- Education
- Internet Basics
- How to Send SMS Text Messages with Skype
How to Send SMS Text Messages with Skype
By Loren Abdulezer, Susan Abdulezer, Howard Dammond, Niklas Zennstrom
You can use Skype to send text messages using the Short Message System (SMS). Your Skype SMS text messages communicate seamlessly with mobile phones and other communication devices. Although messages need to be viewable from a tiny cell phone screen and sometimes take a little patience to type, using SMS is practical, fun, and easy.
Sending SMS messages via Skype involves these simple steps:
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Click the Call Phones tab near the bottom of the of the Skype screen. (If you have a Mac, click the dial pad icon at the bottom of the Skype screen).
The Call Phones or Send Messages screen opens.
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Enter the phone number of your message recipient.
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Click the Send SMS button on the dialing pad.
The Skype Names or phone numbers of the recipients appear in the title bar of the Skype SMS window.
That’s all there is to sending the text message with Skype, but here are some points to keep in mind about this service:
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SMS messaging has a cost attached. When you use SMS messaging, you pay a small fee that’s based on two things: the length of your message and the number of recipients getting the message.
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Charges apply only to messages delivered within 24 hours. When you send a message, you are charged only if the message reaches the person within 24 hours. If the recipient’s GSM phone battery is dead or his or her phone is off, you get a refund.
Watching your message length is a good idea: The maximum size for any SMS message is 160 characters. So if you send a message with 167 characters, it is split into two SMS messages with 160 characters in the first and 7 in the second. In this situation, you are sending two messages instead of one and you’ll be charged accordingly. (It pays to learn some standard abbreviations such as “ttyl” for “talk to you later” or “ga” for “go ahead”.)
About the Book Author
Loren Abdulezer is CEO and President of Evolving Technologies Corporation, a New York–based technology consulting firm. He is an experienced IT professional serving many Fortune 500 companies. Loren is the author of
Excel Best Practices for Business and
Escape from Excel Hell and served as technical editor of
Crystal Xcelsius For Dummies, all published by Wiley. Loren is
always exploring new technologies and finding pragmatic and innovative applications. When Skype came along he was quick to recognize its benefits in business and all walks of life. This book is a direct result of wanting to bring those benefits one step closer to a broader audience.
Susan Abdulezer is currently a full time Multimedia Developer in New York City. Susan creates interactive DVDs, documentaries, and Web-delivered media. She has received many honors for technology innovation, winning the prestigious Computerworld/Smithsonian Award in Technology and Academia in both 1996 and 1997. Susan has also written numerous feature articles on education and technology as the contributing editor of Converge Magazine from 1998 to 2002. Susan is active in the Digital Storytelling community, exploring the nature and power of the emerging digital culture. She has also been known to tear herself away from the computer to play classical violin in the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra.
Howard Dammond is an experienced IT professional and technical instructor, having consulted at several major Fortune 500 companies. Howard has 20-plus years of experience as a technical trainer and developer of innovative learning materials. His perspective on teaching and skills development was first inspired and then intensively developed at Yale University in its unique Master of Arts in Teaching program, where he focused on learning theory, the acquisition and nurture of analytic skills, and interdisciplinary methods of curriculum planning and development.
