How to Send Text Messages (SMS) Via Email for Free
This may not be news for a lot of people, but I just discovered that you can send text messages via email to most major cellular providers. This tip is stellar in that it is part stupid frugal trick (save money on texting from your cell phone), part productivity (you can probably type faster from a normal QWERTY than a phone), and part geek. You get the three-fer on this one. Here’s how to do it.
How to Send a Text Message (SMS) Via Email:
To send a text message via email, just substitute a 10-digit cell number for ‘number’ for each carrier below:
- AT&T: number@txt.att.net
- Qwest: number@qwestmp.com
- T-Mobile: number@tmomail.net
- Verizon: number@vtext.com
- Sprint: number@messaging.sprintpcs.com or number@pm.sprint.com
- Virgin Mobile: number@vmobl.com
- Nextel: number@messaging.nextel.com
- Alltel: number@message.alltel.com
- Metro PCS: number@mymetropcs.com
- Powertel: number@ptel.com
- Suncom: number@tms.suncom.com
- U.S. Cellular: number@email.uscc.net
Making the Most of Texting from Email:
To take this to the next level from a productivity standpoint, I’d recommend creating ‘contacts’ within your email account so that you aren’t constantly looking up all of those cell numbers that you don’t have memorized each time you send an email.
How to Add Cell Numbers for Text Messaging in Gmail Contacts:
In the following example, I’m going to add my mom’s cell to my gmail contacts. Let’s say that her phone provider is Verizon and her number is (555)123-4567. A should be able to set up contacts through most email programs (if you can’t, switch to gmail).
1. Click on ‘contacts’:
2. Now, add a new contact:
3. Put in ‘name’ and the word ‘cell’ to clarify between email and cell contacts:
4. When composing a new text message, simply type in your contact’s name:
Texting through Email Topics
- What text message productivity tips have you found to be useful?
- Have you figured out any other ways to save on text messages?
- Are there any providers I’ve missed?
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And it doesn’t charge you? Sweet. Great tip.
-Nate
wait so can u send attachments like uhm. songs and stuff to people. lets say i want to send a song to my phone. but i dont have internet browser. i have unlimited text,pic and email. but im not sure if email texts bill as internet use. if it doesnt can i send stuff from my email to my phone?
@Nathan – Haven’t tried attachments out yet. If it works and your provider doesn’t charge you, check back and let us know.
Is there anyway it can be sent anonymously…..I don’t want my name or number to show up to the receiver. Thanks, Chris
I can’t get the ATT text messages to work at the above address. Do I have to send out one message at a time?
here’s one to add to the list, was hard to get too.
boost mobile number@myboostmobile.com
Chris, when you send text messages from email, the text message will have your email address but it won’t have your phone number..is that what you’re asking? So the receiver will have whatever name your email is set up for but no number will be displayed. BTW, sending anonymous = fishy.
This is great to use, especially when you don’t have a phone. I do this all the time with my friends.
I have a relience india mobile (RIM)-CDMA how can i use this method
And
also tel me BSNL also
I’m Fom UP-East, india
my girl has a metro pcs phone and i would like to send her msgs via email to her cell but would u please explain it in terms for dummies please. I’m not understanding exactly how or maybe u can just email me and explain better. thx im a lil slow to learn
how do you send one to cricket mobile?
Hello are you getting this .
I always bring mobile phone http://wiwapia.com/en/mobile good connection here at motel
add number@sms.mycricket.com and if u want to send mms jst change da sms. …2…..number@mms.mycricket.com
Hey can someone help me find out the sms for movilnet? I can’t find anything! haha
Ok, so you send a text message from your email account to someone’s cell phone using the method you’ve described. And when they reply to that text, does their message come back to your email account?
Mav, no, if the recipient replies to the text, it will not come back to your email account.
Actually I’ve tried it since posting that comment, and their texts do come back to my Gmail account, which is vital for this to be a really useful future, so I’m definitely glad about that. One person even transitioned from responding by text, to signing into her gmail account to continue the conversation, and gmail seamlessly kept the conversation going in the same chat window for me. When she switched from her phone to gmail, it just started showing her name on each message instead of her phone number. And of course it’s all saved in my Gmail chat history. Gmail is smooth.
Here’s the more important question: how can I determine a person’s wireless carrier, if I can’t otherwise contact them to ask them? This is a legitimate need, because if I’m texting them from my Gmail account, it’s often because I can’t easily contact them another way. There are websites that allow you to input the number and they output the service that provided the number, with varying degrees of success, but I don’t know of any solution that really works well for this. If anyone knows of the best website for this, please post.
Hi Mav – yes, you are correct on the reply feature. Very nice. I Googled and found this site for reverse carrier lookup: http://freesms.1888usa.com/revcell.htm
Not sure how accurate it is though. Asking is always the safest bet, I suppose.
What about getting a reply from the person that you texted to. Is that possible? And if so, how do you do it?
@ Mike
When you text a person from Gmail, that person simply replies to that text. Their reply shows up in the Gmail chat window you’re using to text them, or as an email in your Gmail inbox.
HI,
Thanks for the blog, I have a question: I don’t have texting in my mobile device but I do have email. Following your instructions I could now sent txt via email, but How could other mobile devices that I have not send an email as txt send me a text? Ex. Say my friend only has my phone number and wants to send me a txt, how could they do this?
Help is appreciated
Thanks
Juan, so you’re saying that if your mobile device does not support texting and your friend only has your phone number, then how can he send you a text that you’ll somehow receive elsewhere? That I do not know of a way to do. I wish I had a service where all my text messages coming from and to my mobile phone number could be retrieved, archived, and sent online in addition to my own phone, and such a service would fit what you’re looking for as well. But I don’t know of such a service. However, if your friend also had your email address, he could simply send a text message from his phone to your email address. It’s the exact same thing as texting someone’s phone, but instead of sending the text to a phone number, he sends to your email address.
I realize this is an old article, but still found it. In order to send messages to Verizon phones you will need to use “@vzwpix.com” instead of “@vtext.com”
Hey will this work if the mobile is in a diffrent country ? For example. I am in Canada but my friend i wanna email/text live in the U.S. Can i use this method for that ?
@Aphrodite: I believe most or all of the wireless carriers in that list are in the USA. It makes no difference where in the world you are when you send the text message from your email account. So yes, you should be able to use this method.
It didn’t work for me, I have At&t.
It did work for me after all. There is just a LONG delay….takes about 3o minutes to reach the recipent.
I so sent earlier messages. But became now cheap to call if to use ip a telephony with a call back and consequently sms from the computer I do not send. Thanks for the information
im texting a at&t phone and there getting my text and texting back but im not getting the text in my email. ive texted verizon and boost mobile and i get the text back just fine. y am i not getting text back from at&t phones.
What about Credo Mobile? Anybody know the domain for text via email with them?
thanks very usefull information !
We receive a lot of complaints about MyCricket MMS here in http://www.zecce.com/mycricket-com-mms-usa/
If you’re using MyCricket Wireless, you can simply download and view the MMS pictures, sent by your friend.
Anybody encounter the same problem here?
anyone know how to text to BOOST mobile numbers?
hey my gf yell at me cause she said that they were charging her for emails and they weren’t counted towards in coming texts… she has Verizon… so i don’t know… she might be lieing to me…. sigh
hi I have texted an at&t phone and it doesn’t work?? All other companies work but that one everytime I text it sends me a message instantly saying the message didnt go through if you guys have any answers please email me at gilbertd13@yahoo.com thanks
I found a bunch of other on this page. http://www.livejournal.com/tools/textmessage.bml?mode=details
Fot AT&T use the number and @mms.att.net
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