Send Free SMS to Any Ufone Number from Gmail Chat

After Mobilink, Ufone recently partnered with Google to offer Gmail users an ability to send free text messages to any Ufone number from their Gmail accounts or through Google Chat.
Put in other words, Through this service, Ufone subscribers can get Gmail chat messages on their handsets and shall be able to communicate & reply to these messages through SMS.
Service Details:

• Now you can send free SMS from their Gmail account directly to any Ufone mobile number from anywhere in the world.
• Now you can connect with your friend’s Ufone mobile number directly from your computer
• Send SMS to Ufone for free from Gmail.
• Every time you receive an SMS in Chat (for example when a phone user replies to one of your messages) you get 5 complimentary SMS, up to a maximum of 50 SMSes.

As you might know, Gmail offers this facility for limited operators throughout the world, and Ufone has become the second operator they have collaborated with in Pakistan.
It merits mentioning here that first message has to be sent by a Gmail user via Gmail chat client. This means that Ufone subscribers cannot initiate chat himself/herself with his Gmail contacts from mobile phone.
How to send SMS to Ufone Numbers:
Gmail users will have to simply Log into their account. Enter your contact’s name or phone number in the ‘Search or invite friends’ box in Chat, and select Send SMS from the box of options that appears to the right of your contact’s name.
Or, if you already have a Chat window open for this contact, just click Options, and select Send SMS.

Next a window will appear (shown below) where you can check the country code and phone number of the SMS recipient to save this contact to build your address book.
Next time you will be able to send SMS to same number by typing his/her name.

Next a chat-window will pop on right bottom, simply type the message and hit enter… that’s it.
Your message will be sent to the phone number you entered.
Note:
Just to mention, this feature is only launched in selected countries. Click here for the list of supported countries and operators. If you are not located in one of these countries you can still use it, but you won’t see the SMS option in Chat until you enable it manually in the Chat settings page.
How Ufone Subscribers  Respond to Gmail Chat SMS?
When Ufone users receive an SMS message from a Gmail contact, add the incoming number to your phone’s address book (this number is associated with the sender’s Gmail account, so you can use it to send Chat messages to that person in the future).
Then, you can reply to the message as you would any other text message, and your reply appears as a Chat message in your friend’s Gmail account. Reply will appear on Gmail interface of Gmail user.
Note: Ufone subscriber can reply to the message received from Gmail user within 24 hours.
Commands for Ufone Subscribers:
Ufone subscriber can use below commands while chatting via Gmail SMS service through his/her mobile phone. Please note that these commands can be sent in response to SMS received from the Gmail user only.

• HELP: Command can be used to get list of useful commands.
• BLOCK: Command can be used to block messages from a specific Gmail user. This command should be sent in response to the SMS from that Gmail user whom you want to block.
• UNBLOCK: Command can be used to un-block Gmail user. After the execution of this command, mobile subscriber will be able to receive messages from the Gmail user he has previously blocked

Following commands can be sent at 2434000.

• STOP: To block all messages from all Gmail users.
• START: To enables receiving SMS messages from Gmail if you’re currently blocking these.

Service Charges

• SMS sent by Gmail users to Ufone subscribers will be free of cost, but with limited daily credits. Read below to learn on how to receive more credits.
• SMS sent by Ufone subscribers to Gmail users will be charged @ Rs. 1+Tax/SMS.
• No subscription is required to avail Gmail SMS service.

How to Get Google SMS Credits:
Gmail offers initial SMS credit for 50 SMS, which decreases each time you send an SMS from Gmail chat client.

• Every time you send a message, your credit decreases by one.
• Every time you receive an SMS message in Chat (for example when a phone user replies to one of your messages) your credit increases by five, up to a maximum of 50.
• you can also send an SMS to your own phone, and then reply to that message multiple times to get 5 credits for each reply. This is legal, as you’re buying credits by paying your phone company.
• If your SMS credit goes down to zero at any point, it will increase back up to one 24 hours later.