Article by MobileMaiden
Tired of going over the limits of your cell phone pla
n? At least with texting, there is a solution. With mobile broadband access, you can download apps to give you unlimited texting. It is no surprise that these apps are some of the most popular apps downloaded. Many of these free apps come with ads, but it is a small price to pay for a new phone number that delivers unlimited texting to your cell phone.Best Apps for Unlimited Texting
How does it work? You sign up for the texting service and download the app from the app market on your Smartphone. In an article by Steve Kovach, provided by Business Insider, he lists his favorite 8 apps for unlimited texting, Kik, Google Voice, Fring, textPlus, TextNow, Meebo, WhatsApp Messenger, Textfree, with Google Voice being Steve?s favorite.
* Kik is a BBM alternative for iPhone and Android. Kik does what BBM or BlackBerry Messenger does, sending messages almost instantly, and gives you notification of when it was delivered and received. While iPhone and the Droid markets embrace it, BlackBerry has pulled it from their app market.
* Fring is a messaging app that connects to the major instant message networks such as AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, MSN, and Facebook. Fring also lets you make free voice and video calls, but only to other Fring members. Fring works on iPhone, Android, and Nokia Symbian platforms.
* textPlus is an iPhone only app that gives you a separate phone number for sending and receiving texts. The free service assigns you a phone number or you can pay .99 to pick your own number. You can send photos as well, but only to other iPhones using the service. It is ad supported but you can remove the ads by paying .99 per year.
* textNow is for the Apple devices, iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. Like textPlus, it assigns you a phone number and is ad supported unless you pay either $ .99 per month or .99 per year. If someone calls your new number, you can have the call instantly forwarded to your phone or voicemail.
* Meebo is an all in one messaging service.
Like Fring, Meebo connects you to all the major instant message networks. Meebo?s interface is a little nicer, however. Meebo?s app is free on iPhone, BlackBerry and Android.
* WhatsApp not only sends texts, but allows you to send unlimited multimedia messages such as audio, video, or photos within the app. It is also ad free, which is nice. WhatsApp is free on Android, BlackBerry and Nokia Symbian, but you pay $ .99 for the app on iPhone.
* TextFree is another iPhone only app. The app is free, gives you a new phone number to send and receive texts from, but is loaded with ads unless you pay the .99 per year.
* Google Voice rocks! You get to choose your own phone number, and not only can you set it to ring on all your phones, home as well as mobile, but you get unlimited text messaging and voicemail that emails you with a text transcript?all for free! It works on all the major Smartphones. It?s easy to see why it is Steve Kovach?s favorite. I have been using Google Voice for about 8 months and love it.
Which app is best for your needs? Of course it depends on your texting or instant messaging needs, and also which Smartphone platform you use. My suggestion is to try Google Voice first. If it is a good fit, there is no need to go further.
About the Author
Mobile Maiden, an author for CellPlaza.org, brings you the latest in mobile smartphone technology. Support for CellPlaza.org is brought to you by batteries4less.com, the leading online retailer of camera batteries, cell phone batteries, BlackBerry batteries, chargers and mobile accessories.
