A alternative to sms....

[Robert7107]

Trying to save on cell bill.. Paying $20.0 a month foe unlimited texting want to drop down to leasr amount plan... What ia a good messager besides Facebook and yahoo?

 

[powell]

Hangouts

 

[funkylogik]

All non-sms instant messangers are gona require that the other person has the same app installed i think.
Id look at changing carrier tbh. That seems like a terrible price for sms

 

[Robert7107]

hangsout use sms form.. counts against you

 

[codesplice]

Google Voice can be configured to send/receive text messages as data (not SMS, so they don't count against your quota).

 

[PaulS]

If your contacts have a gmail account you can use the,"chat" option in google mail to either live chat or leave a message on.Not exactly the same but free and I use it to chat with pals all over Europe.,You still get a pop-up/notification if someone contacts you so long as you are logged into and synced to Gmail

 

[jjrx3]

you can type "free texting" on Google Play and choose one...

I used Textfree which gives you a local # and you can text anyone for free... It only requires a data/wifi connection. Or like mentioned above try Google Voice..

 

[Mr. Lucky]

If you don't mind having a different number for texting, HeyWire is free and does not require that the other party be using the app.

 

[nicka3200]

Whatsapp is excellent and works across different platforms. Both parties need to have it installed (but it will tell you which of your contacts have it). It uses data to send messages etc so you need internet access.

 

[funkylogik]

Has whatsapp started charging people yet Nicka? I remember when i used to use it there was a rumour that they would

 

[nicka3200]

Has whatsapp started charging people yet Nicka? I remember when i used to use it there was a rumour that they would

Free for the first year then a small annual charge (around $1).

 

[sdrawkcab25]

hangsout use sms form.. counts against you

if both users are using Google Hangouts(available on iOS and android), it does not count against SMS, it works just like every other "chat" app.

 

[03bluecoupe]

That's the main problem; "if both people have it"... I don't want to require other people to have anything. I currently have GV installed as well as
Messenging + Google Voice (Free to try but five bucks to keep) and am trying that. It seems to be working fine sending SMS messages to anyone as long as I'm wi-fi connected AND remember to check the "Send text messages using Google Voice" setting in both apps.

Something, somewhere is resetting those selections sometimes and I haven't pinned down what's doing it and under what conditions.

The other thing is that when deleting text history, I can't selectively delete single texts, it wants to delete the entire thread. No biggie and it may be SUE (Stupid User Error) but it's annoying.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dreambig.stockmmswithgv&hl=en