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Lycos to the rescue
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I have hardly ever used the search engine at Lycos at all. But their free text messages get a hammering from me these days. I have Internet access at work and a cable modem at home. This effectively means that I have 24-hour access to the Lycos SMS ... Read review
Advantages: It's free saves your fingers and it's easy peasy Disadvantages: you will send silly messages to yourself
...your messaging.
Lycos to the rescue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have hardly ever used the search engine at Lycos at all. But their free text messages get a hammering from me these days. I have Internet access at work and a cable modem at home. This effectively means that I have 24-hour access to the Lycos SMS service. This saves a little money each month. You could say I will save 10 pence every time I use the service ... ...in the dog box if Lycos can't deliver the bacon).
After you've consulted your lawyer click ACCEPT.
MMMMMMM……Got any Spam?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You'll then get a long white box to type into, into this put the number of the phone you wish to text. Below this is something called the "spam" protection code? Don't worry this isn't to protect you from 1940's meat substitute at all, ... more
Have you looked at your mobile phone bill lately? Have you? Or like me, have you hidden it under the sofa? Go on have a look. Are you too spending the budget of a small banana republic on text messages?
The Horror ~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm on Orange everyday 50, which is a pretty fair talk plan, I recon. I get my 50 minutes off peak calls free to landlines and to other Orange phones, which is a blessed relief on the bill. But the text messages, all those little 10 pence's add up. My May to June bill shows that I made 149 text messages, that's £14.90 alone. Just for the likes of "Are you coming down the pub?" and "Have you bathed the dog?" or even "Can you pass the salt?" Whatever you text it may be time to tighten your purse strings and start to budget your messaging.
Lycos to the rescue ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have hardly ever used the search engine at Lycos at all. But their free text messages get a hammering from me these days. I have Internet access at work and a cable modem at home. This effectively means that I have 24-hour access to the Lycos SMS service. This saves a little money each month. You could say I will save 10 pence every time I use the service but really it just means I make more text messages than before, some of them quite unnecessary.
How it's done ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simply point your Internet browser at www.lycos.co.uk and when the page has loaded up (which is usually quite quickly) look down the left hand side for FREE SMS highlighted in red. Click this and you get a screen explaining you can make a text to any UK based mobile phone from any online PC in the world (except for Apple Mac's which reminds me of when the BBC always used to say "And now here is the best Bond film in the world ever starting now……except for views in Scotland. Remember?)
Click the big friendly yellow button at the bottom that say SEND A MESSAGE.
Next you get the legal spiel and disclaimer….
Dominic2001's Quick Guide to Legal Spiels and Disclaimers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These are the long-winded sets of small print that most of us never read and always agree too. Lycos' spiel basically says that you must not use the service to send racist and abusive messages and that you can be traced in the event of a police enquiry. I'm not really sure how true this is. The only way they could trace you is by recording your I.P address (an address issued to your PC when you log onto the net), which with most modern Internet Service Providers is dynamic (changes a lot). But I'd still like to think naughty people get caught in the end. It also says that if the mobile doesn't receive the message you're sending it to its hard cheese, and not there fault (so ideally don't send messages like "thanks I'll take the job!" or "Yes I WILL marry you" Or "happy anniversary sweetheart" by this because you'll be in the dog box if Lycos can't deliver the bacon).
After you've consulted your lawyer click ACCEPT.
MMMMMMM……Got any Spam? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You'll then get a long white box to type into, into this put the number of the phone you wish to text. Below this is something called the "spam" protection code? Don't worry this isn't to protect you from 1940's meat substitute at all, it's to stop naughty hackers grabbing your friends mobile number and then sending them lots of annoying adverts (about spam?) Here is the Cambridge Dictionary of International English to explain…
Spam (COMPUTING) noun [U] INFORMAL DISAPPROVING Unwanted e-mail, usually advertisements
Pop the little code it shows in the box.
Cut to the Chase! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phew at last we can start writing out our message. You get a graphical representation of the Nokia 3210 phone screen and into this you can type your witty aside. This is a god send, anyone who is suffering from Repetitive Strain Injury from all that fiddly button pushing will be so pleased to be able at last to simply type their message.
Click on the big SUBMIT button.
NOW A WARNING! (Now Dominic? I've just clicked submit!) You get a little indicator just under the screen, which displays how many letters you have left. Well it lies! Not intentionally mind, you may find that it shows 130 characters available for sending even after you've typed in a fair whack (this has led me to send messages that read like this "Hi there could you give me a call soon as we are all meeting up for a drink in the p……" then I run out off letters and don't realise. The consequences of this could be really bad. To combat this simply click somewhere off the type box and the page will refresh showing you the real amount of letters left.
Seasoned texters may have noticed that I said you only get 130 character (this includes spaces and punctuation) when on an actual phone you get 160. The basic answer is this. Lycos nicks them, more about that later.
