
To send an email to a cell phone, you just need to know the receiver’s cell phone number and find out his service provider…
There are many people who have a misconception about sending an email to cell phones. They think that for the receiver to get the email, he necessarily needs to have Internet access on his mobile phone. However, the truth is that emails can be sent to a cell phone that does not have Internet connection.
Sending an Email to a Cell Phone
You would obviously need the recipient’s number, but more importantly, the service provider. You need to remember that the email that you send would not be received in the email format. The message will be received in a text or an SMS format. If the receiver wants to view the message in an email format, he would require Internet access. You also need to remember that if the message is longer than is permitted in a single message, it would be broken down into separate SMSes and then be received by the user.
Nowadays, a majority of service providers offer the services of letting a cell phone receive emails, but in a text format. This service is made available with the help of email to SMS gateways which do the job of receiving emails and sending them to the recipients in the form of text messages.
To find out the service provider of the number you want to send the email to, you may need to use the Internet. You need to use a site where you can find the details of any phone number. The results would also include the name of the recipient’s service provider. After you know which service provider the recipient’s number belongs to, you can find the appropriate email address of the service provider.
Typically, the address of the gateway differs from company to company. The format of the receiver’s email would be his phone number, followed by ‘@’, the service provider’s extension, and the domain name. For example, in case of Verizon Wireless, the address would be something like [email protected]. An important point that is not to be missed is checking the domain name.
Some addresses have domain names like .com or .net, while others may have an extension followed by these conventional domains. With service providers like AT&T, you can also send an MMS to the recipient. However, the receiver’s mobile phone is required to have the MMS facility. The following are email to SMS gateway addresses of some of the most common service providers in the US.
AT&T: (phone number)@mobile.att.net
T-Mobile: (phone number)@tmomail.net
Nextel: (phone number)@messaging.nextel.com
Sprint: (phone number)@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Cingular: (phone number)@mycingular.com
Verizon Wireless: (phone number)@vtext.com
If you are thinking about the charges for receiving an email, they may vary as per the service provider’s policies. Though it seems unlikely that you might ever need to use such a way to get a message across, it is better to know about it in case of emergencies.