Anything better than Pinger?

[bigmak]

I don't have a texting plan for my phone, so I have been using Pinger to received text notifications from EnvisaLink. However, I have noticed that Pinger doesn't receive the message 100% of the time. In fact, it's more like 75% of the time. I set up the EnvisaLink to email me to both my regular Yahoo email address as well as to the Pinger email address (e.g. 15551234567@mobile.pinger.com). I get the notification just fine in Yahoo, but not in Pinger about 25% of the time.

Has anyone experienced this problem? And does anyone have a better alternative than Pinger for free texting that EnvisaLink can use (i.e. must have an email-to-SMS service)? Thanks!

[DaveSin]

There is another Pinger option, which is:

country code - area code - phone number @textfree.us or username@textfree.us

I'm not sure if they are using the same gateway. Maybe you can try the above to see if the reliability increases. I have used the form you mention in your post and was getting the Text, but did not cross check with what was sent to the email address. I have since found another method to get SMS to my Republic Wireless Mobile phone and have since abandon the Pinger approach.

[bigmak]

Thanks for the reply! Looks like Pinger stopped using textfree.us, as neither of those two options worked. However, username@mobile.pinger.com does work. I'll give it a try to see if it is anymore reliable, but I really don't think so, because after I added that new contact, I did not receive the activation/confirmation email from Eyez-On. I had to click on "Resend PIN" before I got the text. I can't believe Pinger is still around!

It would be beyond awesome if Google Voice had an email-to-SMS gateway, but unfortunately, they don't. Any other ideas out there??

[smyers119]

What kind of phone do you have?

[bigmak]

iPhone 5. You think it could be something going on within my phone? I guess that is a possibility, as I have a few text/chat/communication programs installed, including Google Voice, Viber, Tango, and Skype. I still kind of doubt it, because in Pinger, I turned on "Email notifications", which will send me an email if a message is received. At those times when I don't get the pinger text message, I also don't receive any email notifications from Pinger.

[smyers119]

Why not just use your email or set up a seperate email and use that?

[bigmak]

Well, I want to be notified right away with a popup of some sort. I don't check emails all the time, and the subtle increment from 6 unread messages to 7 wouldn't be very helpful. So I suppose as a smart phone user, I don't necessarily need texting. I just need a way for Eyez-On to send me a notification email and for that notification to pop up on my screen right away.

[DaveSin]

There is a Google Voice Email to SMS Gateway developed by a Third-Party. I'm not sure how well this works. You have to provide your GV info, so maybe you might want to setup a separate gmail/GV number for this purpose. If you do try it, please let us know how it works out.

http://www.gvgateway.net/

[bigmak]

Very interesting. I never heard of this service before, but yes, giving away my Google Voice login info is not my favorite thing to do. I will have to think about this one, but thank you! From what I gathered from Google searches, the guy who put this service together seems legit, so I might give it a try.

[DaveSin]

What I would suggest is that you create a new Gmail address and associated GV Account and select a new number from your area and use that as a test bed. I did this, but the system would accept my mobile number (Republic Wireless - Hybrid WiFi/Cellular calling). This is due to the fact that Republic Wireless number doesn't show up as a mobile number. I guess I could use the underlying Sprint Number, but this would defeat the whole purpose of what I'm trying to do, since the Sprint number works directly through SMS-to-Email.

Very interesting. I never heard of this service before, but yes, giving away my Google Voice login info is not my favorite thing to do. I will have to think about this one, but thank you! From what I gathered from Google searches, the guy who put this service together seems legit, so I might give it a try.