How-To: Hack for unlimited SMS Messaging for T-Mobile
This post was published 4 years 9 months 24 days ago and its content may not be valid anymore.By default, SMS messages are sent via GSM. At present T-Mobile charges $2.99 for 300 messages and $6.99 for 1000 messages. Obviously the price of a few drinks at Starbucks which isn’t a big hit on the wallet. However, overage charges for going over your limit do add up. The secret loophole can be accessed with a simple settings tweak on your handset. Settings vary from handset to handset so please review your manual or the manufacturers website for reference.
The key is changing your SMS sending options from the default GSM to GPRS and making sure that GPRS is always ONLINE.
Laymen terms: GSM is the technology for making phone calls from your handset. GPRS is the technology that GSM uses for packet-switching protocols allowing internet access. By sending SMS messages via GPRS, T-Mobile is not able to keep track of the messages sent and received on your handset meaning that messages will not be deducted from your alloted SMS bucket in essence allowing unlimited SMS sending and recieving. There is no guarantee that this will work. However, I have successfully tested this on both T-Mobile pre-paid and post paid accounts. Results will vary.
Not guaranteed to work for all users. Tested with T-Mobile US post/prepaid accts.
Please note that the following loophole is not guaranteed to work for all subscribers. Results will vary from subscriber to subscriber. If by chance you are one of the lucky users that successfully enables this on their phones, congratulations. For everyone else, sorry and please do not call T-Mobile US customer care whining that you can’t get this working.
Please understand that this loophole is only known to exist for T-Mobile US GSM subscribers. ATT/Cingular customers are also GSM subscribers. Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to test this on those networks.
Revisited: A few of our readers who are Cingular customers have confirmed that this loophole does exist on their networks.
Update: Unfortunately widespread news of the once existent loophole caught the attention of T-Mobile. The loophole has since been closed and those seeking unlimited SMS utilizing GPRS will be disappointed. Don’t worry, keep checking UNEASYsilence for any updates on unlimited SMS messaging.
Ok, I’m gonna try this on my Cingular…see how it works if at all…
I don’t see why not
whoa looks like 2 dans lol. so uumm dan #1 did it work with cingular?
I was wondering if there is a way to go online from my pda using my cell with bluetooth. Without getting the GPRS package that t-moblie is offering for 20 bucks. and yes both are bluetooth enabled. My cell phone is running Symbian OS (nokia nGage) and my pda is an axim x50v. marco@webhackster.com
marco,
you can get online without purchasing a t-zones plan from t-mobile. from past experience, i have noticed that tmobile customers have access to the basic t-zones free of charge. i’m not to sure if this has changed over the past year. i know that on a prepaid t-mobile togo sim i purchased for unlimited sms i was able to access the a stripped down tzones free of charge.
to answer your question about getting online with your axim and ngage via bluetooth…
you can get online using CSD (circuit switch data) which is basically dialup internet. i’ve never had the opportunity to play with an ngage so i would have no idea what steps are needed to pair the devices for internet. have you successfully paired the two devices? in the past i’ve used CSD to download files onto my handset after 9pm which is when free minutes go into effect meaning free CSD or free dial up internet. you would need to setup a seperate profile on your ngage configured for CSD.
Works on T-Mobile Pre-Paid :) Thanks
good to hear it works for your jesse :D
marco here’s Tmobile’s CSD # (913-244-0821)
remember that CSD will be a lot slower compared to GPRS.
Well, so far the only way I know how to check is through Cingular site’s. Is there another way for me to check this?
as far as i know post paid accounts can only check to see if this loophole exists through their online account. sometimes even this is not helpful until the following day. i’ll look around though and see if i can find out if there is a quick key combo to check account balance for cingular. the only one i know of is tmobile’s prepaid which is #999# [send].
Hey, im going to try this, but is there a way to see if it works immediateley?
