Photos: unique-email@ping.fm
Unless you have a job or hobby that requires constant, real-time web access, I think most people are paying for data plans they don’t really need. I’m quite happy not having one.