I came across this thread as I am dealing with the same issue. Tried Google voice and it is not compatible with my android tablet. Bummer.... any other options?
Send/Receive text messages on a tablet(without a phone)
- Thread starter danhund
- Start date
SMS is a US standard that stands for Short Message System. It was a government mandate that was put in place over a decade ago here and which's cost of implementation were subsidized by the tax payers (don't ask why we had to pay to use it then; that's a long legal argument). It was originally designed to carry very short (60 character) messages during times of emergency.
Because of these points, it does not exist the same in other countries (eg. the EU) and it is directly tied to an actual phone number. There ARE apps that can work around those limitations, but they are some what geography and technology specific. The above mentioned text-to-email-to-text is the official US legal solution; it was originally used for pagers to accomplish the same thing.
Google Voice/Chat/Talk/Hangouts (or whatever they are calling it by the time you read this!) are all variations of similar concepts put out by Google (I personally use them). They do tend to change things as they like, so keep that in mind....what worked today might not work tomorrow. Also realize that the country and service you use may have restrictions that may or may not let you even have access to the same tools.
I hope this helps any one looking for a solution. While its not an answer, I hope it helps you to better find one. Oh, and watch the dates on peoples answers....a three year old post is usually pretty worthless!
-I'm currently working for Sprint and I've been in IT for almost 20 years. I spend all day everyday working with phones and the networks they run on.
Because of these points, it does not exist the same in other countries (eg. the EU) and it is directly tied to an actual phone number. There ARE apps that can work around those limitations, but they are some what geography and technology specific. The above mentioned text-to-email-to-text is the official US legal solution; it was originally used for pagers to accomplish the same thing.
Google Voice/Chat/Talk/Hangouts (or whatever they are calling it by the time you read this!) are all variations of similar concepts put out by Google (I personally use them). They do tend to change things as they like, so keep that in mind....what worked today might not work tomorrow. Also realize that the country and service you use may have restrictions that may or may not let you even have access to the same tools.
I hope this helps any one looking for a solution. While its not an answer, I hope it helps you to better find one. Oh, and watch the dates on peoples answers....a three year old post is usually pretty worthless!
-I'm currently working for Sprint and I've been in IT for almost 20 years. I spend all day everyday working with phones and the networks they run on.
Don't know if this helps but have you tried textfree it now supports tablets it gives you a phone number I was using it on my ipod touch & also on my nexus 7 wifi...
Daemoch, what do you mean with:
"SMS is a US standard that stands for Short Message System. It was a government mandate that was put in place over a decade ago here and which's cost of implementation were subsidized by the tax payers (don't ask why we had to pay to use it then; that's a long legal argument). It was originally designed to carry very short (60 character) messages during times of emergency.
Because of these points, it does not exist the same in other countries (eg. the EU) and it is directly tied to an actual phone number."
I'll quote wikipedia:
"The first proposal which initiated the development of SMS was made by a contribution of Germany and France into the GSM group meeting in February 1985 in Oslo."
AFAIK neither France, Germany or Norway are part of the US. I know you can't trust everything on wikipedia, but since SMS does exist in other countries I suggest you get your facts straight. When you enter a new country (atleast inside the EU) you get a SMS with the prices for different services.
"SMS is a US standard that stands for Short Message System. It was a government mandate that was put in place over a decade ago here and which's cost of implementation were subsidized by the tax payers (don't ask why we had to pay to use it then; that's a long legal argument). It was originally designed to carry very short (60 character) messages during times of emergency.
Because of these points, it does not exist the same in other countries (eg. the EU) and it is directly tied to an actual phone number."
I'll quote wikipedia:
"The first proposal which initiated the development of SMS was made by a contribution of Germany and France into the GSM group meeting in February 1985 in Oslo."
AFAIK neither France, Germany or Norway are part of the US. I know you can't trust everything on wikipedia, but since SMS does exist in other countries I suggest you get your facts straight. When you enter a new country (atleast inside the EU) you get a SMS with the prices for different services.
Bernhard Eriksson wrote:
"since SMS does exist in other countries I suggest you get your facts straight"
:-!
That doesn't make what he said wrong at all though, just that the standard was probably originally a US standard.
"since SMS does exist in other countries I suggest you get your facts straight"
:-!
That doesn't make what he said wrong at all though, just that the standard was probably originally a US standard.
Last edited:
I like the textme app for Android. You get your own locan phone number and as long as u frequent the app you will not lose your number.
Posted via the Android Central App
Posted via the Android Central App
SMS is available all over the world in any country that has digitial mobile networks from GSM CDMA through to 4G etc
I've been looking for this as well. I downloaded multiple messenger apps on a tablet I gave my niece so we could talk, but they all require a phone number.
One app I know you can use without a phone number, is FACEBOOK messenger. However, she is 11 and I'm not making her a FB to chat with me. But if your kids already have FB, because most do, then its simple and free to use the messenger, as long as everyone has a FB. I actually use the messenger now for all my texting, including non-FB texts simply because I got tired of having 2 apps to open. The only thing I don't like is Favorites/Birthdays/Online sections that always reappear.
One app I know you can use without a phone number, is FACEBOOK messenger. However, she is 11 and I'm not making her a FB to chat with me. But if your kids already have FB, because most do, then its simple and free to use the messenger, as long as everyone has a FB. I actually use the messenger now for all my texting, including non-FB texts simply because I got tired of having 2 apps to open. The only thing I don't like is Favorites/Birthdays/Online sections that always reappear.
- Mar 9, 2012
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Welcome to Android Central! Here's where you can learn about it: https://support.google.com/voice/?hl=en#topic=1707989
Turns out it is not available in my country...
Thanks for your help tho
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