Call Kurtis: Cut Your Phone Bill with Free Messaging

Heads down and fingers tapping, with two trillion text messages sent every year, Americans are addicted to texting.

"I do text a lot," one iPhone user tells us.

"I have unlimited texting," says a UC Davis Student.

"It's unlimited texting for $30 a month," one local mom says.

But Apple's release of its application, iMessage, which lets you message others for free, may change the way we transmit those short, to-the-point notes.

"If you don't need to have a texting plan that you pay 20 cents a text or $20 a month, why would you?" says John Abell, New York Bureau Chief of Wired.

Even if you don't have an Apple device, free messaging apps are popping up for other smart phones.

Programs like WhatsApp, Pinger, Blackberry Messenger and Kik send messages over your carrier's data network, instead of the cell network, making going over your text limit a thing of the past.

If your smart phone doesn't have a free messaging app yet, CNET Section Editor, Kent German says your wait may not be long.

"Anytime Apple does something, it really gets their competitors to wake up and say, 'Maybe we should have an alternative to this,'" says German.

There is a downside to these free messaging programs. Some only work between similar smart phones. Others assign you a different phone number for messaging, so friends will have to message that number instead of your cell number.

"The beauty of texting, the beauty of SMS, all you need to know is someone's phone number and that's it," says Abell.

But is it worth a little more work to save up to $30 on your cell phone bill?
"It definitely is something I might be looking into to see what it is. And if it is a good deal, then I would take the cheaper route," one young iPhone user tells us.

A couple things to keep in mind are some of the messaging apps cost a couple bucks to buy up front, then your messages are free. But you should read the fine print to see if there are message limits or other costs that could pop up.