How to Send Text Messages Using an Email Address [2024 Update]

Paying for cell phone service can be expensive. Especially if you have a really high-end phone, the bill for monthly service can be way out of your price range. So what are you supposed to do if you want to own a nice cell phone, but don’t want to pay for service? One solution is to get your texting and calling done by other means.

There are apps you can download that will allow you to text and call for free, but not all phones support these apps and you might be limited in the amount of call time you get or the amount of texts you can send. Thankfully there is one completely free way you can send text messages that doesn’t require any other downloads or services, texting via email.

Many people are completely unaware that almost every mobile company has an email address for texting that you can use your own email address to send texts to, thus effectively sending a text message from your email account directly to someone’s cell phone inbox. Let’s take a more in-depth look at just how you can accomplish this, and what the pros and cons are of texting via email, especially if you are trying to text many people at once.

How to Text via Email

1. Composing the Email
2. Sending the Email
3. Email Transmission
4. Gateway Processing
5. Converting to SMS
6. Routing to Recipient’s Mobile Device
7. Receiving the Text Message
8. User Reads The Text Message

Step 1: Composing the Email

Open your preferred email client or service (e.g., Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail). Create a new email by clicking on the “Compose” button.

In the “To” field, enter the recipient’s phone number followed by the specific email-to-SMS gateway address of their mobile carrier. The format is usually phonenumber@sms.gatewayaddress. Replace “phonenumber” with the recipient’s actual phone number and “sms.gatewayaddress” with the appropriate gateway domain for the carrier (e.g., 1234567890@txt.att.net for AT&T).

The “Subject” field can be left empty or can be used to provide a subject for the SMS (not all carriers support this).

In the body of the email, type the text message that the user wants to send. The content of the email will become the content of the text message.

Step 2: Sending the Email

Once the email is composed with the recipient’s phone number and the text message content, click the “Send” button to send the email.

Step 3: Email Transmission

The user’s email service will send the email to the recipient’s email-to-SMS gateway address, which is managed by the recipient’s mobile carrier.

Step 4: Gateway Processing

The email-to-SMS gateway receives the email and processes it. It extracts the text message content from the email’s body.

Step 5: Converting to SMS

The gateway converts the email’s text message content into a format suitable for SMS. It may also truncate the message to fit within SMS character limits (usually around 160 characters per SMS).

Step 6: Routing to Recipient’s Mobile Device

The gateway routes the converted SMS message to the recipient’s mobile device via the carrier’s SMS infrastructure.

Step 7: Receiving the Text Message

The recipient’s mobile device receives the SMS message and displays it as a standard text message. The sender’s email address may be displayed as the sender, or the gateway’s address may be used, depending on the carrier.

Step 8: User Reads the Text Message

The recipient reads the text message on their mobile device, and the communication is completed.

How to Send Bulk SMS via Email Gateway

Send bulk SMS messages via email gateway by preparing a recipient list with opted-in phone numbers, generating recipient email addresses using carrier-specific email-to-SMS gateway domains, composing a bulk email with text message content, and sending the email to all generated addresses, allowing email-to-SMS gateways to convert and deliver the messages to recipients’ mobile devices.

Email to SMS Gateways (United States)

Below you will find a list of the top email to SMS gateways for carriers in the United States of America:

Email to MMS Gateways (United States)

Below you will find a list of the top email to MMS gateways for carriers in the United States of America:

(This list of gateways can change and it is recommended you double check with each carrier prior to sending out any email-to-SMS messages.

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One of the advantages to sending texts via email is the fact that it’s completely free. You could however incur some charges if you send too many texts within a short time frame, as the mobile carrier might block or limit your domain from sending messages and you will have to pay a fee on a per-message basis if you want to keep sending texts at your current rate. We will discuss other services  which are superior to email texting if you are trying to communicate with many people at once or provide other options to them such as polls and surveys.

Cons of Texting via Email

While this is a neat little trick you can use if you ever find yourself out of service or without a cell phone, texting via email does have its drawbacks. Unlike normal mail, email will never be a guaranteed delivery service. There can be problems with the network or any number of issues that prevent your text from being sent on time.

As stated above, if you are trying to send a lot of messages with this method, you could find your domain blocked within a very short period of time. Mobile carriers have every incentive to limit this type of communication and they can do so at their own discretion. If they think you are spamming or getting too much use out of this free texting loophole, they will not hesitate to throttle your traffic or block your messages entirely.

Character Limit

Another downfall to texting via email is the fact that you are limited to a certain character length. If you go over that character length, your message will be chopped up into pieces or it might not get to its recipient in its entirety. The caller Id from an email text message is also very long.

Formatting Issues

When attempting to repurpose email content for SMS messages, it’s important to acknowledge that the transition between these two formats may introduce formatting challenges. This can occur due to the inherent differences in how emails and SMS messages are structured, including factors like character limits and text handling. As a consequence of this conversion, issues can arise in the presentation of the message’s visual elements, potentially affecting its overall appearance and readability.

Deliverability

While utilizing email-to-SMS gateways can facilitate the transmission of SMS messages, it’s important to recognize that the immediacy of delivery isn’t always guaranteed. Delays can arise from various factors, including technical glitches within the gateway infrastructure or constraints imposed by the mobile carriers involved in the message routing process. These delays could potentially result in texts not delivering in real-time, which may be particularly pertinent when time-sensitive information or urgent communications are at play.

Superior Alternatives

If you’re looking for a better way to communicate with many people at once and even be able to conduct things like surveys and send custom texting notifications, you should look into mass notification services such as DialMyCalls. DialMyCalls is a much more efficient method for mass communication and notification, and it’s perfect for sending updates to your contacts.

You won’t have to worry about chopped up messages, limited sending capacity or other troubles with DialMyCalls. Whether you are organizing a party or event, sending SMS for schools, or looking to keep in touch with many employees or contacts at once for any reason, DialMyCalls’ web-based software is the perfect solution to your mass notification needs.

Should Your Business be Using Email to SMS?

Deciding whether your business should use email-to-SMS depends on various factors that align with your communication goals and target audience preferences. Email-to-SMS can be beneficial if you need to reach customers who rely more on their mobile devices than email, especially for time-sensitive alerts or personalized promotions. However, consider the potential limitations such as character count, formatting issues, and potential costs for recipients.

Key Takeaways for Texting Using an Email Address 

If you are ever in a pinch and need a way to communicate for free via text, you can send text messages to any major mobile service provider by using the guidelines in this article. This is very useful information to know in case of financial emergency, and if you are just planning to send a few texts here and there you will have no problem at all getting your message across within a decent amount of time.

Send Mass Texts and Emails with DialMyCalls

To ensure that your important texts, such as updates on Sunday service via church texting, are delivered quickly and effectively, it is recommended that you use our mass texting service. Do not rely on the outdated method of sending text messages via email gateways and start using the power of DialMyCalls.

Send your entire opted-in list of contacts a text message in just a few clicks – sign up for an account today to get started.