Not long ago I told you about The free SMS site Vizzavi, however it is not the only site of it’s kind available.
www.uboot.com is another excellent free site that also has added extras thrown in and it's free for text messaging.
First of course you will need to register, choose a uboot nickname, enter password and your email details, plus your mobile phone number, however you do not even need to have a mobile to be able to send and receive text messages as everyone signing is given their own uboot SMS number, this not only means you can send messages without a mobile but also view received messages online. For those that have a mobile, you will get the messages on your phone but you can send text messages from uboot to mobiles without your real mobile number being given out.
Once registered you will then be able to access some of the sites other features:
SMS = = =
You are allowed to send unlimited SMS messages each day from uboot, and these are a generous 160 characters in length, slightly more generous than various other sites that offer free text messages, these usually offer you little in the way of characters and maybe only 10 free a day.
A handy buddy list feature allows you to enter and store up to 10 names and numbers plus email addresses, this also means that if necessary you can send the same message in one go to all 10 in your list, saving time and with minimum effort and of course free!
Also if your friends use uboot and you know their username/nickname then you can send them a text message by simply entering their nickname from the site.
Send A Foto SMS = = = = = = = =
Here you can send a pre-customized logo or your own picture to another registered user, this can be sent to their mobile, by email, or to their uboot account, you can even send your logo as a scratch card for added fun to reveal your message. Of course as with most of these extra features you need a Nokia of some kind, but the normal features work on any model.
Send Email = = = = = = =
When signing up to this site you are automatically given an email account, web based only, this is based on your user/nick name, it contains the usual, inbox, folders and address book, the address book again will hold 10 numbers and email addresses.
From your email account you can send emails to friends phones and receive them back to yours, phone allowing of course!. Simply write your email message on your phone, enter email address and uboots relay number and send. The return email your phone receives will display the first 200 characters and the whole email is also viewable online at your email inbox. Any received SMS messages can also be found in your inbox for easy viewing later, and the inbox can store up to 200 messages at any one time.
Unfortunately this service is not free (receiving is of course!), but to send an email, which again can be for up to 10 people in one go, you will only pay the price of a text message.
Picture SMS = = = = = =
Want to jazz up your messages, well from here you can send yourself or a friend a picture logo and text (Nokia), there are numerous categories to choose from such as music, holiday etc, this service will set you back 93 p a message.
Logos and Ring tones = = = = = = = = = = = =
Logo’s and ring tones are available directly to your phone for again 93p each, this is again a lot cheaper I have found from some other sites that will charge you £1.50-£3.00, and the good news it all the latest chart tones are here too, no old out of date ones here, all excellent and you can of course preview them before you buy.
Chat = = = =
By using the chat feature you can check if any of your friends registered are online, they will only show up though if they are listed in your address book, but this allows you to chat to them either privately or you could try a chat room, this feature I have not actually used so cannot comment, but sounds handy enough.
Cheeze = = = =
Avoid this section unless you are mad!, here they want you to pay an extortionate price of £11.99 a film to be developed by them and in turn you receive a CD of your prints and your pictures go into your online foto department on the site, this sounds rather a rip off to me, although you could enter one of your developed pictures in their themed weekly competition, this weeks theme “ kissy wissy”..ewwwwww, so this part I would just ignore.
Now those were the main sections anyone can access, however there is a paying option:
Uboot Plus = = = = = = At the moment this is available at half price, a years subscription is £7.20 or if you are unsure you can try it for a month at £1.20. As a paying member you of course get all the afore said features with some added extras:
Superlong SMS – up to 300 characters per text message.
V.I.P SMS – when sending a message, the recipient will automatically get the message on their phone screen, no need to even press read, plus these take priority over any others and will be delivered instantly regardless of network backlogs etc.
SMS Reminders – An online calendar lets you highlight various important dates such as birthdays or anniversaries, these will then be sent to your phone as alerts to remind you before the events.
2 Free Logo’s Or Ring tones each month - You can choose from any of the available tones and logos on site.
So the choice is yours, use the site for free SMS/email or pay for the extra’s above, personally I would not pay for those either, as I think the free features are good enough on their own and see no need for the rest, but they might be of use to some of you. I have also found the text messages are pretty quick from here, usually arrive within a few minutes of sending and certainly can’t grumble with it being free.
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