Text Messaging To China

[SinoTexas]

To pass the time as we make our way through the process, in addition to phone calls and e-mails, we probably text message each other eight to ten times each day over our cell phones. Since I have unlimited text messaging with Sprint and she has the same thing with her cell phone service in Fushun, it works out great. We text message whenever we have a quick question or thought whether I am in the office, at the store, on the road or in my local pub. Her incoming messages have a special ring tone, so when I hear it, a smile goes on my face and a flip of the phone and her words are right there. Now if we can figure out how to send those cell phone pictures back and forth. All we can do now is send them from cell phones to each others PC. Anyone have any luck with cell phone picture to cell phone from US to China and vice versa?

 

Jim

[Dan R]

Because of schedules, time zones and other inconveniences we have always relied on text message since we first had phones supporting it. For evidence to GZ I sent several months of cell phone bills with the international text message count circled. That and spent phone cards were enough I guess because they never asked for proof of communication. The U.S. services don't support Chinese language so I guess it proves her English ability to communicate as well.

[izus]

the text messages are very popular in china while i was there last week she recieved messages all day from other family members and friends, however dont try any urgent text messages with nextel phones.....i can send her a message and shemight not get it til the next day...

 

i used cingular and it worked ell with texting to china, but company pays for nextel service so i suppose i can not complain when im texting to china with it

[Randy W]

This may not help, since it sounds like you know whay you are doing, but here goes

 

My phone (and carrier) allows me to send MMS messages, which are like regular email. So, if she has an email-capable phone, I could send an email w/attachment to her regular email address. She (my SO) could then download to her phone from her email provider. But the SMS (texting) is a little more restrictive.

Edited August 15, 2005 by Randy W (see edit history)

[leejcandle]

After my first visit in Dec2003-Jan2004, I asked my wife (then fiancee) to buy a cell phone that could send and receive SMS in Chinese characters.

 

Subsequently, we used a service that would convert Chinese email here to a text message on her phone there, and vice versa. Before my wife bought a computer, our 1-on-1 communication (to bypass translators) was almost entirely SMS-email.

 

For a long time, with an occasional visit to a friend to use Yahoo Messenger, SMS-email was the backbone of our relationship. We would SMS back and forth to have a conversation; say good morning, good night, etc.

(Sometimes on Yahoo with webcam, if she had trouble with the proper pinyin, I'd see her lower her head and punch an SMS message into her cell phone...then I'd get an email with what she was trying to say; a very interesting crutch/workaround at the time. )

[BuffaloPaul]

all I can add is - yes of course! Especially when either of us was traveling

[leejcandle]

I find that I can only respond to her text messages or reply. I cannot initiate a text message because her phone number does not fit our ten digit telephone sequence.  I use Sprint. It has worked well. Though i wish I could send picturesfrom our cell phone.

157077[/snapback]

I was with AT&T, and I could SMS from my Palm Tungsten-W; but only in English.

 

For Chinese, I used a service called Quickdata.ca. After setting up an account, you send email to their site, which gets converted to a text message to her phone. The reply from her phone gets converted to an email reply to you.

 

For us it was indispensible; especially before she got a computer. Once I set up my Tungsten to read and write simplified Chinese, we could communicate on-the-go most hours of the day.