Well, checking my account online is pretty much useless as I have to wait till “the information is reported to our servers” or some shit like that. The code for cingular users is *646#, but that only tells you you’r minutes used. If there’s a code for SMS, I don’t know which one it is.
dan.. i couldn’t find a code to check sms usage. the only immediate verification that the loophole exists is for prepaid customers who have access to up-to-date balances.
joe.. like dan has already pointed out, there really isn’t a way to verify this works until your account usage online is updated. (many times it’s a few hours behind). if you’re on prepaid you can check immediately by checking your account balance.
thanks derek.
is this supposed to work for incoming messages also?
joe who is your service provider?
T-mobile
ok tmobile does deduct from your sms bucket for incoming messages to your handset. this loophole only exists for messages sent from your handset. tmobile will continue sending your your sms messages via GSM. the only carriers who offer free incoming is ATT/Cingular. hopefully tmobile realizes that it should have free incoming messages considering users can’t control who text messages them. the tmobile to go prepaid users have free incoming messages. for this reason alone i have a prepaid sim which is strictly used for messaging. not a bad deal if you happen to catch the promo deals ($25 which last for a full year).
Derek, CIngular DOES provide the amount of messages sent on their site. Anf guess what…It works. I set it up friday night, sent some messages saturday morning, and all I see are the incoming messages.
Do you think this works on mms as well?
mms are already sent via gprs i believe
Dan: where on their site is the SMS counter? I’ve been looking for this on my cingular acct for awhile! Glad to know its there, where is it?
On your minute counter. It should be labeled as SMS (or EML, I think). I’d access my account to let you know exactly, but their servers are fucking up.
01/30 11:57 AM M2M TXT XXX-XXX-XXXX NW EML 1
It should look something like that ^ (X’s being number for outgoing/incoming messages).
I can’t find it. At most stuff i’m real good but theres something about the cingular acct site that baffles me.
Log In >
My Minutes >
View Details.
There is where you see your call log, which should include your text messages as well.
doesnt show any of em, i think ive sent some. I just sent a dud one and we’ll see if it shows up in the coming days. Thanks!
don’t you guys hate how having an account manager online isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. i mean, users are supposed to be able to monitor their accounts… yet the usage results posted online are usually always delayed.
Now that you posted this, I’m very sure T-Mobile will be aware and close the loophole soon.
okay how to u do this???
actually loophole has existed for quite a number of years (4 years so far if my memory serves me correct). it has been something that i’ve discussed with friends who work for tmobile. the fact is is that tmobile will not close down GPRS connections. the only way i see tmobile shutting the door on this is through the distribution of their handsets which will not display the option to enable sms preferred service via gprs. the simple solution is to acquire a unbranded hanset through a third party vendor which would have the options easily accessible. if by chance tmobile dose notice a slight decrease in profits from sms users, yes i’m sure they would look into the problem. i don’t see this happening considering most main profit is coming from mms picture messaging which is becoming the norm.
do remember this does not work for everyone. it usually works for older accounts.
i wanted to know how do i actually go about in hacking this
there are no instructions
if you need some help with this post up in the forum thread posted above. it will be a lot easier to quote people while looking for answers.
Derek,
Can you help me setup my Samsung handset? I’ve had T-Mobile for like over 2yrs/so. I can’t find the menu for GPRS. But I’ll check again.
Knacka
sly guy post in the forum link above. you need to post up your phone model so i can check out if your phone has the option
If your testing SMS, send the message to yourself. It will follow the same path.
AWS closed this hole a while ago. A colleague of mine found it. I don’t remember the details but it was easy to close. I’ll be suprised if Cingular didn’t do the same.
My guess is Tmobile will have it closed very soon.
Anyone know if this works with a Treo 600? I can’t find a menu to change my sms sending options.
Some phones may not have this option. It would be in your SMS settings.
Sending SMS via GPRS might actually be more expensive than normal SMS because you may incur data charges.
I’ve got an unlocked (unbranded) SE P900. I have the T-Mobile Unlimited Internet plan.
I can change the setting to use GPRS. When I connect to GPRS and then try to send an SMS, I get SMS Send Failed. Anyone know how to get this working?
some phones/accounts just don’t have access to this loophole. until we get another reader who has the p900 we can only assume that this doesn’t work for you.
