Everyone knows that it is easy to send a text message from one cell phone to another but what if you want to send a text message to someone’s cell phone from your PC using your email client such as MS Outlook or Yahoo Mail?  Doing so would mean the recipient would have the message within seconds/minutes or the next time he/she powers on the cell phone. 

Here’s how to do it:

NOTE:
The following instructions are for USA telephone numbers, only.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Make sure you have the recipient’s permission to send text messages as some people do not have text messaging plans in place with their wireless provider.  If the recipient does not have a text messaging plan, she/he will be charged for each message received.

NOTE:
Generally, there is no charge to the sender of a text message when the message is sent from an email client that resides on either a personal computer or website.  The recipient, depending on his/her wireless plan, may be charged, however.

You must know both the recipient’s cellular telephone number and wireless provider such as AT&T Wireless/Cingular or Verizon. 

From within your email client simply type the 10-digit cellular telephone number, with no spaces or parentheses, immediately followed by the “@” symbol immediately followed by the domain server name of the wireless provider. 

The domain server names for the three major wireless providers in the USA are: 

AT&T/Cingular = txt.att.net

T-Mobile = tmomail.net

Verizon = vtext.com

The following example illustrates how the email address should appear in either the “To”, “Cc”, or “Bcc” field of your email program:

8005551212@txt.att.net
8005551212@tmomail.net
8005551212@vtext.com

Please note that emails sent to a cell phone as a text message must adhere to text messaging restrictions; most notably the number of characters in the message, generally around 175.  So, keep these messages short. 

If your wireless provider is not described above call them and ask for their domain server address.

Mark Taylor