Here is a new service that promises to make sending and receiving text messages free, and that includes international texting. It’s called mjoy and is a product of German based, Venista Group<\/a>. I tried the service and it works and is free, although there are some limitations. Your SMS are free because they are sent from a mobile (or PC) web interface. So they are only “free” if you have an unlimited data plan or stay within the limits of your data bundle.<\/p>\n
Here’s how it works:
\n1. Sign up at mjoy.com<\/a> using your mobile or PC browser. Initial registration asks for your country and mobile phone number.
\n2. You will receive a text with a special sign up URL, open it in your mobile browser and complete the registration process by choosing an ID and password.
\n3. Send your texts from within the mjoy mobile web app (2nd image). The person who receives the text will see that it came from your mobile number. A message reading “Text for FREE with http:\/\/mjoy.com<\/a>” is appended to every message.
\n4. If the recipient replies to the message in the normal way, by hitting “Reply” in their phone’s inbox, replying won’t be free for them and if you pay for incoming messages it won’t be free for you to receive either.
\n5. If you convince your friends to sign up for mjoy then you can text with them for free using the mobile web. Messages sent to mjoy members end up in their inbox in the mjoy web app (3rd image) rather than in the phone’s SMS inbox. Web based mjoy messages can be of unlimited size and there is a nice threaded messaging interface.<\/p>\n
None of this is exactly new; GizmoSMS<\/a>, text4Free<\/a> and txtDrop<\/a> all offer similar services, but only from a “full web” site rather than a mobile one, although these sites are usable in mobile full web browsers like Opera Mini or mobile Safari. mjoy’s most direct competitor is probably the well established social network Wadja<\/a> which lets members send texts for free to any number from the Wadja mobile web site.<\/p>\n
One limitation of mjoy for me is that your account is linked to a single phone number. You can change the number and when you do mjoy sends a text to the new number with a link to validate that number. I’d like to see something more like the way GrandCentral<\/a> works, were you can set up multiple numbers on your account and switch between them instantly as you switch phones.<\/p>\n
Free messaging is a tough business but could be viable if used as a “hook” to drive customers to other non-free services. I hope mjoy can make it work as messaging is one of the biggest ripoffs in mobile with most carriers in the US now charging 20 cents for each message sent or received. I’d love to see someone provide a viable free or low cost alternative. Source<\/span>: HDvoice<\/a><\/p>\n
Filed in<\/span>: Wap Review Directory – IM-Chat-SMS <\/a>
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Ratings:<\/em> Content: Usability: <\/p>\n
Mobile Link<\/span>: mjoy.com<\/a><\/p>\n
Related Post:<\/em> Wadja<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here is a new service that promises to make sending and receiving text messages free, and that includes international texting. It’s called mjoy and is a product of German based, Venista Group. I tried the service and it works and is free, although there are some limitations. Your SMS are free because they are sent from a mobile (or PC) web interface. So they are only “free” if you have an unlimited data plan or stay within the limits of … Continue reading