When it comes to getting free information via SMS, there’s definitely more than one game in town. 4INFO offers a wide range of free information services, all of which are accessible by SMS text messaging.
The basic gist of 4INFO is this: You send an information request to the short code 4INFO (44636). In a few seconds to a minute, you’ll get an SMS message in return containing the information you were looking for.
For example, say you wanted to know the latest scores for the Yankees. All your SMS message needs to contain is one word: yankees. Send it off to 44636, then wait a moment. 4info will reply with an SMS containing the latest game score and the date and time of the next game.
For stock prices, just send a ticker symbol as your message: aapl or ibm. 4info will respond with a message containing the current price, the day’s high and low, and the stock market volume.
4info can also do FedEx package tracking, give you the weather forecast by ZIP code, tell you where to find a Wi-Fi hotspot in your ZIP code, give you your horoscope, and even tell you how to mix drinks. It’s an amazingly versatile information service, and all of it is completely free. (You will incur charges from your cellular carrier for using SMS, however.)
4info also offers SMS text alerts, so you can get messages automatically every day that tell you what weather to expect, when that package you sent actually gets delivered, what your horoscope for that day is, and the like. You can even get inning-by-inning or quarter-by-quarter updates on pro sports games. To get alerts, you’ll need to register on the 4info web site first (it’s free).
For more information on the kinds of searches 4info supports, along with examples of each one, check out the 4INFO how-to page.
