A new breed of telemarketer is evolving. This one will not call you at nay hour,    nor will it spend a long time trying to convince to purchase a product. No, this telemarketer comes in the form of ads in magazine, newspaper and TV. Even if it is in a non interactive form, it is none the less persuasive and tempting. All you would have to do is pick up your phone and order the product via SMS.

Undoubtedly this is, a marketing ploy directed towards impulse buyers who just can resist the temptation of a good offer. Even if you are not an impulse buyer, you won’t be able to deny that SMS shopping makes the process easier. It works like this; most ads found in the newspaper and seen on TV carry texting codes that allow a customer to order a product via SMS. Pretty persuasive, given that you don’t need to spend time on the phone talking to agents; now, your order is just a Text Message away.

The only call you will have to make is when you register your number with a Text Marketing Company of your choice, then you can enjoy unlimited purchases via text messaging. After you have placed an order, your purchase is then charged to your credit card then, the product is shipped to you.

At the moment, marketing companies are sold on the idea of SMS purchasing. It will not be long until we see text codes on magazine ad and ordering will be as easy as typing a few detail on you phone.

With the introduction of Voice SMS, one can’t help wonder: Are we witnessing the death of Text Messaging? By using Voice SMS, a person is able to send “Voice Packets” from a mobile phone to another. In a technical sense, it is nothing like SMS; it is only marketed as such to avail of the consumer’s affinity for familiar things.

It has several advantages against plain SMS, one is the fact that you will not need to spend time typing out your message you just need to “speak or listen”.

SMS or Text messaging is the way of communicating between wireless devices (e.g. Mobile Phones, Pagers, PDAs, etc.) that uses text.

It has grown in popularity over the years and had its share of lovers and haters. A few things that go for Text Messaging over Voice SMS are as follows: Storage – text storage is much easier and takes up less phone memory than audio storage. Less prone to interference – Voice SMS are highly vulnerable to interference, though it may be easier and faster to get your message through, there is a great possibility that the quality of your voice SMS may be compromised.

It is true that Voice SMS has a lot going for it, but it can not be expected that the shift from regular Text Messaging to Voice SMS is going to happen over night. With the massive number of individuals using text messaging, there are bound to be a few who would prefer to stick with it a little while longer. It is important to remember that voice SMS is not a replacement of actual calls; the 30 second time limit urges a sender to be as concise as possible often making the messages impersonal and technical.

Like Spam e-mail, Spam text messages are more annoying than destructive. However, unlike Spam e-mail, this form costs some money. To avoid SMS messaging fees, Spammers use websites on the internet that offer free Text Messaging services. This leaves the cost to fall solely on the shoulders of those on the receiving end. If you report occurrence of Spam messages to your wireless carrier, you may be able to get a refund for the amount used up by Spam messages.

If the problem with Spam becomes too much to handle, most wireless subscribers would rather opt out of their SMS plans, which is bad news for wireless carriers who stand to earn over $3 Billion US through SMS subscriptions alone.

Incidence of Spam Text Messaging is greater in other countries that do not require wireless subscribers to pay for incoming messages. Some countries that support SMS advertising have problems with Spam authors getting through the system. An SMS feature that helps dissuade SMS Spammers is the 200 character limit. This restriction requires them to send messages that get straight to the point.

The increasing use of text messaging has also increased the risk of exposure and acquiring of a Mobile Phone virus. An SMS message is not the only route that a Mobile Phone Virus can infect your cell phone or PDA. Bluetooth is also a threat as well as MMS messages.

A few years ago; some scientist in Holland discovered a way to send text virus laden messages to a certain brand of mobile phone. In the format that they had established, the phone owner would have no way of knowing that the message that they have received contained a virus that was capable of bringing their mobile phone down. The message was formatted so that it would instruct the phone to perform certain programs that renders it virtually useless.

The creators of this SMS virus also noted that it is unlikely that virus authors would use it as a vector for Mobile Phone infections, because the procedure was reported to be a bit cumbersome and that an individual needs to have an extensive knowledge of how a mobile phone works. Also, they said that one of the reasons why SMS viruses have not spread is that no author would want to spend their own money to infect mobile phones.

That was a few years ago. At present, it would be extremely foolhardy to underestimate the capabilities of virus authors. Also, there a lot of websites that support free outgoing SMS. As new mobile phones are made available on the market, you can be sure that more than a handful of individuals are working on it.

In a way, text messaging is able to give the deaf community a sense of independence. They can just carry a phone with text messaging capacity and they are able to communicate with anyone, anywhere in the world. If it were not for the text messaging capacities of most phones; people with hearing disabilities would have had to use a TTY, which is a specialized text telephone.

With use of text messaging, a deaf individual is able to ask for help in emergency cases. Several Emergency Service Stations in the UK and the United States are working to accommodate emergency reports via text message.

Also, cell phones are readily available and are often quite affordable. It is also worth noting that with cell phones being a constant in today’s society; having one does not point out to a disability like the way some gadgets would.

