Texting From Phone To Computer

[zoobyshoe]

A certain friend of mine reached my e-mail from her cell phone with a text message. I was bewildered and fascinated, and didn't know such a thing was possible. I tried to see if this was reversable and wrote a reply, which apparently she recieved.

I asked another friend to try this but she didn't think it would work because her phone is "not connected to the internet".

The first friend has not answered any of my querries about how this works, how she got the message to my e-mail from her phone (busy or something). I'm wondering if anyone knows what needs to be in place to be able to do this. Do you need a special internet connection with your cell phone service to send a text to someone's computer by e-mail or is this some sort of standard capability all cell phones have? I have never had a cell phone and have no idea how they work.

 

[Moonbear]

Some email providers have arrangements with some cell phone companies that allow you to do that once you've registered an email account to pair up with your cell phone.

You can send a text message from email to anyone who can receive text messages...that part is standard.

Though, yes, if you have web access as part of your cell phone plan, you can send and receive directly from your email accounts using your phone, but it doesn't sound like that's what you're talking about.

 

[zoobyshoe]

You can send a text message from email to anyone who can receive text messages...that part is standard.

How do I do this? Just put their phone # in as the e-mail address?

 

[Astronuc]

My cell phone has internet access and can text message to emails. I don't do that.

One of my colleagues likes to email via phone, but checks email on his PDA.

I really don't want to be that connected.

 

[J77]

Don't most phones these days have a windows operating system in them -- they're more like PDAs that you can make phone calls on.

My mate has one which doesn't have keys -- just a little PDA type stick for prodding the screen with.

 

[Art]

Most mobile providers provide a facility for their customers to send and receive SMS text messages via email. The email address for a Verizon mobile for example would be xxxxxxxxxxxx@vtext.com (x = the recipient's mob. ph#). If the mobile provider doesn't support this service it can still be done but gets a lot more complicated as you will need to use a 3rd party SMS carrier service.

As it is SMS - short messaging service - the text must be kept short typically <132 char's otherwise it could be rejected.

AFAIK you only need internet capability on your mobile if you want to use instant msging or full email capability.

There are free widget downloads available to make sending SMS msgs from your computer very easy as they will identify the domain name for you.

 

[J77]

It's a bit more advanced than that these days... click: http://nds1.nokia.com/tutorials/support/global/phones/e65/english/index.html and look at their email demos...

or you could just go for the full-hog: http://shop.nokia.co.uk/nokia-uk/product.aspx?sku=3501381&culture=en-GB?cp=localbuynow?home=n800

fone-porn

 

[zoobyshoe]

There are free widget downloads available to make sending SMS msgs from your computer very easy as they will identify the domain name for you.

I googled sms widget downloads and it seems all these are for macs. One that seemed like it might work for windows was a pay service 39.00 per month, and another required me to enter my mobile phone #, and I don't have a mobile phone.

Here's my situation in specific:

I have a PC with dial up connection, Windows xp. I do not have any mobile phone. I have her mobile phone number, but no info about what kind of service she has.

How do I proceed to try and send her a text message?
----
In the original case, recall, the person texted my computer first and all I had to do was hit reply as to a normal e-mail. This second person doesn't think her phone has the capability of initiating e-mail contact with me since she's "not connected to the internet" and has no idea what to try.

 

[Evo]

There are many ways to do it. Find out which cell phone company she uses. For example if she is on Sprint or Nextel, you would simply go to www.sprint.com look in the lower right hand corner of the screen, you'll see a drop down box to send a text message to her phone, you don't need a cell phone to send text messages to someone's cell phone.

If you have a cell phone with internet access, you would simply got to the web mail address of your e-mail account, like www.yahoo.com open up your e-mail like you would if you were sitting at your computer and send and receive e-mail as usual. If your friend also has internet access on their phone they can also use their normal POP 3 (web based) e-mail service.

Zooby if you want more info pm me, I'd be glad to phone you if you want.

 

[Astronuc]

I haved received a text message from ###########@txt.att.net, where the number is before the @. The body of the email may have some information as to the system of origin of the email.

 

[zoobyshoe]

There are many ways to do it. Find out which cell phone company she uses. For example if she is on Sprint or Nextel, you would simply go to www.sprint.com look in the lower right hand corner of the screen, you'll see a drop down box to send a text message to her phone, you don't need a cell phone to send text messages to someone's cell phone.

Thanks Evo. I don't know what company she has but I can find out later. I see on that Sprint page, though, that they ask you to log in at the top. I wonder if I can send a text without setting up an account I have to log in to, or, if not, if I can set up an account even though I don't have any Sprint or Nexus services?

 

[zoobyshoe]

I haved received a text message from ###########@txt.att.net, where the number is before the @. The body of the email may have some information as to the system of origin of the email.

