I'm on the $25 data plan, so I only get 400 messages per month. But how do they count messages?
I understand Sms, yahoo, and aim count, but what if I use meebo? What about skype, twitter and irc? I heard gtalk doesn't count. Is this true? And if meebo does make yahoo/aim ims free, can't someone make a proper applet for that doesn't use sms protocol?
Okay, if you use the pre-loaded software, here's what's up:
GoogleTalk - doesn't use SMS protocols, uses data.
AIM, Yahoo, MSN -- On the default app, these use SMS protocols, and count as SMS.
Meebo uses data, period.
Skype, Twitter, and IRC -- most likely use data, but check out the app when you tap the "install" button, the red flags you're looking for when it tells you what the app needs access to is "
Your Messages"and "
Services that cost you money". They should say directly below each of those headings what that could potentially mean. Both of those come up when you try to download
Handcent SMS, for example. If you're using the default market on your phone, those warnings when you tap "download" tell you whether the app uses SMS or not (if they don't already say so in the description). Whereas Palringo (another IM client) has neither of those warnings about messages or services that cost you money. I would guess that most, if not all, of the IM apps on the market don't use SMS simply because nobody wants to pay per IM (discourages customers) and none of those devs would see any revenue from that SMS charge anyway.
For whatever reason, T-Mobile loves using SMS protocols to route IMs. Supposedly it's supposed to be more secure than data. IMs get lost a lot more often than SMS's do, I see the point. I've had SMS be hours or even a whole day late, but rarely do they not show up at all. More than likely Google, with so much of their products being 100% free, probably insisted that Gtalk use data so as to not cost us a dime.
