SMS (short message service) is a really easier way to access information on your mobile device such as cell phone or blackberry. In light of the recent announcement on November 29 by Yellow Pages Group in Canada, ” With the hectic holiday shopping season underway, finding a product or merchant is now easier with the new Yellow PagesTM directory on Short Messaging Service (SMS), better known as text messaging. For those looking for local businesses anywhere in Canada, the information is now literally at their fingertips using their mobile devices. Read the rest of this press release at YPG.com“, I thought now would be a good time to give you a quick lesson on text messaging.
So how does SMS work? I will use the example of Yellow Pages Canada SMS using a cell phone:
1) First – you will want to go to your messages area on your cell phone (all manufacturers are a little different) but typically they have a message area with an option that indicated “Create Message”
2) In the “Create Message” area, make sure you select “Message” – some phones will give you the option of creating a voice mail, email, etc.
3) In the “Message” area, enter the following – taxi, toronto
4) After you enter your search query, typically in the bottom right or left corner you will see “Send To” – select that
5) Enter 935569 (YELLOW)
6) You will instantly get a response, via text, open up the response. For the search taxi, toronto – I received 9 found businesses – it will then list the names, via number, with the company names beside them.
7) When you find a business that you want to get more information on hit “Reply” (sometimes found within options) and type in the number of the business. This will send a reply back to the SMS service asking for more information on the business that is related to the number that you selected.
8.) The information that you get back from the system is the company name along with the phone number and address (if applicable, for example a search for a retail location will give you an address, some searches like taxis may not return an address).
9) Finally, complete your transaction by selecting Call – it will pre-populate the number for you so that you don’t have to dial-in.
SMS is a great service that can save you time and if you are roaming – usually text messaging is quite a bit more cost-effective than calling 411 or making a call back to the office. Remember there is a charge for SMS – for example, I pay 10 cents per message, but some plans offer unlimited text messaging – just check your carrier first so that you understand what you will be charged for this service.
Yellow Pages SMS:
935569 (YELLOW) for English
528637 (JAUNES) for French
Enter keyword or category followed by a comma and the location (city or postal code). You can also perform a reverse look-up by texting a business phone number.
Search examples:
* taxi, toronto
* pizza, M5V2T6
* pizza, M5V
* tow truck, vancouver
* 416-412-5999
* 4164125999
Finally – if you prefer to get your weather updates via SMS – check out the service from The Weather Network, however, they charge you a premium of 15 cents over your regular SMS charges.