Have you noticed that when you try to use some of these free online SMS services they don’t work half the time? Well, most of them never worked for me when all I tried to do was send a text message from my home computer to my Verizon cell phone! Moreover, some of them start spamming the phone number with promotional text messages.
So, in this article, I will mention free text messaging sites last, as you should really avoid using them unless you have any other choice. Fortunately, there are several legitimate ways to send a text message from your computer without using shady websites that can sell your data and send you spam.
Send SMS via carrier websites
Many wireless carriers allow you to send text messages directly from their websites. The big disadvantage of this method is that you can usually send text messages through their website to other people using the same carrier. For example, if you are an AT&T customer, you will only be able to send text messages to other AT&T customers through the website.
Here are some links that will guide you through the process of sending a text message through the carrier’s website:
https: //vvv.att.com/support/article.zhsp? sid = 57834 & sv = 820 # fbd = 90X0ShOfcd
http: //vv.verizonvigeles.com/nevs/article/2013/06/computer-to-phone-text-messaging.html
If you can’t figure out where to send a text message on your carrier’s website, just send a Google SMS via carriername website and you will find the answer. If you need to send SMS to someone on another network, keep reading.
Send emails to phone numbers
Another feature most carriers do not know about is the email address associated with your phone number. You can send an email to this special email address and a text message will be sent to this phone number.
The format is a nine-digit number in any domain chosen by the carrier. Here’s everything I could find on the Internet:
AT&T – @ txt.att.net (SMS), @ mms.att.net (MMS)
Verizon – @ vtext.com (SMS), @ vzwpix.com (MMS)
T-mobile – @ tmomail.net
Sprint – @ messaging.sprintpcs.com
Alltel: @ message.alltel.com
Boost Mobile – @ myboostmobile.com
Cricket – @ sms.mycricket.com, @ mms.mycricket.com
Metro PCS – @ mymetropcs.com
Nextel: @ messaging.nextel.com
SunCom: @ tms.suncom.com
Cellular USA – @ email.uscc.net
VoiceStream: @ voicestream.net
Google Voice via Google Hangouts
Another service I use to send SMS messages from my computer are Google Voice and Google Hangouts. Google Voice will allow you to send text messages directly from the Google Voice service after registering for a number, but you can also integrate Google Voice with Google Hangouts to send SMS messages wherever you use Google Hangouts, such as Gmail, the iPhone app. etc.
To set it up, you first need to make sure you have a Google Voice account. Make sure you register using the same email address that you use for your Gmail account. After setting up your number, go to Gmail and click your name in the chat box on the left. If you have chat disabled, you need to go to Settings – Chat and turn chat back on.
Once you check this box, all your SMS messages will go through Google Hangouts and not Google Voice Since Google seems to be moving everything to Hangouts right now, I would suggest that you set it up that way. Now restart Chrome and sign in to your Gmail account again. Find a contact by clicking on the small magnifying glass icon next to your name in the chat section and make sure it’s a US phone number. At the moment, you can only send SMS messages to numbers in the USA.
When the chat window opens, you will see a new icon with the letters SMS written on it. Click on it and new windows will open on the left, and the text field says “Send SMS”. You can send text messages to any phone number as long as it is located in the US or Canada.
MightyText for Android
If you have an Android phone, you have another option for sending text messages from your computer. It works like this: you install the MightyText app on your Android phone, which then links your phone number to your Google account. Then you go to the MightyText site on your computer and it syncs all text messages from your phone.
When you send a message from the web interface, it is sent back to your phone, and then the application sends the message as a regular text message. When you receive a response, the application will redirect it to the web interface. It works pretty well from the reviews, so if you’re an Android user this is a great option.
Use the SMS site
As I mentioned above, SMS sites are the last resort. I tried a lot and tried to list only the ones that actually worked for me.
1. txt2day.com – Easy to use, just enter your 10 digit number, email address (optional), your ISP and a text message. This service is one of my favorites for two reasons: firstly, if you are sending a message to someone and you don’t know their wireless provider, you can find the provider by their phone number, and secondly, if someone starts sending you spam using the service, you can block your number so that you do not receive any messages from this number.
3. SMS Everywhere (http://smseverywhere.com/) is by far the easiest of all text messaging services. All you need to fill out is a number and a message! The great thing about this service, which is an advantage over the other two, is that you don’t need to know the supplier at all, he will do everything for you! It’s great in my book! Just enter the number, enter your message and you’re done!
4. Text’em (http://www.textem.net/) – this service has no clear advantage over other services and actually requires additional actions such as vendor, email address, security code, etc., But, at least it works!
All of these services are for the US only, meaning you can only send text messages to US mobile phones. Of course, you can only SEND for free, the person who receives them will be charged for incoming text messages depending on their plan.
So if you are looking for a quick and easy way to send free SMS text messages from your computer to cell phones, hopefully this article helped. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to leave comments. Enjoy!
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