Google launches free SMS on Gmail in India

Search giant Google has started rolling out 'free SMS' for its free email service Gmail and paid email service Google Apps customers in India. The service allows users to send SMSes to mobile phones from chat windows. Users have to add mobile numbers of their contacts in the email address book and they are set.

The service starts with 50 SMS credits for each user, every sent SMS costing one credit. Every reply received adds on 5 credits subject to the maximum level being 50 SMS at any given time. There is no official statement from Google on the launch of this service, however the service has gone live this evening in the chat windows of many users.

Google is rolling out the service in partnership with cellular operators, which means they would share revenue with Google out of SMSes users on their network send. It specifies a way to buy more SMS credits. "You can always send an SMS to your own phone, and then reply to that message multiple times. Every time you send a reply message, your SMS credit is increased by five. Effectively, you're buying more messages by paying your phone company for these outgoing messages," it writes on its chat help portal.

The service currently supports eight cellular operators including Aircel, Idea, Loop Mobile, MTS, Reliance, Tata DoCoMo, Tata Indicom and some circles of Vodafone. BSNL, MTNL and Airtel are not supported yet.

The SMSes sent from Gmail chat are delivered to mobile phones while replies from the mobile phone come into the chat window. For the mobile phone user, the reply is charged at local SMS rate as per her/his normal billing plan.

If no replies are received to any of the 50 SMSes sent and the credit balance come down to zero, Google says, "...it will increase back up to one 24 hours later. So, you won't ever be locked out of the system."

India is mobile number portable now

Dump your phone company. Move to a better one. But keep your present number. 700 million Indians use cell phones. With mobile number portability finally kicking, many customers, especially pre-paid ones, might abandon ship and firms might offer better service.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday launched nationwide mobile number portability (MNP), a move that will allow users to switch operators without losing their phone numbers.

To shift, send an SMS from your phone to 1900. Your present company will reply with a unique porting code. Use that code while filling out a detailed form for the company you want to shift to. Within 48 hours, that company will take over all your cell services.

Your cell number will be switched off for only one hour. All bills after that, are paid to your new company. You'll be stuck with them for at least 50 days before you can shift again, so choose with care.

While you can shift from a GSM service to CDMA or vice versa, you cannot shift from one state to another. If you do, roaming kicks in, just like it does right now.

You can use number portability for any post-paid as well as prepaid number. In case of a post-paid number, there shouldn't be any dues. For a prepaid number, carry forward of any balance to the new service provider is not permitted.

Customers will have to pay a maximum of Rs 19 to an operator to change their network and the new operator has the option to either waive the fee or reduce it.

Mobile number portability will compel the operators to improve the quality of their mobile services, as they would not like to lose their customers to rivals.

When you port your number, you also need to change your SIM. Apart from retaining the same number, the process is same as acquiring a new connection. MNP might be kicking off all over India now.

MNP services were first launched in Haryana in November last year. Nevertheless, companies like Idea Cellular and Vodafone started marketing the service to subscribers in other parts of the country even before the nationwide roll-out took place.

Idea Cellular, which started the 'No idea? Get Idea' campaign to woo subscribers of rival telcos, has also set up a toll-free line to assist customers looking to switch operators.

More operators are expected to undertake similar activities to maintain their user base, with competition likely to heat up following the nationwide roll-out of MNP services as telcos look to poach their rivals' subscribers.

So will MNP be a game changer? Not that much, since lots of people now also have an option of buying a dual sim phone. But, if Haryana is any indication MNP seems to have a bright future.