The other week, we talked about Viber, an app that not only gives you the convenience of Instant Messaging technology that mimics SMS technology, it also unites users across the two major mobile platforms: iOS and Android. Coming soon on the Blackberry.
Today, we discuss how you could save on prepaid or even postpaid credits, using Viber. It may take a bit of an adjustment, and IS a lifehack of sorts.
How to make it work:
Prerequisite: Asking all of the people you usually text to download Viber to their Androids, iPhones and iPod Touches.
Method 1: If you're constantly online anyway because you have a WiFi/DSL connection at home and WiFi at work, then you don't need to maintain an unlimited subscription for your phone. Just load regular prepaid credits, text minimally when you're commuting, and do the bulk of your texting at work or at home.
This would help if your main number is a Sun Cellular number, as Sun to Sun texts now only cost Php 0.50 per message. Another budget-saving network would be Red Mobile, with text messages costing only Php 0.50 for Red to Red and Red to Smart. Texts to other networks cost Php 1.00.
Method 2: If you need a constant connection online, and are considering getting an ADSL line for home, scratch the thought. Choose to use a 3G mobile connection instead, and host it on your Android or iPhone that has Viber installed. This way, you can turn your phone into a mobile hotspot, even as you take advantage of constant connection to Viber.
The only thing you have to worry about now is how to reach your contacts who are not on Viber.
If most of your mobile network credits, whether prepaid or postpaid, are consumed on text conversations that last for hours, then move to 3G and Viber and save on mobile credits. If having a 3G data plan is not an option at the moment, then exercise a bit of restraint and teach yourself to just text when you're within WiFi range. This way, you'll ensure that you'll be able to maximize your mobile service consumption.
Enjoy Viber!
Filipinos were the trailblazers in maximizing the SMS or Short Message Service feature rolled out for public consumption around the year 2000. SMS technology had been conceptualized way back in 1984. Then on December 3, 1992, the first SMS was sent over Vodaphone UK, from a computer to an Orbitel 901 handset. But it was only in the year 2000 when Philippine mobile phone users figured out the communications potential of the technology. Ironically, it took a few years later for SMS to catch on in first-world countries like the US.
Today, SMS is being prophesied as a technology that may be on its way out, as social networking services like Twitter, Facebook and their ilk serve to connect people in more affordable ways.
Enter Viber. This app unites the Android and the iOS ecosystem and makes these two competing smartphone platforms hold hands. Not only is this one more reason to forget about the Symbian OS, but this is also one more reason why the statement that SMS is a doomed technology may very well come true.
Viber is like Skype for mobile. It lets you call, send messages and even photos, to your contacts. It is actually more of an Instant Messaging service rather than a true-blue SMS service, but since it's on mobile, and it uses a user's mobile number as the account username, it looks and feels 99% like an SMS service.
And since it also lets a user make calls, Viber then, could very well be a mobile service substitute.
However, Viber is an app that uses VoIP technology, thus, it needs a connection to 3G or WiFi in order for it to work.
The bad part: If you're not subscribed to a data plan or will be traveling to places that don't have WiFi, you won't be able to use the service.
The good part: Savings, if you're in a place where WiFi is readily available, or if you're subscribed to a data plan.
The great part: On the other hand, even mere iPod Touch owners can use the app. It's a great way to turn your iPod Touch into an iPhone without needing to spend for a contraption to convert it.
Texting and calling on Viber really feels more like being on Skype for Mobile, without the resource and bandwidth overload. Viber feels like a faster version of SMS, and like a twin brother of IM. It sends photos in an instant, surpassing MMS technology. It also lets you see as your contact types his messages, and keeps these in a threaded archive. Everything you want from IM and SMS, with very few limitations.
We discuss how to save on prepaid credits through Viber in a future post. Watch out for that!
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