Sending a text message to a mobile phone from your computer is much easier and faster than doing it from the limited keypad and tiny screen of a mobile phone [source: Pogue].

In this article, we'll show you how to e-mail text messages directly to a mobile phone.

  1. Open your e-mail program and start a new e-mail message.
  2. Enter the cell phone number in the To: box using the format, where "number" is the phone number of the cell phone to which you're sending the message. For example, to send a text message to cell phone 123-456-7890, enter
  3. Type a message of up to 160 characters in the message box and then click Send. Your message will shortly appear on the cell phone. You may want to test it on your own cell phone to make sure it works [source: Pogue].

Note: Many cell phone carriers allocate e-mail addresses to their customers' phone numbers to enable them receive e-mail text messages. If you know the carrier of the cell phone you want to send text messages to, you can use it instead of the domain name. Here are the domain names of some of the more popular carriers:

  • Alltel:
  • Nextel:
  • Sprint:
  • SunCom:
  • T-mobile:
  • VoiceStream:
  • Verizon: (text only) or (photos and video) [source: Slipstick Systems].