# How to send a ttext message to Chinese cell phone

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-send-a-ttext-message-to-chinese-cell-phone/533134>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 20, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-send-a-ttext-message-to-chinese-cell-phone/533134 "2010-03-20T14:49:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Thinktank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Thinktank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thinktank)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-send-a-ttext-message-to-chinese-cell-phone/533134/1 "2010-03-20T14:49:41Z")

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Hi, I’ve searched around for free text messaging on the web, stuff that doesn’t force you to sign-up.  
I’ve found a few that allow you to send international text messages to cell phones for free but all of them I’ve found require you to provide the cellphone service provider. I don’t know this.  
I have a very old friend in Hong Kong, they don’t speak very good English but I have their phone number. I know the no-brainer would be to call them, but the question is: How can I send an international text message (from the US) to a Hong Kong cell phone without knowing their service provider? Your help is appreciated, thanks

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-send-a-ttext-message-to-chinese-cell-phone/533134/2 "2010-03-21T04:12:08Z")

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Why is it a big deal to call them and get the name of their service provider? You seem to be making this an unnecessarily complicated exercise.