To send an Text Message or Alpha page to any of the supported paging systems (Shands, Verizon, Alltel, MetroCall, Valupage, TSR, Arch, Verizon, AirTouch, Sprint, Nextel and a few others) simply send an email to:

pager@communications.shands.ufl.edu

In the subject line type a % (percent sign) followed by the pager/cell phone number. A proper subject line would look something like the following:

(The example uses a statewide alpha, others will also work)

Type the text of your message in the body of the e-mail.

NOTE: Please send your message as PLAIN TEXT, not HTML.
If you received a message like --part1_63.13e18e28.27f52103_boundary Content-Type then the person did not send plain text. Discuss this problem with the sender or consult your e-mail documentation for information on sending plain text.

Note: You may only send to one pager at a time. You cannot list multiple pagers on the subject line.

Using the Communications phone and beeper list and the CHRIS, http://chris.shands.ufl.edu/chris.html, data you can find a person and then select "send alpha page" from their detail record if they have completed the interview and have a alphanumeric pager (with 10 digits for external pagers). There will also be a link to the Web form outside of CHRIS on the Communications Web page.

If you already know the pager number you can go to the Communications Web text messaging gateway at http://communications.shands.ufl.edu/send_page.shtml . The Communications Web page at http://communications.shands.ufl.edu will also have a link to the Communications Web text messaging gateway.

Due to problems with the way AOL provides Web access AOL users must use the e-mail gateway instead of the Web version. We made an attempt to fix this for AOL users but there is no way to talk with anyone technical at AOL. You may try, although I believe it will be useless, to select "Ask the Staff" and ask them how you can visit a Web site using the same IP for a short period of time or how the Web site owner can instruct AOL's proxy servers to provide this feature.

Notes

Alltel does not have a Web based interface to their alpha pagers. The "pagers" on their Web site are probably PCS cell phones, not true pagers. You cannot page your Alltel pager at their Web site.

If you are using Arch or Verizon pagers and would like to use the paging gateway please contact Scott Preston with your pager number. Only a few of the Arch and Verizon pager exchanges are handled at this time.

If you would like us to add another service provider, including the ones below, please e-mail Scott Preston.

Unsupported alpha paging systems include the following:

• SkyTel
• BellSouth IPS / Cingular
• WebLink Wireless
• PageNet
• 800, 877, 888 tollfree pagers other than Verizon and MetroCall

Cell phone text messaging

We now support messaging to Nextel and Sprint cell phones in North Florida (around Gainesville and Jacksonville).

Costs associated with text messaging

Cell phone service providers have a large number of different plans. Text messaging, also known as internet text messaging or advanced messaging, is frequently not included in the standard service plans. You may need to enable this through your service provider at an additional cost. There may also be per message charges for text messaging (typically around $0.10 each). Most Nextel plans charge $0.10/message received.

Nextel offers unlimited 2-way messaging for $5.00/month. If you want to add this to your service please contact the Nextel rep.

Warning:

Questions can be sent to Scott Preston.

Revised: 8/14/06