Tech Tip: How to Send email to Someone's Traditional Phone
by John Garcia, Technical Operations Team Lead, Customer Care Center
Q: How can I send email to someone’s traditional phone (i.e., not email-enabled)? 
A: Although many businesses use smart phones for their business communications, sometimes there is a need to send a message to a partner or customer who uses a regular cell phone. You can do it right from Outlook if the recipient’s phone supports SMS (short message service). All you need is the recipient’s phone number and their carrier. The major carriers usually create an email address combining a user’s 10 digit phone number and the carrier’s domain name. This allows you to send short text messages to any cell phone.
Below are domains for the major US carriers:
| Carrier |
Send email to phonenumber@ . . . |
| Alltel |
@message.alltel.com |
| AT&T |
@mms.att.net |
| Nextel |
@messaging.nextel.com |
| Sprint |
@messaging.sprintpcs.com |
| SunCom |
@tms.suncom.com |
| T-mobile |
@tmomail.net |
| Verizon |
@vtext.com (text only)
@vzwpix.com (pictures and videos)
|
If the domain for your recipient’s carrier is not listed here, you may check on the carrier’s website or contact their customer service.
Messages longer than 160 characters should be split into multiple messages of 160 characters each. If you know that your recipient has a camera phone, you can send him/her .jpg files from Outlook and s/he will receive them as picture messages.
Also, note that the message recipient might be charged a per message fee for your incoming message.
John Garcia is one of mindSHIFT's 55 Customer Care Center professionals based in Fairfax, VA. He is the Technical Operations Team Lead there.