[ParanoidAndroid]

Hi

My wife and I have--until recently--been able to text/call each other for free with Virgin Mobile's free rates for those on their network.

I've just ported to Three mobile and I'm wondering if there is an app to allow us to text or call each other for free? Preferably with push notification so the app doesn't need to be running?

Thanks

P.S I know of Textfree (with push notification) but that's US only.

[decryption]

You can use AIM to text each other for free, and it uses push.
Call, I dunno. I think Skype works over 3G if you jailbreak, but it doesn't do push.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Originally Posted by decryption

You can use AIM to text each other for free, and it uses push.
Call, I dunno. I think Skype works over 3G if you jailbreak, but it doesn't do push.

I must have read about AIM (in relation to Push) about 50 times in the last few days, but didn't think of it. I'll give it a go. Cheers!

[Darwiniandude]

I just bought Beejive IM.

It's expensive at $12.99, and i'm against paying for IM clients on principal, but meh.

It's PUSH for:
AOL
ICQ
MSN
YAHOO
FACEBOOK
and some others i think, can't remeber.

Now i'm logged on to everything 24/7, and as soon as anyone messages me, the phone beeps and i get the message on screen like an SMS. It rocks, quite simply. Very happy so far.

[mitty]

A vote for AIM. Free. My partner and I set up accounts just for each other and can now MSG each other when ever we want. Very handy and will save SMS credits.

[kyte]

How does push work on AIM? Is it direct or does it send an email like Beejive does?

[wmyeoh]

Originally Posted by kyte

How does push work on AIM? Is it direct or does it send an email like Beejive does?

Direct, just like Beejive (but free).

[kyte]

Originally Posted by wmyeoh

Direct, just like Beejive (but free).

How odd, my beejive messages come via an email, not a direct screen msg. I wonder if its a 3G vs 2G feature.

Trying IM+ lite to see if that works (since my friends have basically said get nicked in relation to switching to AIM)

[mitty]

By the looks of it IM+ lite doesn't do push, you have to buy the paid version for that.

I'd imagine in time there'll be a million IM apps. I'll come down to functionality and how well push works as to which ones we end up with.

[Darwiniandude]

only just bought beejive a few days ago. It definately does push properly. It has a push via email option in settings though, I have this disabled. Maybe you have it enabled? Turn it off.

[simonm]

Another option you might like to consider is Twitter. Twitter messages are about the same size as SMS and you can send each other private messages over the Twitter network.

There are many Twitter apps in the App Store but one of the best I find is Twinkle. Twinkle uses it's own Twitter-like network and is Twitter compatible also. There is a free version (that has ads) and a paid version for $2.50, which is much cheaper than Beejive though it currently doesn't support push notifications. This isn't a major problem, it just means that you have to launch the application to check your messages. I have suggested to the developer that push should at least be a feature of the paid version.

In this way, you can send each other as many Twitter messages as you like and only be charged for data usage which is practically nothing! In Twinkle/Twitter you can even attach photos so it works like an MMS!

I'm suggesting to all my friends that it's an excellent way to send messages without paying the carrier's excessive text rates (which are obscenely expensive when you think about it).

[ParanoidAndroid]

Thanks for the suggestion simonm. I use Twitter but without push it's not going to be useful as a SMS replacement, which is essentially what I'm after, at least between the 2 of us. I'm waiting for the push version of Palringo (will be released soon) so we can use our Google Chat accounts. I tried AIM but reeeeally dislike it.

[eggs]

I use AIM just for me and the Mrs, no-one else has our log-in names. The push seems to work quite well, only taking a few seconds to pop up.

We also get quite a lot of credit as part of our bundles so can just use texts as well, but AIM is a great free alternative. I'd definitely recommend it.

[kyte]

Originally Posted by Darwiniandude

only just bought beejive a few days ago. It definately does push properly. It has a push via email option in settings though, I have this disabled. Maybe you have it enabled? Turn it off.

Sorry did not notice this post til now... thanks for the sugggestion, and yes, it works. Must have the email notification switched off for push to work properly (a d'uh situation for me!).

Back to beejive for me, I like it a lot. Esp since I paid the full price when it was first released :-/