Hey derek, i have a t610, and when i go connectivity – data comm – therie is no sms setting option, it has a thing called “data accounts” but i dont c anything for sms in there. can u help me?
is there anything in message options? i don’t think the settings are in the same location as the t68i
I have a motorola v 300, is the hack available on my phone?
you’ll have to look through your phones settings. im not familier with the menu options on those phones. just look for anything that has to do with sms settings.
don’t hold your breath hoping this works. no guarantees.
hey, i think that came from my website settings doing that automatically. I”ll have to check; i never posted a comment and i wasn’t sure what you were talking about until i checked your site. sorry about that. you can delete it.
You will find that in TMOBILE Branded Handsets, you want find the option to do this. The V300 is a perfect example. As in the SONY-Ericssons, if you get the error message “SMS Send Failed”, it is simple, won’t work with your acct. This has been a known “Fluke” that has been going on for years. It is simply a matter of it may work for you and it may not. If it doesnt work, theres no “fix” etc, it just plain doesn’t work for you.
I have a t-mobile (samsung e105) fone and how do it changed to GPRS. i got to text settings right n change it there? That is what i didnt but how do i see if this works or not?
if you’ve changed your settings correcty you’ll have to check your account online to check whether or not the loophole works on your account.
i checked my account n it just shows me last months bill.. i guess i have to wait until this month is ova the to see if it really works…. but thank you
hey guys, i have a t616 and im with tmobile, but my phone isnt branded to tmboile. Can anybody walk me through the process of changing my GSM and GPRS settings so i can send free messages?
akai you need to have tzones configured in order to test whether or not this will work for you. post back onse you get he tzones up and running.
you’ll want to look for sms carrier > change gsm to gprs
i think i may have done it. I went to the “Connect”>>Data Communications>>Preferred Service>>GPRS and GSM. Then i went back to the Connect>>Data Communications>>SMS Access>> GPRS.
^ congrats bud. check your account online to see if you’re indeed getting outgoing sms without being charged.
hey i was wondering..does it work for att??
well trying wouldn’t hurt right? some cingular users have shared their success in getting this to work. at the same time i’ve heard back from other ssaying that the loophole was closed. it all depends on the user. nothing is guaranteed. mess around with your settings and check out online account usage to see if your outgoing sms bucket is being deducted with this hack enabled.
hey.. im new wit cingular n was just wondering if this works to… if so, how do i do it??? i have a motorola v551 n have wireless internet
I have Motorola V600 and just wondering if anyone had setup their SMS to use GPRS. I dont see any option in the Message Setup to change the Message Type to GPRS. All it has is MMS ( Messages->Msg Center Menu->Message Setup->MMS Message Setup ..this is the only option avail).
Please let me know if anyone has figured out to set GPRS for V600 as I use lot of instant messaging and I am badly ripped off by the tmobile charges!!!
I was wonderin if you had to activate your sim card in order to use this function, cuz i just got a Nokia 3595 T-mobile prepaid phone with the included starter card…
Hey fools,
what\’s the number to connect to the t-mobile network? I\’m trying to get my PDA (Axim X30) to connect via bluetooth using my Sony Ericsson on the T-mobile network. aximsite.com recommended using #77 with no user nor password, but that didn\’t fly.
Anybody have any luck getting dial-up to work with Axim X30 or any other PDA via bluetooth on t-mobile network?
Oops, I meant to say #99. Doesn\’t work for me. Neither does *99# as recommended somewhere else on the same site.
i have the a630 can someone walk me thru the switch for my gsm to gprs
i was wondering if any of ya’ll knew how to get free text messaging 4 my nokia 6010, its a t-mobile phone, they turned off the message center numbers :(
i have a razr from cingular but i got unlocked and now have tmobile service on it. Is it still possible to still use the loophole. if so, how should i go about it?
shae and alpha.. unfortunately the loop has been closed.
I have Tmobile prepaid and have been unable to connect to my ISP using CSD. Has anyone been able to do this? I have a Sony E. T616… Thanks
Yes i have tmobile prepaid and they took free textin away do you know how to get it back? they changed teh service center num in my area
anyone one have the free text number?
