Have you ever needed to send someone a text message but needed to do so from your email? Did you even know that you could? While it may not be news to everyone, I’m sure there a lot of people out there that did not know this was even possible.
There are a couple of reasons you would probably want to send someone a text message via your email.
- It saves money. Well, that is if you don’t have unlimited text on your phone service plan.
- People find it’s easier to type on their computer keyboard than on the mini keyboard on their phone.
Whatever your reason is, this article will help you understand how to send a text message from your email to a cell phone for free.
Before we get started, there are some things that you need to understand, like SMS vs MMS and GSM vs CDMA. First, we will take a look at SMS vs MMS then we will brush quickly through GSM vs CDMA.
SMS vs MMS
So what’s the difference between SMS and MMS? Basically, it boils down to text message length. There’s more to it than that, but for most users, this is the short version.
SMS
SMS is an initialism for Short Message Service, also known as “text message”. SMS allows you send a text only message of up to 160 characters. Anything longer than that will be broken into multiple messages. Most mobile phones support SMS text messages and it’s a great option if you only want to send short text messages to someone with a basic text plan.
MMS
MMS is an initialism for Multimedia Messaging Service. This option is used to send longer messages, pictures, video, audio files, etc. Most new cell phones have multimedia capabilities. However, some of the older cell phones may not support MMS. If this is the case, you can revert back to SMS and send the media in an email.
Set back: With either option, SMS, or MMS, you must know your recipients phone carrier to do this. You can’t use yours.
GSM vs CDMA
It’s pretty well known that there are basically two primary types of phone technologies. GSM and CDMA. As it is now, AT&T uses GSM and Verizon uses CDMA. You can check with your phone provider to see which one your cell phone has. More importantly, you need to know which one your intended recipient has. In the chart below, I have listed the different codes for each when necessary.
Sending a Text Message From your Email
When you need, or want to send a text message via your email account, you can do so easily, if you have the correct address to send the message to. Sending a text from your email is just like sending an email to another email address. Instead of putting an email address in the “To” address line, simply put the recipients phone number followed by the @ sign and the appropriate code extension for their service provider. You can also use the “CC” and “BCC” fields as well in the same manor.
Below is a list of popular carriers in the United States with their SMS and MMS specifications. You may notice that not all carriers support MMS, only SMS.
When using this list, replace the word “number” with the 10 digit phone number you wish to send your message to.
- AT&T:
- (SMS) number@txt.att.net
- (MMS) number@mms.att.net
- Boost Mobile:
- (SMS) number@sms.myboostmobile.com
- (MMS) number@myboostmobile.com
- C-Spire:
- (SMS) number@cspire1.com
- Consumer Cellular:
- (SMS) number@mailmymobile.net
- Cricket:
- (SMS) number@sms.cricketwireless.net
- (MMS) number@mms.cricketwireless.net
- Google Fi (Project Fi):
- (SMS & MMS) number@msg.fi.google.com
- Metro PCS:
- (SMS & MMS) number@mymetropcs.com
- Mint Mobile:
- (SMS) number@mailmymobile.net
- Page Plus:
- (SMS) number@vtext.com
- (MMS) number@mypixmessages.com
- Red Pocket:
- Red Pocket uses AT&T or T-Mobile (for GSM SIMs) &
- Verizon for CDMA. See info. for those carriers.
- Republic Wireless:
- (SMS) number@text.republicwireless.com
- Simple Mobile:
- (SMS) number@smtext.com
- Sprint:
- (SMS) number@messaging.sprintpcs.com
- (MMS) number@pm.sprint.com
- T-Mobile:
- (SMS & MMS) number@tmomail.net
- Ting:
- (SMS on CDMA) number@message.ting.com
- (SMS on GSM) number@tmomail.net
- Tracfone:
- (MMS) number@mmst5.tracfone.com
- U.S. Cellular:
- (SMS) number@email.uscc.net
- (MMS) number@mms.uscc.net
- Verizon:
- (SMS) number@vtext.com
- (MMS) number@vzwpix.com
- Virgin Mobile:
- (SMS) number@vmobl.com
- (MMS) number@vmpix.com
- Visible:
- (SMS) number@vtext.com
- (MMS) number@vzwpix.com
- Xfinity Mobile:
- (SMS) number@vtext.com
- (MMS) number@mypixmessages.com
You can book mark this page to use as a quick reference chart when you need to send a text message via your email.
I admit, it’s not an all inclusive article regarding SMS vs MMS and GSM vs CDMA. But it was meant as a quick reference only and I wanted this article to be short and to the point on the subject.
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this article and found it useful.
Pail Writer 