Send Text Messages through Email for Free on an iPhone

I’m not much of a texter, but the reason for that is because I don’t want to pay extra for texting.  It’s been mentioned many other places that you can send text messages through the AIM app on the iPhone, but until the AIM app allows push notifications then you’ll only be able to talk to people while you have the app open.  In order to get text messaging to work through email, you’ll need an email address that allows push notifications.  If you don’t have one already, I’d recommend signing up for Mail2Web Live.  It’s free to sign up, and easy to set up on your iPhone.  I’m using my account just for sending and receiving text messages.

Now, there’s not much left to do after you have your email address set up on your iPhone.  Whenever you want to text someone you’ll just type in their phone number plus one of the addresses mentioned below (via Tech-Recipes):

T-Mobile:phonenumber@tmomail.net
Virgin Mobile:phonenumber@vmobl.com
Cingular:phonenumber@cingularme.com
Sprint:phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Verizon: phonenumber@vtext.com
Nextel: phonenumber@messaging.nextel.com

where phonenumber = your 10 digit phone number

If you aren’t sure which one to use, you can use the universal one phonenumber@teleflip.com.

Now, you’re message will be sent to the person’s phone number as a text message.  You’ll have to make sure you don’t go over the text limit, which I believe is 140 characters.

Also, when somebody wants to send you a text message they’ll have to send it to your email address.  You may think that sounds weird, but it does work.  I’ve tested this with a couple of my friends.

I have noticed some lag when trying to send text messages.  Sometimes it seems instant while other times it takes up to 10 or 15 minutes.  I think that it has something to do with Mail2Web.  There isn’t much you can do about it, but you can’t complain since it is free texting.

I’ll be hoping for a push enabled AIM client once Apple allows developers to use push.  If you have any other tips, please let me know in the comments.