I'm thinking that all I need to know is what comes after the @ in the case of any specific phone to address a text to it, but I don't know how to find that out unless they've texted me first.

 

[Evo]

Thanks Evo. I don't know what company she has but I can find out later. I see on that Sprint page, though, that they ask you to log in at the top. I wonder if I can send a text without setting up an account I have to log in to, or, if not, if I can set up an account even though I don't have any Sprint or Nexus services?

No, you don't need an account, or at least I didn't when I used it.

Edit: No need to register, you just send a message.

 

[zoobyshoe]

No, you don't need an account, or at least I didn't when I used it.

Great. I'll try this, then.

But will she be able to reply?

 

[Evo]

Great. I'll try this, then.

But will she be able to reply?

She'd have to e-mail you since you don't have a cell phone she can send to. Hopefully she's on a full service provider.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I haved received a text message from ###########@txt.att.net, where the number is before the @. The body of the email may have some information as to the system of origin of the email.

According to this site:

http://tinywords.com/mobile.html

texting is already an email service. Each phone has an email address. If you text someone you are sending the message to that email address. Everything after the @ is the email address. It could be if I can text her directly from my email as soon as I find out what cell phone company she uses. All the major email "suffixes" are listed at that site, and the "prefix" will be her phone number. She should be able to reply just as I can reply to email from any other email service.

 

[larkspur]

According to this site:

http://tinywords.com/mobile.html

texting is already an email service. Each phone has an email address. If you text someone you are sending the message to that email address. Everything after the @ is the email address. It could be if I can text her directly from my email as soon as I find out what cell phone company she uses. All the major email "suffixes" are listed at that site, and the "prefix" will be her phone number. She should be able to reply just as I can reply to email from any other email service.

Try replying to the message she sent to you. The address should appear in the "To" box. The complete address should also show up in the headers of her messages.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Try replying to the message she sent to you. The address should appear in the "To" box. The complete address should also show up in the headers of her messages.

She has never messaged me:

In the original case, recall, the person texted my computer first and all I had to do was hit reply as to a normal e-mail. This second person doesn't think her phone has the capability of initiating e-mail contact with me since she's "not connected to the internet" and has no idea what to try.

 

[larkspur]

She has never messaged me:

Sorry, I missed that part...

 

[Gale]

If you have an instant messenger, like AIM, MSN, or Yahoo, you can text any phone through an instant message. Likewise, you can message anyone online from a cell phone text. A lot of email accounts will send you a text when you receive an email, but I don't believe you can reply to those.

 

[zoobyshoe]

If you have an instant messenger, like AIM, MSN, or Yahoo, you can text any phone through an instant message. Likewise, you can message anyone online from a cell phone text. A lot of email accounts will send you a text when you receive an email, but I don't believe you can reply to those.

I have never instant messaged anyone, but I think I have such a capability around here somewhere.

If I find where I put it, what do I need to know to send text from my computer to their phone? Is their phone number sufficient?

 

[Gale]

All you need is the phone number. I know for AIM, instead of a screen name you type in a + sign, then 1, then their phone number, with area code. With MSN (now windows messenger) you add contact, and just put in the phone number and name of the person you want to text. I'm not sure what the procedure is for yahoo, but i assume its similar.

 

[zoobyshoe]

OK, the problem is solved. She was easily able to send a text message to my email address once I persuaded her to try it even though she didn't think she was "connected to the internet." You don't need any instant message service for this, just regular email and a phone with text message capability. When you go to send a text on any phone there is some sort of "options" menu that includes email, and you select that, and put in the person's email address.

This particular person works a 12 hour graveyard shift and sleeps when she can. I wanted to avoid calling her cause I woke her up once, and I hate doing that to someone who needs all the sleep they can get.

Her internet connection is, indeed, turned off, but it's not necessary for this. Another guy who had his cell internet connection turned off was also able to text me in spite of that.

 

[Evo]

OK, the problem is solved. She was easily able to send a text message to my email address once I persuaded her to try it even though she didn't think she was "connected to the internet." You don't need any instant message service for this, just regular email and a phone with text message capability. When you go to send a text on any phone there is some sort of "options" menu that includes email, and you select that, and put in the person's email address.

This particular person works a 12 hour graveyard shift and sleeps when she can. I wanted to avoid calling her cause I woke her up once, and I hate doing that to someone who needs all the sleep they can get.

Her internet connection is, indeed, turned off, but it's not necessary for this. Another guy who had his cell internet connection turned off was also able to text me in spite of that.

Good to know. I know you can text between phones without internet, but I didn't know they would allow text to e-mail without it.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Good to know. I know you can text between phones without internet, but I didn't know they would allow text to e-mail without it.

Yeah. I should think anyone with a cell phone and computer could try this: turn off your phone's internet capability, if any, and then try sending a text message to your email.