Did you know you can send a text (SMS) message to any cell phone by simply sending an e-mail?  This guide shows you how easy it’s done and a few ways you can use this tool.

How It’s Done

To send a text (SMS) message to a cell phone send an e-mail formatted like the one below.

Cell Phone Number @ Cell Phone Carrier .com

Below are a few of the top carriers e-mail addresses you need to use to send text (SMS) messages to cell phones.

T-Mobile: phonenumber@tmomail.net
Virgin Mobile: phonenumber@vmobl.com
Cingular: phonenumber@cingularme.com
Sprint: phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Verizon: phonenumber@vtext.com
Nextel: phonenumber@messaging.nextel.com

Don’t Know Their Cell Phone Carrier? No Problem.

If you don’t know the person’s cell phone carrier you want to send a text message to you can send the e-mail to phonenumber@teleflip.com.

Please Note: Include the area code in the phone number of the e-mail address you are sending a text message to.

How Can I Use This?

You can use this tool to send messages to coworkers.  You can send large batches to groups of coworkers by putting their cell number e-mails in groups and sending your messages to each group of people.  This can remove the need to have pagers.

For System Administrators (like me) who have network monitoring software you can have the software send major network or server errors to your cell phones SMS e-mail address.

I’m sure people with a little technical know-how and a good imagination can come up with a few cool and useful ways to use this tool.