Another Jabber client for Windows/Mac/Linux we recommend is Spark. You can download it at http://www.igniterealtime.org/projects/spark. The following tutorial will show you how to set it up for use with your instange account .
After installing Spark, simply start it. Enter your instango account details as follows

Click the login button and you are ready to use your instango account from Spark. You may add/remove contacts and chat with your friends.

We recommend PSI as your Windows/Mac client for using your instango account. You can download it at http://www.psi-im.org. The following tutorial will show you how to set it up for use with your instange account .
After installing PSI, simply start it. Choose 'Account Setup' from the main menu.

Then select 'Add' to add a new account.

Now choose a name for your account. This is an arbitrary name that will be shown in the contact list of PSI only.

Now enter your instango jabber id. The Jabber id consists of your instango username plus @jabber.instango.com.
Enter the password you would like to use to authenticate with that jabber service and click 'Save'.
To go online with this account right click on it and select 'Status' / 'Online'. You may now add other instango users by selecting 'Add Contact' from the main menu.

To send SMS via instango you first have to add your friends' mobile phone numbers that you want to send SMS to as contacts into your contact list.
Select 'Add Contact' from the main menu.

Enter a friend's mobile phone number as username. Make sure this is in international format, i.e. 1954... for the U.S. or 4940... for Germany.
Select 'SMS' as type and enter an optional name that will be shown for this contact.

The new contact has been added. You may now simply select chat to open a chat window to this contact.

Whenever you send a message to this contact, this message will be sent via SMS. You will receive information about your remaining account balance and the delivery status of the SMS.

Responses to your SMS will be delivered into the open chat window if you have selected the appropriate setting in your instango account on the instango web site.

There is a small shortcut for sending a message in an active chat. Instead of having to press the 'Send' key (which might be further away from the QWERTY keyboard) you may simply press the 'Enter/Return' key. This should work with any device that has a QWERTY keyboard (especially the Nokia E61).

There has been a problem with caps in usernames. You will be able to login to you personal account on our website, but login in instango will not work and fail with 'username/password' wrong.
Please contact support at support@instango.com. We will change your username to all lowercase.

Yes, you can. Instango uses XMPP (or Jabber), an open instant messaging protocol. Several clients for all platforms are available. We recommend PSI and Spark. Check out the tutorials section for details where to get them and how to install them.

Instango is a Java application and will run on almost all modern phones.
To be more technical, your mobile phone has to support Java MIDP 2.0.

When adding SMS contacts the username is the phone number of the mobile phone you want the SMS to be sent to.
Please use international phone number formatting i.e. 49... for Germany, 1... for USA. Do not use any prefixes (NO +49...).

At this time it is only possible to select our pre-made avatars from within instango.
If you want to show a custom avatar to your friends you may set this avatar using a desktop Jabber client. Please see our tutorial on how to use your instango account on your PC/Mac.
You will find the option for setting a custom avatar in PSI as follows:
Select "Account Setup" from the menu. Select your instango account. Go to the "Details" tab and click "Edit Personal Details...". There you can set the custom avatar image.
Please make sure this image is not larger than 8KB as this would increase loading time for friends having you as a contact considerably.
After changing the avatar all friends having you as a contact will have to update their avatars in order to see the change.

An avatar is a small image representing your identity that you may show to your friends.
As instango is a mobile messaging application we tried to limit bandwidth consumption to a minimum. Avatar images are therefore turned off by default.
To use and show avatar images your friends have set you will have to go to instango's "Tools" menu and select "Update Avatar Images". All your friends avatar images will be download and/or updated. This consumes approximately 5KB of traffic per avatar image.
Whenever one of your friends changes his avatar you will have to do this update manually. This is the only way we could ensure aboslute control over bandwidth consumption. If you do not update avatars, no bandwidth will be wasted.
Setting your own avatar only has to be done once. Go to "Settings / Avatar". Instango will download a selection of avatars you may choose from. Select your avatar and you are done.

Yes, we have developed a special extension for these phones that enabled LED notification for new messages.
You will have to download and install the InstangoLightServer application on your phone. You can download it at http://get.instango.com/downloads/Insta ... Server.sis
InstangoLightServer has to be installed and run on Nokia E61/E61i phones in order to use the LED notification function. Please run the Instango Light Server after every reboot of your phone. Running Instango Light Server will not produce any output or show any messages, this is normal.
If you do not want to restart the InstangoLightServer everytime you reboot your phone we recommend the free application Powerboot from Wireless Labs. Download it at http://www.wireless-labs.com/powerboot/.
Select 'Add installed app...' from within Powerboot and add the application InstangoLightServer.exe

Instango is free. You may send and receive chat messages and Push-to-Talk messages to/from other instango users and to the major instant messaging networks completely free.
Sending text (SMS) messages will cost from 7.5 EUR cent per message.
Instango connects to the internet. Please be advised that charges for internet use on your mobile phone may apply. Consult your mobile phone operator for details.

Traffic usage in instango does mostly depend on the number of contacts you have in your account and how many messages you are sending/receiving.
Traffic is not dependend on what or how many different protocols (ICQ, AIM etc) you use.
With 10 contacts in your contact list traffic usage is approximately as follows:
Login: 4KB
Per hour while idle: 3,5KB
Per message with 250 characters: 0,35KB

Most Windows Mobile devices today come preinstalled with a Java Virtual Machine (JVM), an essential piece of software that will allow you to run a Java application like instango on your phone.
JVMs come in different flavors, usually depending on the manufacturer or operator of your phone. For a reference of available JVM (also called Midlet Managers) see http://www.winmobiletech.com/092007Midl ... dMain.html
instango recommends the JBed Midlet Manager by Esemertec AG.

You will find the Blackberry connections settings when choosing settings from the menu.
There are three types of connections you can use:
- Socket - Default connection type
- Socket SSL - Same as default type but using SSL to encrypt your connection (slight overhead due to encryption, but this the preferred connection type)
- HTTP - Connect using the HTTP protocol. More overhead and should only be used when the other two do not work
The transport can be either Direct TCP/IP, BIS, BES or Wifi.
This will usually be BIS if you have a default Blackberry plan with your provider.
Some people use a regular data plan on their Blackberry. Use Direct TCP/IP in this case. Connections will not be done via the Blackberry BIS (Internet Service) but directly to our servers.
Use BES when connecting through your own Blackberry Enterprise server with MDS installed.
Wifi uses your wifi connectiom.
(A so called TCP APN has to be configured in your Blackberry's settings to use Direct TCP/IP. Pay attention that using this mode may incure charges not included in your Blackberry plan.)