SMS or Email to a mobile phone in Ukraine

[Pike]

I send SMS to a Kyivstar phone by sending an email to:

380XXXXXXXXX@sms.kyivstar.net

Kuna

- - - - - - - - -

Kuna, yes that works.  But only if the woman's KyivStar phone is set to unblock incoming SMS sent from email. The default setting on KyivStar phones is block. Likely you helped her unblock her phone or she already had it unblocked to receive from another earlier guy.  :-))

UMC and GT phones are not default set on block, so no problem there.

And Kuna, here is the KyivStar website from which you can send SMS.  From this site, the block is not a problem.  The block only affects calls coming in from email.

http://www.kyivstar.net/en/sms/

Here is site to send SMS to UMC phones

http://www.sim-sim.ua/eng/sendsms.php

That site will send to UMC and their JEANS subsidiary phones, as well as GT and Wellcome phones.

To send from e-mail to UMC phone use:

38050XXXXXXX@sms.umc.com.ua  or
38095XXXXXXX@sms.umc.com.ua

For Jeans phones:

38066XXXXXXX@sms.jeans.net.ua  or
38099XXXXXXX@sms.jeans.net.ua

For GT phone:

38039XXXXXXX@sms.gt.kiev.ua

For KyivStar  which must be unblocked by the ladies in Ukraine first.

38067XXXXXXX@sms.kyivstar.net   for those on a monthly plan

For those on ACE/BASE pay by card basis:

38096xxxxxxx@2sms.kyivstar.net
38097xxxxxxx@2sms.kyivstar.net
38098xxxxxxx@2sms.kyivstar.net

[Markus]

I used to use ipipi.com for all my sms. My wife still uses it.

Mark

[mervin]

I've used ipipi.com for a few years now. About the only thing I like about this service is the fact that you can have all your sms messages forwarded to your cell phone. That is the primary reason that I use it, as my cell phone provider is Verizon. Other than the message forwarding feature I think ipipi is an expensive way to send sms messages to the FSU, considering there are dozens of free websites with which you can use to send text messages.  Some of my friends still send sms messages to my world phone (UMC Jeans) and it receives them just fine. I can't use the phone from the US because it's got a Ukrainian SIM, but it can receive messages just fine, and it doesn't cost me a dime.

If you've got T-mobile, Sprint or Cingular you don't can just send sms messages directly from your phone.

 

[RK]

you can have all your sms messages forwarded to your cell phone. That is the primary reason that I use it, as my cell phone provider is Verizon.
 

Mervin, you may want to call the Verizon tech support and ask them about sending/receiving sms' to/from Ukraine and Russia. I too have Verizon but they just came out with this new Blackberry 8830 hybrid phone that uses CDMA and GSM technology. I called the tech line to get some info about this phone and mentioned that it was frustrating I couldn't send/receive sms' to Ukraine from my regular handset. He told me he thought I could now, and looked up a service bulletin he had that now has those countries added. .25 to send and .15 to receive. I told him if you look at the verizon wireless website, Ukraine and Russia are not listed. He looked and was surprised, but said they serve it now. I haven't done anymore research to verify this, but if you are so inclined...

[/quote]
If you've got T-mobile, Sprint or Cingular you don't can just send sms messages directly from your phone.

[/quote]

Cingular...what company is that? Oh, you mean the new AT&T   

[Turboguy]

Since we are on the subject.   I have cingular (ok, AT&T now).   I can recieve SMS from Russia but if I reply or try to send either from the USA or anywhere else in the world it does not transmit.  I do get a message that it has been sent but the receiver never gets it.   Anyone have a clue as to why I am having this problem?

[RK]

TG...at the moment, I also use Cingular/AT&T on a separate phone so I can send and receive sms' to Ukraine. I don't have any problems doing either. I do have one friend who receives my sms, but I am not able to receive the sms' he sends because of the provider he uses. Not sure why, and the only situation I've run into like this. I would find out what wireless provider he uses, call AT&T and ask them if they know why you are having those issues.

[Turboguy]

Thanks for the suggestion RK.   At the moment it is not much of a problem since her cell phone is sitting next to my cell phone but when I get back home at the end of summer I will do that.  There are some times being able to SMS would have been a lifesaver for us.

[mervin]

Mervin, you may want to call the Verizon tech support and ask them about sending/receiving sms' to/from Ukraine and Russia. I too have Verizon but they just came out with this new Blackberry 8830 hybrid phone that uses CDMA and GSM technology. I called the tech line to get some info about this phone and mentioned that it was frustrating I couldn't send/receive sms' to Ukraine from my regular handset. He told me he thought I could now, and looked up a service bulletin he had that now has those countries added. .25 to send and .15 to receive. I told him if you look at the verizon wireless website, Ukraine and Russia are not listed. He looked and was surprised, but said they serve it now. I haven't done anymore research to verify this, but if you are so inclined...

Well thanks for the info RK, I did look at the Verizon website and it does seem this is a quad band, world phone. I'm glad you informed me of this because I never would have figured Verizon would carry such a phone. Whether or not you can put a SIM card in it is another story. I really don't know squat about cell phones other than the fact that I know I need a SIM and and a GSM phone to travel to FSU countries.  Ideally, I'd like have one phone I can bring with me everywhere in the world to use on the local (foreign) networks and at home as well. One thing that has always pissed me off about Verizon is that they're not GSM. I guess the other thing I really hate about Verizon is that (up until recently anyway) they've always seemed to have a lousy selection of phones to choose from - but that is an entirely different issue.

I actually like the thought of getting a PDA phone. I've been thinking about it for a while now, so maybe I'll break down and get the 8830 if I choose to stick with Verizon. The other phone that I'm looking at is the Samsung Blackjack, with Cingular.  The thing that I like most about PDA phones is that they're a lot more sms friendly and they're as much like a computer as they are a phone. I've become to hate the provincial features of standard cell phones.

[mervin]

The day after I got home from Ukraine I was still able to send sms messags with my Nokia 3120b from the US to Ukraine. I was still using my Jeans SIM card, and I had about 3 grivnas left on my account. But after my second day home I couldn't send messages anymore, but I could still receive them. Is that strange or what?

[RK]

Whether or not you can put a SIM card in it is another story.

Yes, you can put a gsm sim card in it...I asked about it. What the phone does first is look for a cdma network, and if it doesn't find one, it looks for a gsm network, according to the tech support.

I'm with you on all your other thoughts...I'm looking at a few different ones myself. Verizon's quality is always rated at the top and I also get a 19% corp discount with them, so I'd like to make it all work with them.

[mervin]

Two things I realize I hate about this phone and about Verizon. 1) This is only a dual mode phone, not the quad band phone that I thought it was. 2) The cheapest service plan for this phone is $80 per month for 450 minutes. 

In the 8 years I've been with Verizon I've never needed more than 450 minutes per month, but I've also never spent anywhere near $80 per month. Personally, I don't think this is the phone or the plan for me. I'm not really sure how Verizon plans to compete with its Blackberry line because their service rates are significantly more expensive than those of their competitors. For $60 per month I can get international texting, and 450 minutes with Cingular.