I recently joined WhitePages from a major US mobile carrier, where I was struck by the volume of people who visited the carrier site solely to send a text message from their PC. Obviously it’s great to save money by sending free SMS messages online, but why visit a carrier site when you are limited to sending messages only to their customers? Moreover, in many cases, I don’t know the carrier of my contacts. Sure, I can now use the mobile carrier lookup service on WhitePages.com, and then visit a carrier site or one of the small free text messaging sites online that require you to select the carrier, but that’s a pain. Plus, those smaller txt sites just don’t seem particularly professional or trustworthy.
We decided to make it incredibly easy to connect with everyone by providing free text messaging online, regardless of whether you know the recipient’s cell phone carrier. The site stores your recent outgoing recipients to make texting even faster. We require a one-time free registration with WhitePages to prevent spam and improve the accuracy and depth of our privacy-protected listings.
Some of the key benefits of the new free SMS service are:
- It’s free! Of course, standard text messaging charges may apply for the recipient
- It’s easier and quicker to type on a keyboard
- Keep in touch even if you can’t use your cell or are blocked from IM and webmail
- You don’t need to know the carrier of the recipient
- Quickly access recent numbers
Just bookmark the url: http://www.whitepages.com/text for quick access and of course, tell your friends about it!
I hope that you enjoy the latest of our Connectory features – please let us know what you think.
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{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
JUST WANTED TO SAY THAT THE FREE TEXTING IS AWSOME BUT I HAD A FEW PROBLEMS WITH IT. ONE WAS NEEDING TO ENTER MY NAME AND # EVERYTIME. I WENT 2 ACCOUNT AND ENTER MY INFO AND 4 1 TIME IT AUTO FILL THE INFO BUT AFTER THAT IT WAS BACK 2 TYPING IT IN EVERYTIME. AND THE OTHER IS THAT IF U HAVE AN ACCOUNT AND LOG IN WHY DO U HAVE US TYPE IN THE CODE EVERY TIME? MAYBE 1 TIME WHEN LOGING IN IS UNDERSTANDABLE TO PREVENT KIDS ON THE TEXTING. I HOPE I LEAVING THIS MESSAGE IN THE RIGHT POST. SORRY IF IT IS NOT. OTHER WISE THANKS GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the feedback. You’re right – you shouldn’t have to retype your name and phone each time so we’re working on fixing that so that it will auto-fill. Hopefully it will be fixed within a couple of weeks.
Regarding typing the code every time (called a CAPTCHA), we’re doing that to block spammers from abusing the free text messaging service. We’re hoping to have some additional spam-blocking technology in place in the coming months that would allow us to remove the captcha, but for now it’s necessary to maintain the integrity of the service. Thanks very much for your feedback!
Do you offer affiliate programs or an api version on this?
Hi Mike. We do offer an affiliate program (details at https://affiliates.whitepages.com/affiliates), however free text messaging is not available via our API due to the fact that we incur per message fees that we need to pay for with advertising revenue. Thanks for your interest.
Hi, I used the free service for text messaging a few days ago. My sister had a different service, but she had no problem receiving my message, nor did I have a problem with my wife sending me one.
The message at the top suggested the person receiving the message could incur a cost, so I was wondering about that. Thanks!
Hi Brian,
Yes, the recipient of the message may get charged a text messaging fee from their mobile phone carrier (typically around $0.15 to $0.25 per message). Unfortunately this isn’t something that we control. I say “may” because many people have text messaging packages where they are allowed up to a certain number of messages included with their monthly rate at no extra charge (my plan allows 400 for example) or even unlimited messaging. You can check with your carrier or on their web site to see whether you are charged per-message to receive text messages on your cell phone, and depending on how many you send and receive from your cell phone, you may want to add a text messaging package to get significantly reduced rates.
HI GUYS,
DOS THIS WORKS ALSO OUT OF THE U.S.A.?
I’M LIVING IN SWITZERLAND.
THANKS GUYS!!
lol
its awsome duhhhhhhh
How long should it take to receive the text message? I received your text to get the account set up immediately but have been waiting around to receive the texts I typed (I sent 3 of them to myself to test it out. Cheers, Tim
It should only take a minute or two. I’m checking to see whether we had any issues last week, and we may contact you via email to help us troubleshoot. Thanks for the heads up.
If we want to use this program to verify appointments with a text message..what would happen if they text
back or reply..would that go into an email then?
You ask for a cell number to sign up. If I had a cell I wouldn’t need to sign up. There’s no service where I live and that’s why I want to text my friends cell phone from my PC.
The cell phone number is included for replies, but if you don’t have a mobile phone, just include a landline home or work phone, and the service will work. Just indicate to the recipient that they need to call, rather than text, you back. Thanks for using WhitePages.
This is a great service. I’m really going to be able to make use of it a lot. thanks
how do you join?
You should be sent to a sign up page when you try to send your first text message, or otherwise, you can join WhitePages for free by visiting http://www.whitepages.com/listing
hey does this charge your phone at all does it cost you ANY MONEY AT ALL
It is free to you to send the text from computer (no money from you at all!)
Standard text message charges apply for the recipient only. If the recipient has a text messaging package with his or her wireless carrier, they may not incur any additional charges to receive the message (some carriers offer unlimited txt packages).
and what if the person with the cell phone has unlimited texting. Does the persons bill get higher?????
Hi Janie,
No – the recipient won’t recieve an additional charge if they have unlimited texting.
Regards,
Keela