Sms.at shutting down

I got an email this morning, notifying me that the website sms.at will be shutting down at the end of the year. The title stated that it was "the end of an era" (in German) and that certainly seemed apt.

My profile on sms.at was one of the very first online accounts I ever created, all the way back in October 2001. That's 22 years ago now, when I had only just turned 18! I used the site both to send free text messages (something that seems very quaint now in the age of many "unlimited texts" plans, but back then it was useful) and for its free webmail. I had my "official" email account provided by my ISP, and the sms.at webmail for more frivolous purposes such as registering for random websites.

I can't say I'm surprised that they're shutting down; to be honest I'm surprised they lasted as long as they did, considering they didn't seem to have much of a business model. I also effectively stopped using the site several years ago, as I pivoted towards using Gmail for my various online accounts. But it was still there, and occasionally I'd find myself surprised that a website I still visit prompted me to log in with the sms.at email account - Facebook for example. I think I'll need to have a look at some point whether there are any other website registrations in there that I might want to move to a different email address... I just saw that my Twitch account is also registered to the site for example! Might want to make sure I retain access to that.

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