nyrblue35

Im in a basement at work and im always on the wireless network with my epic. I notice when i send messages sometimes it doesnt go through and i notice i barely have a sprint signal. Im assuming I cant use the wifi to send messages and that sms NEEDS the sprint network, correct?

Goreygirl

Yes.. your messages need your 3G (or equivalent) to send SMS.

If your signal is poor but wifi is good an alternative would be to use an "online" SMS service ... over this side of the world we can usually create an account on our carrier's website (Vodafone, O2 etc) and use their webtext service. To the recipient it looks like the text has come from your phone. Some services allow the reply to come back to the website too but not all.

rbasusparky

If you can access wifi at work, use Google Talk (Talk) instead. It's free and you can connect to any phone that has Google Talk installed as well as any PC, especially one with their Gmail account open on the browser which will popup a Google Talk dialog box. It's a great way to chat with someone for free anywhere in the world, especially with someone who does not have an unlimited text message plan as Google Talk is processed through Google's servers and not through the mobile provider which means it does not count as SMS.

Goreygirl

GTalk is good but depends on the recipient having a smart phone/access to a PC though.

nyrblue35

thanks for the replies and a hearty Erin Go Bragh to you Goreygirl.

lisa21

No, you do not need 3G or WiFi to send (and receive) texts, but you do need your normal cell service (same as making phone calls). You can have 3G and WiFi turned off and still send texts as long as you have signal. If you're in the basement of a building with no cell service, even if you are on WiFi, you cannot.