For creating account, you will have to go to FishText official website. This is where you register and verify your number. The initial free credit as tryout is 0.30 EUR, which is good for up to 20 text messages. Yes, the rates goes from as low as 0.015 EUR for one text message (e.g. to Egypt, india, Slovenia, Kenya, South Africa, Serbia, Thailand and some selected networks in various countries, etc.), the most common price is 0.020 EUR (including to Argentina, USA, Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore, Czech Rep., Slovakia, Denmark, Lebanon, Russia, Venezuela and many others), but there are networks and countries with prices 0.030 EUR (e.g. UK), 0.050 EUR (e.g. China), 0.070 EUR (e.g. Spain, France) up to 0.100 EUR for SMS to CCT (Caribbean Cellular Telephone) in British Virgin Islands and Claro (Albra Telecommunicacoes Ltda) in Brazil. All prices and supported networks available here.
As I said, the application requires an internet connection. I currently use wnw 1500 (1500 MB data pack from T-Mobile SK), which allows me to be connected anytime I want and never even come close to the limit. Ask your mobile operator for data packages to avoid surprise.
I also want to point out current prices of SMS without using FishText. Normally I pay 0.100 EUR per SMS to national number (Slovakia), but with FishText I only pay 0.020 EUR - 5 times less. I also frequently send messages to Ecuador, which normally cost me 0.150 EUR. With FishText is as low as 0.020 EUR (7.5 times less). That's a significant difference.
Website overview
The FishText website provides full control of your account. You can send text messages, add contacts (Web contacts), or purchase credit. PayPal, Google Checkout and credit cards are accepted. As a bonus, you get 5 EUR free credit when you purchase 20 EUR credit. The credit does not expire, just logining in at least once in every 6 months is required to keep the account alive.
Mobile application
On my Symbian handsaet the application has Symbian-like design. The main screen has 2 input fields. The first one is for phone number of the recipient, the second for the message itself. You can add recipent from your phone book (Add from Contacts), choose one of the pre-defined Web contacts or write the number. The disadvantage is that you can only choose 1 recipeint from your phone book at a time. To have the Web contacts available in your mobile device, you have to synchronize the application with your online account by clicking Options > Symchronise. When sending a message, you can choose one or more Webcontacts. Unfortunately, only 1 of 3 methods of selecting recipients is available at time. Hopefully, in the future it would be possible to select contact from phone book, add web contact and type new recipent's number for the same text message.
Very useful is the function to check the remaining balance, price of the SMS and even buy credit (credit cards only) directly from the application user interface.
Highly appreciated are also features like choosing your own registered number as sender or sending the SMS anonymously and delivery reports, which tells you if the text message was delivered succesfully or not.
I'm not in any way related to FishText or its developers. I just want to let you guys know about this awesome app which saves me money. Of course mobile internet connection is necessary for running the app on your handset, so I would recommend a data pack with at least a couple of megabytes per month. I haven't tried other than Nokia phone, but I guess the app runs on almost any phone as Java is supported by most mobile phone manufacturers.
Follow @FishText on Twitter for updates, including a chance to win free credit, just like I me and 3 other people did last Friday.
Please follow me (@Netro1) on Twitter for news about mobile internet, applications and telecomunications.
