Free Texting Sites - What to Look for in a Free SMS Site

In the last decade, text messaging, or SMS (Short Message Service) has revolutionized the way the world communicates. Since 2006, the growth of SMS has been virtually exponential. SMS is fast, efficient and relatively cheap. Most-importantly, text messaging offers portability. The ability to carry a text-based communications device around in one's pocket is possibly the most attractive feature of SMS.

Although text messaging is relatively cheap, it is not free. The SMS component of a mobile service account is often affordable, however the other monthly fees and changes can be expensive for some. Depending upon the mobile plan chosen, many providers will charge a per-message fee, thus limiting the number of messages that a subscriber can send per billing period.

Fortunately, there are creative individuals who have found ways to offer SMS service for free. There are many Internet sites that offer free texting with varying degrees of reliability and features. It's not difficult to find the sites, but it can be challenging to find the few who offer a truly free service, without SPAM or annoying messages appended to the end of each text that you send. Just like the rest of the Internet, for every one good site you discover, you'll find three others that are mosaics of advertising and offer no content whatsoever.

Most free texting sites offer the ability to send messages only. Any responses would be returned to the sender's email account - provided the sender supplied an email address. Other sites have taken things a step further and incorporated more advanced features that allow subscribers to send and receive messages. This allows the user to view what they send and all responses together on the same interface. With full two-way messaging capability, these sites essentially present a virtual mobile device - for free! Most of the full-featured sites offer other useful tools like contact managers, message logs, SMS reminders and group texting.

More recently, SMS sites have emerged that offer free international texting. These sites provide coverage for between 50 and 450 international mobile providers. Free international texting via the web can offer some huge savings over standard mobile service. While many providers offer unlimited local or national texting, they can hit the consumer hard once they start sending texts internationally. Since so many people have families or friends spread across the globe, international texting can become expensive. The free SMS sites certainly offer an advantage in this area.

Before trying a free SMS site, check that they post a privacy policy and a terms of service agreement. Any reputable site will always have both of these declarations clearly posted on their site. The privacy policy should always include a statement regarding the protection of any personal information (i.e. your email address and recipient cell phone numbers) that you submit. Any reputable site will never redistribute such information.

TextPort.com offers full two-way SMS, in the Unites States, Canada, and many international locations. They also feature all of the extended services outlined above. If you're looking for a reliable free SMS site, visit TextPort.com at: http://www.textport.com