As some of you may recall, when Nokia Chat launched around August of last year, an enterprising Howard Forums member wrote a small bot that would echo messages sent to it to other users who had sent the bot a message, forming an ersatz IRC channel. Unfortunately, this bot was pulled offline within a few months, and the thrill of a new Nokia service had worn off long before then with users drifting back to the more mainstream chat networks such as MSN and Y!IM.

It was thus with the failures of Nokia Chat in mind that I set out to launch a new chat service for those of us who want to use our smartphones to the fullest, and thus I’ve built my own Nokia Chat equivalent, with more features and functionality than ever before. (Well, minus Location Tracking, but that’s more of Brightkites or Loopts game than Nokia’s)

At this point you’re likely asking yourself “Why should I sign up and use this service when others such as MSN are larger and have all of my friends on them?” For that I’ve no simple answer, and can only hope to convince you with the list of features and friendly customer support provided.

• Text Chat via your preferred XMPP supporting application
• VoIP using builtin SIP client
• Free* International Dialing to PSTN
• MultiUserChat (XMPP Extension, not currently working on S60)

To get signed up follow this link: Register Here
and fill in the details, for Name, put in the alias that you would like to be displayed to other users.

The next step is signing in to your new account from your phone or PC, and to do so you’ll need the server address (chat.boltoncomputing.com), your username, and your password. I’ve compiled a list of settings needed for a number of the more popular Symbian clients, which can be found below, for all clients below they call the type of account either XMPP or Jabber, or for a select few XMPP/Jabber .

Palringo

• Username: Your username
• Password: ****
• Server Address: chat.boltoncomputing.com
• Port: 5222

SlickIM

• Username: username@expatit-2k3
• Password: *******
• Host: barnwell.servegame.org
• Port: 5222
• Use TLS: Unchecked
• Priority: 0

Nimbuzz

• Username: username@chat.boltoncomputing.com
• Password: ****

Getting your phone configured for VoIP is a bit harder, and as it involves some more configuration on the back end, there is no automated registration at this time. Instead you’ll have to email me at sipreg@boltoncomputing.com with your desired display name and password and I’ll configure your extension and email you as soon as possible.

I’m always looking out for new features to add to this service and am dedicated to making it a valuable community resource for S60 users worldwide, and as such any input on what we could do better or suggestions for improvement are welcomed with open arms. Email us at administrator@boltoncomputing.com, send us a tweet, IM us (admin@chat.boltoncomputing.com), or call and leave a voicemail at +1 401 526 2260.