It’s not as simple as changing the message center number.
does anyone know if motorola v330 can do this?
+16466220020
has anyone got free textin back for nokia 3595
have u got free t-mobile center numbers plzsz if u have can u send tham to me on eminem20053@hotmail.com thank u.
how do u switch to csd on nokia 3595?
i have tmobile prepayandneed helpto get the freetext crack if anyone could help!!
I have a unlocked motorola v635 is it possible to send and recieve free text with this phone if so can someone send me instructions on how or shoot me threw it i have a aim sn too : icthajealousy
thanks ahead of time and i dont mind to try it even if it dont work.
does anyone read the actual post these days? The loophole has been closed. Check UES often to see if we find an alternative method.
hey, i have t-mobile prepaid with a Motorola v330 phone and i dont know how to change my server thing to GPRS can u help me and give me instructions
emir
i have an tmobile phone motorla pre-paid phone and i was woundering how to get free minutes. thank u
i have no idea what i am doing
need instruction
i was wondering if there was a website that i can go to to get free minutes. thanks
There is no way to get free minutes. Sorry.
hey can i get it for free
Just confirming this little nifty loop-hole from the $50.00 (cheapest) pre-paid TMobile phone, and that it does work. Sweet. Free AIM + SMS for the next two months, and then just 10 Dollars to keep account alive, and use a couple minutes for calling here and there.
does sms hacking work with nokia modles??
hey i gotta a to go prepaid for tmobile,how di i get free
unlimited texting
Hey how can i change the GSM to GPRS on my t-moblie prepaid nokia 6010. i would be realy grateful if u tell me how. and if u can if it is easier text me at 1-813-484-9482 to tell me how to do it but plz tell me before 12-12-05. And also how do you add free minutes to a prepaid account without having to buy any t-moblie phone cards or any extra equiment. thank you very much.
how much does t mobile sms and aim cost on a prepaid?
can someone plz give me the complete walkthrough on how to hack into the tmobile siemens cf62t and get free sms minutes
Ok, so I will be willing to try all this stuff out on Cingular and then let you guys know officially if it works. But my main question is, how do I do this in the first place? I want to get this free text thing, but what do I do? Is it some code I enter in or something? If someone call tell me, step-by-step, how to do this, I would be very happy. :)
Read, people! Update: Unfortunately widespread news of the once existent loophole caught the attention of T-Mobile. The loophole has since been closed and those seeking unlimited SMS utilizing GPRS will be disappointed. Don’t worry, keep checking UNEASYsilence for any updates on unlimited SMS messaging.
free tmobile internet…call tmobile an ask for the internet plan which is 5.99…a week later call them back an tell them that u never purchesed any internet service.so they will take off the plan,but wen they do,theyll take it outta their system but u will be left with tzones an a free internet.
how do you send SMS messages?
how can i change my settings for my motorola c333 to receive free text??? i would greatly appreciate it if someone told me. thanx…
i dont see why not
i have t-mobile. my phone model is the Motorola v330… do u know how i can get in and change it to get unlimited text messaging? thank you.
To whom it may concern,
Anyone know how to get unlimited text with the Virgin Mobile phones? Ive been searching far and wide and still have not found a person in the loop hole of the system thats all I do is text and 10cents a text is a cut on my balance can anyone help mycause.
what is the new free message centre number for free txts
samsung t309?? how do i get free texting
To everyone posting on here unlimted text … is out of the picture. Your onl;y option is to oder this throught your subscriber. I’m sorry for pre paid customers but it seems this damn wensite caused a huge fuss with t-mobile and cingular and is now shut down every loophole discussed on here and on other sites….
Sorry
//KYlE//
i have a sidekick 2 and my tmobile prepaid sim card is in it …and i was wondering if anybody knows how to change the settings to where i can send unlimited text messages
i’m sorry.. i’m just curious, does anyone take the time to read? or do the headlines make you want to jump to the comments section and request for directions despite the bold faced type saying the loophole has since been closed.
Hey guys quick question anyone really interested in how payphones work ? and how you can get free calls?