Use Outlook to send e-mail to a cell phone

Outlook can call your cell phone! Now, you might wonder why you’d bother, but it’s a convenient way to send phone numbers, short messages, reminders, and other important stuff to your cell phone so you can store it or share it. For instance, you might send a new client’s phone number and address to your cell phone, just in case you get lost or stuck in traffic.

Of course, you don’t have to use Outlook to send e-mail to just your own cell phone. You can send e-mail to anybody, as long as their cell phone supports Short Message Service (SMS). Fortunately, it’s a truly simple process:

1. Create a new e-mail message.
2. In the To text box, enter the cell phone number using the following syntax: 10-digit-number@carrierdomain.com
3. Create a message of 160 characters or less. Or attach a .jpg file, if the cell phone is also a camera phone.
4. Send the e-mail.

Below is a list of the major carrier domains:

If you don’t know the cell phone’s service carrier, visit whitepages.com or phonenumber.com/reverse-phone, and enter the 10-digit cell phone number using the reverse lookup feature. If you’re lucky, it’ll list the carrier. If the carrier’s domain isn’t listed above, check its Web site.

Keep in mind that text messages aren’t always free. The recipient might be charged for the message.