New Free Texts article discussion

gk.

Allforless,
Check the "Coverage Map" link on their website, you lazy so and so ;-)
Germany is listed. Cost is network dependant.

kwmccarthy

I recently registered with Vyke. Was getting on fine using the free credit. I then topped up $20. This seemed to register and my balance showed the top up. However next time I tried to use I got Unsupported destination errors. Also when I checked my balsnce the top up had disappeared. I tried to log in online to query this but was told my account had been locked out. I then got the following strange email

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We regret to inform you that your account with Vyke has been temporarily suspended.

There are several reasons why this may have happened and the most common ones have been listed below:

- You have not filled in your contact details correctly.
- You have not entered the same name on your credit card as on your account, or the billing address for your credit card and postal address are different.
- The same credit card has been used before on a different account.
- The address you have supplied does not match with where you make your first phone calls from or the number you have provided. (For example: You have said you live in Italy, but your first call comes from Spain and you have registered a French number.)
- The credit card you are using is issued by a country that Vyke is unable to accept payment from. It is very easy to have your account reconnected. Vyke does not charge any reconnection fees at this time.
- You have opened multiple accounts and/or taken out multiple sign-up bonuses
- You have been SMS - spamming
- The credit card you have recorded is a fake number and your account was auto-closed.

Please send the following to have your account reconnected:

1. Card Details

Card Type:

Card Number: _ _ _ _ x x x x x x x x _ _ _ _

Last three digits on back of credit card: _ _ _

Card Expiry Date: _ _/_ _

Name of Cardholder:

Cardholder's Address:

Telephone Number:

2. A legible copy, of a currently valid, internationally recognized identification document (eg. A passport or drivers licence).

Please attach your photographic identification to this email by replying to this email without changing the subject heading.

Vyke apologizes for any inconvenience this has caused you. We aim to achieve the very best service here at Vyke both in protecting our customer's privacy and in continuing to provide cost-effective telephony to our valued clients. Unfortunately, in your case, this has resulted in the closure of your account.

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I will certainly not be sending these details and am now thinking this is some dodgy scam. Has anyone had similar experience?

twohapence

Their website is awful but more importantly - it doesn't always work. You can send a text, get the following message "Your message was successfully sent to all recipients, at a cost of £0.040." and it doesn't get there. I complained and they said succesful delivery doesn't mean succesful receipt. Their customer care is dreadful and there's no question of a refund for unsent texts. :mad:

ioscorpio

"CBFSMS supports the four major UK networks Orange, Vodafone, O2, and T-Mobile. At times, other networks may be available. No coverage is guaranteed to so-called "virtual networks" like Virgin, Fresh and Tesco, though you may find our service works fine to many of their subscribers."

I have tried sending a text to my new 3 phone, but it did not work, but I have successfully used it to my daughter's Vodafone phone and usually it goes through straight away.

biggad

has anyone used www.!!!!!!!!!!!!!.net? works well for me
edit: Whoops looks like i can't post links well it is phreak yphonez.net

pchelpman

Help Please. I may know about computers but I'm a novice about mobiles. I don't have one.

My son is on Orange, PAYG.

His girlfriend is on O2 contract (paid for by her parents).

Both are 15 years old. I mention this to give you an idea of the volume of texts that are going back & forth.

They are texting each other constantly and it's costing us £££££big time.

I need desperately suggestions as to which would be a good plan for my son to switch to get his costs down and how he would change to it [explained in very novice terms, please].

I have taken the time to read the main article and all the posts to this thread.
However, to be brutally honest, I'm really none the wiser. More confused, if anything.

You mobile experts needs to clear the muddy waters for me, please.

If you need more info. to help you help me just tell me what else you want to know.

Very many thanks for any help.

sarumane

I am not an Orange customer but came across this. There may be a better deal. Apparently you have to sign up and top up online.
The website states:
If you're an existing pay as you go customer you may have signed up for 3000 free texts. You get 3000 free weekend and evening texts a month when you top-up by a total of £15 or more each month.
when can I use my free texts?
*every evening between 7pm and 7am
*every weekend, from 7pm on Friday to 7am on Monday
how does the offer work?
When you sign up, we'll send you a text to confirm you're getting free evening and weekend texts. To keep receiving free evening and weekend texts every month, all you need to do is top-up by a total of £15 or more each month. Don't worry if you miss a month because as soon as you top up a total of £15 or more again in a single month, you'll receive your free texts the following month. This offer applies to standard UK texts only.
Hope that is of some help

sarumane

If anyone is an iPhone user you can get free texts to other iPhone users ONLY using 'Ping! Lite' They also need to download the free software. If you pay for Ping! (59p) you also get an option to upgrade for a further cost (59p) to send picture messages as well. Great if you know folks with iPhones. The added benefit is that they don't have to be UK iPhone users for it to be free, you can ping an American iPhone in America for free.

The service uses the data push system so be wary if you are abroad as this will incur a roaming charge unless you are using Wi-Fi. Always ensure data roaming is off on your iPhone as the cost is huge when abroad.

I love the service and use it all the time.

vixmony

ok for all those on iPhone yu might want to consider an amazing app I have been using to send international texts at a cost of about 2 p a text and the best part is that unlike other apps out there that does this similar sort of thing its the only app that gives me a delivery report for free to gurantee its been delivered been using it now for about 3 months and its never let me down its an app called jelly sms in the app store theirs a paid version and free but I normally prefer the paid ones so u get it then u need to register with my cool sms .com and buy credit with them and register an account with them and when you open the app you got from the app store it will ask you to choose from a list the service you want to use to send texts and you choose my cool sms .com from the list and you all set . you can also use the service directly from your iPhone browser with out the app but I think the app offers everything in one app hope this helps .

LGTilley

mushypeaman wrote: »

I have used cbfsms, which sounds like a good deal, and found them to be totally unreliable and frustrating in the extreme.

Texts can take hours to deliver, quite often they've not delivered at all. Also, you'll very often get a message saying the system is overloaded, please try again, and this can go on and on and on and . . . . .

Of course, you can pay for text with them, and all the problems miraculously disappear. Amazing. :exclamati

Yes, I just repeated your experience. The site is a complete con. After two SMSs I kept getting the "system overloaded" message. When you read their faq they tell you that this is "not a technical fault." What it is, is a complete, huge and whopping "misrepresentation of the truth." I hope this comment gets read and the site gets re-examined by the author - CBFMS should be removed from as a recommendation from the main article.