However, there are a few disadvantages to the deaf using cell phones and text messaging. One is that cell phones interfere with the individual’s hearing aid. It is therefore recommended to keep a cell phone as far away from the hearing aid as possible; and only use the cell phone when necessary.

Another issue is that most wireless carriers only offer the text messaging feature as an add-on to Voice Only Plans. This means that a Deaf individual would have to pay for the Voice Only Plan (a feature which they obviously would not be able to use) before they can avail of the text messaging feature. To resolve this, deaf communities are in talks with wireless carriers to have them offer SMS only plans.

Through texting, a person can conveniently get in touch with friends and loved ones in far away places; do business transactions and even join contests for entertainment. A normal person would take the benefits and conveniences derived from texting a matter of course. However, a disabled person would be greatly thankful for this technological innovation.

In the midst of hearing and seeing people, a visually impaired and hearing impaired person would feel at a loss because of the inability to interact. It is a fact that sign language is a big help for the deaf, not everybody though would easily understand the signs.

A disabled person should be treated just like any other normal person. The disability should not stop him or her from having access to information; news and events. They too should be able to enjoy and receive the benefits of modern technology.

Interacting with family and friends would be easy since in most probability they understand and know sign language. The problem lies if a disabled person would want to communicate with other people. A deaf person who wants to interact with a stranger would only have to show his message on his mobile phone. Texting his message would not require him to act what is on his mind.

Hearing impaired people would be ever grateful for the development of software that enables them to talk or converse by sending text messages. With the use of a relay service, the disabled person would call and give his message to the operator who would turn the voice message into text.

Normal people have taken for granted the benefits reaped from these technological innovations. Hearing impaired people though would be especially grateful because with texting, deafness is not a disability.

This communication tool though has a drawback. Because of the ease of texting, cost can mount up. A large percentage of mobile phone users are teenagers. We know for a fact that teenagers are the sender of most texts. They depend on text messaging to get in touch with peers and even to send inane messages. These kids can send even a hundred messages a day. A parent who foots the bill would be shocked with the staggering amount of the charges.

Because text messaging has emerged from being a cell phone feature to a basic and essential communication tool, customers had been clamoring and demanding for more messaging options where they can get more value for their money.

Sprint has answered the demands of the customers with their unlimited texting. Subscribers with Power Pack Individual plan would have to give a $10 additional monthly fee to avail of the unlimited texting. With an additional $20 monthly fee, the Power Pack Family Plan can have unlimited texting for all family lines.

Text messaging has grown to be the most popular means of communication. Unlimited texting had given the people the power to send or to receive messages, to stay in touch and get connected without the fear of mounting costs.

But just like any other innovative technology, the use of cell phones comes with both benefits and risks. Endless text scams has become the dilemma of texters. An alert mobile phone owner would know at once that he is being scammed if he receives a text message informing him of winning a contest (one he never actually joined). Usually a time period to claim the prize is given.

A text scam would either ask the recipient to purchase a product or to call a number that usually starts with 090 or to reply to a 19 number. These numbers would charge a higher rate. Some text scam would even reverse the charges so that the recipient of the message will be billed for both the message received and for the reply.

Text scam takes the form of unwanted messages that are sent without the subscriber’s approval; messages that come from unknown or unidentified source, unstoppable downloading of ringtones and pictures messages that can not be “unsubscribed”. The cell phone owner/user will be billed for these unwanted and unauthorized so called services.

As a protection against text scams, a mobile phone owner can ask the company to screen certain calls. Be wary of SMS selling products or services. The sender or the company should be identified and make sure that you have a way by which you can “unsubscribe” in case you want to opt out.

In signing up with any organization, be careful in giving out your phone number. You can even ask what they need your number for. The ID caller blocking can be used if you want to hide your number when calling.

If you are suspicious of an unexpected text message from an unknown sender, it would be wise to ignore the message and not to reply at all.

A survey conducted disclosed that a considerable number of people suffer from texting injuries. Repetitive strain injury (RSI) and text messaging injury (TMI) afflicts a huge number of texters. TMI and RSI are upper limb disorders caused by the swelling of tendons of the wrist and fingers. People afflicted by this injury suffer soreness and pain of the wrist, fingers and forearms. Excessive and repetitive use of thumbs to type messages causes the swelling that hinders blood circulation. Maintaining good blood circulation is vital to avoid injuries.

An excessive texter could avoid text injuries by practicing these safe texting habits. Stop texting when you feel soreness and pain. You can use the other hand to hold the phone or use other fingers to type instead of the thumb. Always remember to put down the phone while waiting for a reply to your message. Take several minutes break between texting and do keep texting sessions to a maximum of 15 minutes.

At the onset of pain, stretch your fingers and move your wrist in a circular motion. Massaging the hands, fingers and forearms would help blood circulation. Use a chair or table as a support to your hand. Although the cell phone may weigh next to nothing, the load on the hand is increased if the arm is stretched out for a long time.

Make use of the cell phones predictive text messaging feature to do away with the necessity of typing the same text messages.