# SMS (textingon mobile phones ) in the US.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sms-textingon-mobile-phones-in-the-us/246537>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 22, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sms-textingon-mobile-phones-in-the-us/246537 "2004-05-22T16:34:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sms-textingon-mobile-phones-in-the-us/246537/21 "2004-05-23T01:41:45Z")

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When I had T-Mobile, I sent international SMSs all the time. Can’t seem to get it to work properly with AT&T though, but I haven’t really tried too hard. And I have had no problems with either carrier as far as sending a message to a subscriber on another carrier.

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**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sms-textingon-mobile-phones-in-the-us/246537/22 "2004-05-23T01:41:57Z")

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I’m not sure how wide-spread this is, but my text-messaging service through Sprint PCS is ridiculously unreliable. I’d venture to say 25% of the messages I send or are sent do not make it. If not for that, I think I’d rely a lot more heavily on text messaging. I send about 40-50 per month as it is.

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**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sms-textingon-mobile-phones-in-the-us/246537/23 "2004-05-23T02:31:39Z")

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> [@XJETGIRLX](#):
>
> I’m not sure how wide-spread this is, but my text-messaging service through Sprint PCS is ridiculously unreliable. I’d venture to say 25% of the messages I send or are sent do not make it. If not for that, I think I’d rely a lot more heavily on text messaging. I send about 40-50 per month as it is.

Do they still make you use the browser to send text messages? Most carriers let you send them directly from the phone’s message center (mobile originated SMS).

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sms-textingon-mobile-phones-in-the-us/246537/24 "2004-05-23T05:50:44Z")

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> [@Mr2001](#):
>
> Also, I’m not sure how accurate this is, but I’ve heard that US carriers are ahead of European carriers in one area: email to SMS gateways. Most (if not all) wireless carriers here have email addresses you can use to send SMS to phones, which is useful for getting notifications from eBay, for example.

From my experience, this wasn’t uncommon in Europe, either. Perhaps it’s more pervasive here, but there are plenty of carriers to which you could send text message in an email formatted [phonenumber@mobileserviceprovider.com](mailto:phonenumber@mobileserviceprovider.com).

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