I have always been amazed at the amount mobile companies get away with charging for text messages, particularly international SMS.
But thanks to Tui’s bright idea, you don’t have to anymore. Well, at least not if you have a smartphone with a Twitter client (my weapon of choice is an iPhone loaded with TwitterFon).
How does it work? So long as you both have Twitter accounts you just need to direct message your friend, and provided they have text alerts set up for your tweets, they will get it delivered right to their phone. Obviously this only works for places where the Twitter SMS service is enabled (great for keeping in touch with my UK friends for example). You probably also want to either have a data plan enabled on your phone, or be in WiFi coverage, otherwise the savings are going to be cancelled out by the obscene casual mobile data charges.
Of course you are limited to 140 characters, rather than 160, but I am sure you can live with it for a 100% discount.
Unfortunately at the moment it is one way for New Zealanders, but that is all going to change. Apparently both Vodafone and Telecom have signed deals with Twitter, presumably meaning that soon Kiwis will be able to get free Twitter SMS alerts sent to their phones. Boo-ya.