I've been reading about the G1 since its announcement.. how did I miss this? All IM services in the Instant Messaging application, with the EXCEPTION of Gtalk (I think?!), use SMS to send IMs. This means if you are not on an unlimited SMS plan, you will be charged for IMs if you go over your SMS limit! - Tim Hoeck

Technically not quite true; they all use TCP/IP data, but the AIM, Yahoo, and MSN IM apps connect to a carrier gateway that charges you as if the messages were SMS. - ⓞnor

@nor, that is exactly my concern. It is at the very least deceptive.. if Tmobile planned to charge for these services (even though they use TCP/IP), why is it these were not built into a separate application from gtalk? It is extremely confusing to say that some parts of an application "charge" while others do not. Ryo, there are a number of other free IM applications.. had I known about this "trickery", I certainly would have (and will) use them. - Tim Hoeck

Hmm, I'll have to check my bill and watch for charges. I'm pretty sure my flexpay plan only has unlimited data and not unlimited messaging... it is the G1 specific plan, though. - lilbyrdie

luckily the SMS charges do not apply to third party AIM clients like http://www.cyrket.com/package..., it's only on the built in client - Karl Rosaen

does skype? or is that different? - Fred Grott

Karl.. exactly :) Fred.. The official Skype client AFAIK does not use SMS, however, it DOES use your phone minutes for calls, it does not use VOIP. - Tim Hoeck

Confirmed. The IM app try to use SMS when I startup it. ough :S http://flickr.com/photos... - Nock Forager

understandable from perspective of MO's desire to make lots of money, but insane that this is not called out super prominently in the marketing material. can't believe there hasn't been more outrage on this. - Jon Price

rubbish! - Özkan Altuner