I used to send msgs to Airtel and Orange mobiles through an email gateway where you send the SMS in the form of mail to email gateway which looks like subscriber-mobile-no@provider.com. Though it is not working now, I think these free SMS providers might have access to those gateways and can pass the SMSes.

I have never come across this facility and SMS allows only 120 characters to be sent at once. If you type more than that it will cut into SMSes of 120 each.

What I do is purchase a prepaid SIM of a provider who is providing it for very less (most of the providers here in India offer initial connection at cheap rate) and store my address book on it and use that SIM as a backup. Whenever I think I have added or changed the telephone/mobile numbers, I will insert that “Backup SIM” and rewrite whole data into it. So, if you lose your mobile, you can always use this “Backup SIM” to restore the telephone book.

As we don’t recharge the SIM, it will expire and you never incur any expenses for it.

Do you have a much better idea than this? If yes, post it in comments.

thahks

As they are ad-supported and need to insert the ad in every free msg, there are taking half of the standard 160-character limit of SMS. I haven’t come across a free service that gives full 160 characters. If I come to know any, will post here.