# text messages to/from comuter/mobil phone

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-messages-to-from-comuter-mobil-phone/555945
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 3, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-messages-to-from-comuter-mobil-phone/555945 "2010-10-03T20:43:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-messages-to-from-comuter-mobil-phone/555945/1 "2010-10-03T20:43:45Z")

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I’ve seen a few ads for sending/receiving text messages between a computer and mobil phone.

Any recommendations? What do I need to know?

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### Author: ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-messages-to-from-comuter-mobil-phone/555945/2 "2010-10-03T21:05:24Z")

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[Google Voice](http://voice.google.com) gets you free online text messages both ways, online voicemails, and automatic voicemail transcription (that gets maybe 60% of a message right, but still).

Google Chat (inside Gmail) lets you send and receive text messages.

Most carriers also have a part of their website that lets you send text messages to their own customers, but I don’t know how you’ll receive them back.

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### Author: ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-messages-to-from-comuter-mobil-phone/555945/3 "2010-10-03T21:37:18Z")

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If you know the cell phone company, all you do is add a sequence to the cell phone number to email them a text - i.e., for T-Mobile, it’s [xxx-xxx-xxxx@tmomail.net](mailto:xxx-xxx-xxxx@tmomail.net). The replies to these go to your email account unless you tell them to send it someplace else.

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### Author: ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-messages-to-from-comuter-mobil-phone/555945/4 "2010-10-03T21:51:35Z")

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> [@needscoffee](#):
>
> If you know the cell phone company, all you do is add a sequence to the cell phone number to email them a text …

Otherwise, have the person with the cell phone send a text to your email address. When you get it, you’ll see the sequence in the “from” address.

I think any phone that can receive text can receive one from a computer email. Just remember the limit to 150 characters.