It costs 60 cents to send a text via Telus use Jabber instead.

Telus is upping their texting rates. Lets all start using our gmail address to text instead of our phone number.
To pay 60 cents to send a text message is expensive. I know not all of my friends live in the US, but even spending 25 cents to text them seems weird when texting requires the Internet to work. Yes texting doesn't work if your internet is down on your cell phone so why use your phone number ID to text?
I have tried to get all my friends to text me using jabber because half of the year I don't have a Canadian phone number. Texting via gmail is a lot like texting via your phone number except it is better because it has status indicators. The hard part about any communication system is getting the people you want having available your contact info when they want to contact you. Some people have given up updating their contact book and rely on Facebook or Google Plus to get a hold of someone. Facebook even has a texting system built into their system, but you can't text anyone who is not part of Facebook; and you know what I think of closed systems. So lets save money and use our gmail addresses to text instead of using our phone numbers.

Four advantages of using gmail vs. phone # for texting:

1. Texting also works from a computer - typing is so much easier.
2. It queues the message until the receiver logs back in.
3. You can easily block someone from texting you.
4. FREE