Error Messages and other animals. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you make a mess of setting all this up, forget to put the number in send to the wrong number or generally hex the system you will be presented with an error message that will read something like You have produced an error You did not enter a text message. Furthermore the Phone number was invalid.
You are then presented with a button saying SEND A MESSAGE and you can start all over again. If you have sent the message correctly it will say MESSAGE SENT.
Deep Joy! I've just got a Text Message! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For the purposes of this article I sent myself a text message (sad puppy). It took just over 4 seconds to appear on my screen. When I went to my inbox it says, Lycos.co.uk where it would usually have the number or the name of the person in my address book. Bearing this in mind it is often opportune to include your name in the message text so the person knows whom it is from. My message reads:
"My Ciao Text Message Thanks for reading! Ciao for Now (tag line to come via email)"
Erm, how embarrassing it's never said tagline to follow by email before. I have no idea what that means, because I have never added my email to lycos. It usually says something about SMS powered by Lycos. Never mind. It's this bit that pinches your 30 missing characters.
In conclusion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's free and safe, and reliable you can type your messages and send them to any network digital mobile in the UK. Have a go and see what you think.
Thanks to http://dictionary.cambridge.org for Spam definition and www.lycos.co.uk for error messages.
Advantages: FREE, instant arrival of text messages, always works. Disadvantages: Difficult navigation and long site to actaully reach the messaging service. May not always be free/around.
...free text messaging to mobiles, Lycos is certainly one of the best free messaging services around. With it being one of the first ones released, other free services like UKMax (just one example) have based their ideas on Lycos. Good on them, too.
Although these services are free, UK phone network operators are intending to charge the companies per message sent. This in turn will cancel the free text messaging service. Companies just cannot afford ... ...message sent. I use the Lycos texting service because it is free, and I find it easier to type on a keyboard than on a phone. Free is the word users look for, and as I've said before, people will not use the service if it costs 10p to send a message.
Anyway, moving swiftly on, Lycos definitely has its advantages. Firstly, and the most obvious one, it's free. There are no limits to the amount of text messages you can send, although as I've said earlier, ...
natthehat 13.04.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Lycos - SMS Messaging
Advantages: Easy and free Disadvantages: None I can think of!
I've only been using SMS Text messaging for a few weeks, but find it invaluable for short messages, especially when my mobile or the one I'm sending to are in poor signal areas. Voice calls can be so badly distorted - and easily cut off - but at least text messages get through with no corruption.
However, the one drawback is the time taken to write a message. This is now overcome by sending messages from my PC using Lycos.co.uk who offer a service ... ...message in a few seconds - and send it anywhere in the UK at NO COST. In fact, if I want to send a longer message, I just write several short ones, as there is NO COST involved at all, especially as I have free internet access (including free online calls) - see my opinion of World Online on Ciao in the ISP section. ...
gpk2 21.09.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Lycos - SMS Messaging
Advantages: It's free and quick. Disadvantages: Can't get replies yet.
...actually means?!)
I'd heard Lycos offered this service free so I duly visted their site to check it out and was pleasantly surprised at how easy, quick and,so far, reliable it is.
They've recently started developing a "Reply2" service to enable mobile phone users to send a message back which previously wasn't available and they have re-vamped their service to allow for this. You have to register to use it and choose a user name and password as ... ...back. Luckily the Lycos site does not entail endless adverts and banners either - their SMS service is pretty straightforward and quick with no interruptions. So this is a very useful service if, like me, your messages may not need an instant reply or you just want to alert someone to call you back at some point. The internet is free for me so this helps keep my phone bill down too! What a cheapskate, I know! ;o) ...
blurbubble 03.08.2001 (06.08.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Lycos - SMS Messaging
Advantages: Free SMS messaging - PC to Mobile. Disadvantages: On its way out due to network operators policies
Lycos was one of first companies to offer free SMS (text) messaging over the internet. Due to decisions made by the UK phone network operators they are intending to levy a charge per message to the companies that offer free SMS messaging soon, which will in effect put an end to the service.
While you can, go to Lycos and take advantage of the ability to send free text messages to your buddies! Simply click the accept button first. this accepts the ... ...sent per message. Lycos also use a few of those for their own little advert. You still get around 120 letters to use for your message. Once done, go back to the start to send another if you wish, with no limits imposed on how many you can send. (correct at time of writing - 04.02.01)
The free SMS market does appear to be dying and it is a real shame as it saves us mobile users a lot of money each month. Still I understand that somewhere along the ...
alflavor 04.02.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Lycos - SMS Messaging
Advantages: It's Free!! Disadvantages: Recipients can't reply to it
Have you ever thought how expensive sending text messages is? i currently have a Phillips jobby. 12p a message? How rude. Then i discovered on the internet the websites of either lycos.co.uk or breathe.com who offer a free text messaging service, or sms. Great! So when bored at work i can just send a text message to my friends for free (i suppose it may be another story if you pay for your internet connection...)But this service comes highly recommended ...
kelvin 09.08.2000
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Review of Lycos - SMS Messaging
