For some reason some people still think that prepaid cell phones don’t have the same capabilities as monthly contract cell phones.
That’s not quite true. Even prepaid cell phones can receive text messages from email addresses.
How to Send a Text via Email
To send a text message to a pre paid cell phone via email is the same as sending one to a contract phone. There are two very important things that are required:
1. The 10 digit cell phone number
2. The Cell phone service provider
Each cell phone service provider has an SMS address (which usually takes on the form of @name.com) which allows computer folks to send text messages to cell phone folks. The 10 digits appearing before the @name.com is the recipient’s cell phone number, and the @name.com is the cell phone provider’s messaging address. You’re on your own when it comes to the cell phone number, but I can help you with the cell phone service provider’s SNS address.
Listed below are the @name.coms for some of the most popular cell phone providers.
| Service Provider | SMS Address |
|---|---|
| AT&T | @txt.att.net |
| Alltel | @message.alltel.com |
| Boost Mobile | @myboostmobile.com |
| CellularOne | @mobile.celloneusa.com |
| Cingular | @cingularme.com |
| Metro PCS | @mypetropcs.com |
| NET10 | See this post for lookup details |
| Nextel | @messaging.nextel.com |
| Omnipoint | @omnipointpcs.com |
| Powertel | @ptel.com |
| Qwest | @qwestmp.com |
| Sprint | @messaging.sprintpcs.com or @pm.sprint.com |
| T-Mobile | @tmomail.net |
| US Cellullar | @email.uscc.net |
| Verizon | @vtext.com |
| Virgin Mobile | @vmobl.com |
Emailing the Text Message
Now that we have all of the necessary info, it’s time to send the text. So, if I were to send a text message to my friend on the Nextel network, I would open my email program, insert the 10 digit phone number followed by the SMS address in the “To” line. I would then send a short message (remember it’s SMS which stands for short message service) to my friend.

For brevity sake, I usually send the entire message in the “Subject” line, keeping in mind that it’s a text message and not a regular email. Once I start typing in the body of the email program, I know for sure that my message will be too long for the cell phone to accept. The maximum character length of a text message usually falls somewhere around 160 characters.
After I finish my “Subject” text message, I send it. Simple as pie.


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