MSR Consulting TechnoBlog

Send SMS Messages To Cellphones Without Knowing Address

May 31st, 2006

It’s a rare thing these days to find a tool that just simply “works”, does one thing, and does it well.

If you ever have a need to send a message to someones cellphone then you know that the process is straightforward enough as most providers these days have email addresses for your cellphone. You simply send your email to the unique recipients email address for their phone, the providers system translates that into a SMS message and forwards it along to the cellphone recipient.

The difficulty is that all providers have their own unique email format and server, so just knowing someones cellphone number isn’t enough, you also have to know their cellphone email address or the carriers specific address format. Verizon is at vtext.com, Cingular has multiple, some you put a 1 in front of the number, some you don’t, etc., etc.

Enter TeleFlip.com . They only do one thing, make this process easy. If you know someones cellphone number then you are all set. Simply send an email to cellphonenumber_here@teleflip.com (i.e. 1231231234@teleflip.com )and they can figure out which carrier the recipient is with, translate the cell number into the right format, and insure that the email gets sent to the right place.

The beauty of the system is that there is no registration required, no accounts, no advertising banners to view, nothing. Now, granted it’s a relatively simple service they are providing for you but I’m still unclear as to what their future business model is, if any.

Regardless, it’s easy, it works, and it serves its purpose well. If you can’t even remember the name teleflip.com then have no fear, we’ll put up a web page or something on the portal where you can just enter the cell number and we’ll send it to teleflip for you.

In regards to the acceptable formats for entering the cellphone number, according to their site “it’s best to use the 10-digit number, including area code, without extra characters. However, using characters such as hyphens will still work. For example, any of the following are acceptable formats: 3105551212@teleflip.com, (310)555-1212@teleflip.com, 310-555-1212@teleflip.com.”

Please note that at the moment the service only works for cell numbers in North America (Canada, US, Caribbean, Hawaii, Guam). They are working on adding more countries soon.

Cheers,

Matt Ridings

MSR Consulting

Entry Filed under: Internet, Internet Business Tools, Just Plain Interesting, Windows Mobile, Consulting