How to Send SMS Text Messages with Skype

By Loren Abdulezer, Susan Abdulezer, and Howard Dammond from Skype For Dummies

5 of 9 in Series: The Essentials of Communicating with Skype

You can use Skype to send text messages using the Short Message System (SMS). Your Skype SMS text messages communicate seamlessly with mobile phones and other communication devices. Although messages need to be viewable from a tiny cell phone screen and sometimes take a little patience to type, using SMS is practical, fun, and easy.

Sending SMS messages via Skype involves these simple steps:

Click the Call Phones tab near the bottom of the of the Skype screen. (If you have a Mac, click the dial pad icon at the bottom of the Skype screen).

The Call Phones or Send Messages screen opens.
Enter the phone number of your message recipient.
Click the Send SMS button on the dialing pad.

The Skype Names or phone numbers of the recipients appear in the title bar of the Skype SMS window.

That's all there is to sending the text message with Skype, but here are some points to keep in mind about this service:

SMS messaging has a cost attached. When you use SMS messaging, you pay a small fee that's based on two things: the length of your message and the number of recipients getting the message.
Charges apply only to messages delivered within 24 hours. When you send a message, you are charged only if the message reaches the person within 24 hours. If the recipient’s GSM phone battery is dead or his or her phone is off, you get a refund.

Watching your message length is a good idea: The maximum size for any SMS message is 160 characters. So if you send a message with 167 characters, it is split into two SMS messages with 160 characters in the first and 7 in the second. In this situation, you are sending two messages instead of one and you'll be charged accordingly. (It pays to learn some standard abbreviations such as “ttyl” for “talk to you later” or “ga” for “go ahead”.)