Despite the fact that just about everyone has a smartphone these days and can read emails on the go, there will always be situations where it’s more advantageous to send short emails as texts. This is particularly useful if you’re emailing a non-smartphone user, or need to send a text when you’re away from your phone.
If you want to send a short email to a friend and have it delivered as a text message, you can do it by using an Email to SMS gateway. So long as you know the person’s phone number and the name of their service provider, you can easily find the appropriate gateway address that will forward your message.
For quick reference, we’ve put together a list of some of the most common US service providers and their corresponding gateway addresses below. To use them, compose an email – but rather than entering their email address in the recipient box, simply insert the 10-digit phone number with the appropriate @gateway address behind it. To find SMS gateways for other carriers not listed here, check this list.
| Carrier | Email to SMS gateway |
|
Alltel |
[insert 10-digit number] @message.alltel.com |
|
AT&T |
[insert 10-digit number] @txt.att.net |
|
Boost Mobile |
[insert 10-digit number] @myboostmobile.com |
|
Sprint |
[insert 10-digit number] @messaging.sprintpcs.com |
|
T-Mobile |
[insert 10-digit number] @tmomail.net |
|
US Cellular |
[insert 10-digit number] @email.uscc.net |
| [insert 10-digit number] @vtext.com | |
|
Virgin Mobile |
[insert 10-digit number] @vmobl.com |
**Note: If you’re trying to send an e-mail that’s over 160 characters long, it will be sent through the Multimedia Message Service (MMS). If the person you’re messaging doesn’t have a messaging plan that includes Multimedia Messaging, then they will not receive the message.
Some carriers also offer email to MMS gateways, so if you’d like to send a message over 160 characters to someone’s phone, do a quick search to see if their carrier has an MMS gateway and use it instead of an SMS gateway.