Comments on: Send events from Google Calendar to friends’ and family members’ cell phones

By: nola

nola — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:40:03 +0000

no, thanks. google has enough info about me from my computer already; i’m not voluntarily turning over phone numbers. plus, i already get enough text message spam (event promoters are pretty text savvy) that i don’t need this, too. ugh.

By: Lori

Lori — Wed, 14 May 2008 11:11:49 +0000

I will third the caution about text messages costing the recipient — far more people have pay-by-the-message plans than unlimited message plans — and add that there are many people who still do not get text messages at all. I was one of them until very recently, and the carrier (in my case, Sprint) usually does not notify the sender that the intended recipient does not have text messaging on their plan.

This can be a handy tool for those who text, but you should not use it indiscriminantly.

By: Renee

Renee — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:46:56 +0000

I was just reading up on it and it looks like my blackberry provider doesn’t support this service, while my husband’s does. Not fair!

By: Renee

Renee — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:37:55 +0000

Thank you for your response. Any suggestions as to how to go about this?

By: bee

bee — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:19:11 +0000

renee,

Google calendar has a service now to sync your calendar with outlook; if ou are using a blackberry i imagine you could use outlook on your work computer and sync them that way.

By: Renee

Renee — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:10:55 +0000

Thanks for the tip. I hadn’t used google calendar before but tried it on your suggestion. I just typed in a few dates and added my husband’s e-mail address to the events. Not only did he get an invitation to these events sent straight to his blackberry, when he accepted the invitation, the events went straight into his blackberry calendar which is great as he always needs organizing!

My only problem is, it didn’t seem to want to do the same for my blackberry. I included my e-mail on the distribution list but didn’t get anything come in. I’d be delighted if I could have my events go straight to my blackberry calendar with no extra typing.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

By: T

Tue, 13 May 2008 17:35:59 +0000

I second the reminder about costs – I get charge 25 cents every time someone texts me, with no option to just not look at the message to avoid charges. So, I sure hope this doesn’t pick up as a broad tendency without people knowing in advance that everyone they’re sending this to can see messages without paying!

By: Carly

Carly — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:15:29 +0000

Thanks for the teleflip info, Jason! That’s VERY useful!

By: Michele

Michele — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:54:05 +0000

I would only add the caveat that some people do not have generous text messaging plans, and you could be costing your friend or family member a dime — or more — every time you text them.

By: Erin Doland

Erin Doland — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:11:25 +0000

@Jason — I haven’t tried it, but that sounds like a good service, too. My only fear would be that teleflip may store the messages as a third-party provider. You can’t get around the information being stored by you cell company … but also having it stored by a third party makes me a little uneasy (especially since Calendar events include times when I won’t be at home). Just my two cents …

By: Jason Nelms

Jason Nelms — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:04:08 +0000

I forgot to add my examples:

If you were on any carrier and your number is 5552321111, the email that you would send to that number would be 5552321111@teleflip.com – No need to know who the carriers are for all of your friends.

By: Jason Nelms

Jason Nelms — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:01:44 +0000

You could use teleflip.com at the end of the email instead of having to remember what all of the carriers use. Teleflip deciphers it for you. =) I found out about them a couple of years ago and they have made sending email to SMS a much easier experience.