send email to cell phones

i am not sure there is a way to determine the carrier without knowing it in advance, and even if you could, there is a chance that the carrier would block the text/email if the customer doesnt pay for the appropriate plan (t-mobile, for example, does not allow inbound email-to-text on certain phone plans).

the best way i can think of to determine the email address of the phone "in advance" would be to have the recipient text to your email address first

well, definitely there must be a way of getting this info, as I know some web sites perform this kind of task, for example google offers this service of sending an email to cell without us providing them any info besides the desired cell#..

with number portability now there is no way of knowing who the number belongs to.  
i could have been a sprint number originally but the person could have switched to Verizon and taken their number with them.  most phones now have email so why not just send it as an email

Being this the case, can you please advise how emails could be sent to a phone via SMS not as an email? thanks.

you would have to know the carrier and then set up rules to forward the emails to the appropriate carried.  Rules would be client specific for outlook, exchange, Google, etc.

You did not say why you do not want to use email.  that is the easiest way to do it.

we have already a process that sends an email for all entries that email field is not blank, however this is used for the remaining records that we dont have their email address yet.

Now according to our technician guy, if we manage to send it by sms instead of email, it should not be required to know the carrier in advance, this is where I am stuck now, how to proceed with that...

<I have been using this feature of sending emails to cell phones as text messages >
Technology is changing my friend...

This is the issue with SMS.
SMS stands for Small Message Service.
It was never designed to carry "Emails", attachments, ...etc, but it has eveloved to do so.on a limited basis.

But now, most all smart phoneds will except *emails*, ...so why not just send an email instead?
Then you are not subject to the limitations of SMS (Text messages), but you gain all the advantages of email:
Filtering, blocking, CC, formatting, embedded HTML, tracking, archiving, ...etc
But perhaps the biggest benefit may be bypassing the 160 character limit

(AFAIK), The ability to "find" the carrier is something is something that the carriers "resolve" internally.
(their switches get the phone number then "route" the message to the appropriate carrier, ...then to the device)
So like the other experts here, I am not sure that this is something you can do yourself.

<according to our technician guy, if we manage to send it by sms instead of email, it should not be required to know the carrier in advance,>

Remember this is all digital technology, so while the carrier may not be needed for "phone calls", it may still be needed for text messages.

All this being said, there may be a way to do what you are asking, so let's see what other experts may post

JeffCoachman

Hi Jeff, thanks for your input, just want to clearly explain why its that important to send text messages here.
My client have a database of about 100000 records, from those some have their emails filled in, some have only their cell number, so in this case its not even possible to send emails, lets say for an one time thing, they would send a message asking everyone to reply with their email address..
Besides, when dealing with mass emails, many provides just treat them as spam, as oppose to text messages.
Ben

There are ways to do it by attaching a GSM phone to the computer that will send the Messages
you do not say anything about how they  are going to be sent so here are a few for you to look at.

http://sms-server1.software.informer.com/

http://sms-it1.software.informer.com/

http://management-ware-bulk-sms-from-pc.software.informer.com/

http://microsoft-sms-sender.software.informer.com/

http://headwind-gsm-modem-driver.software.informer.com/

http://drpu-bulk-sms-professional.software.informer.com/



This one looks like it does not need a phone connected but does charge by the message

http://sms-free-sender.software.informer.com/

Also Gmail Chat supports SMS and you may be able to use that.


here is one that is free but no application interface
http://www.txt2day.com/

Thanks HAVARD, I forwarded to our technician, will let you know the outcome.
Attached are both ways we use for mass emails.
massemails-4-28-13.txt

If you are programming it here are some API's to look at as well

http://www.message-media.com/sms-gateway.html

http://trumpia.com/main/developer_api.php

http://www.eztexting.com/sms-services.html

Hi, after looking at all those links above, we saw some that do provide this service, however in order for us to utilize it, we need something that matches the criteria below:
1-if its code that must be integrated with our application, we need it in Vb language.
2-should have the capability to send bulk messages, not only one at a time.
3-something that we can just purchase the software and use it unlimited, not those that charges by # of messages.
4-should have the capability to set a reply address, not that the reply should go to a cell phone.
Please let us know if you find something that can be suitable for our needs,
Thanks Ben

I would still appreciate if someone can suggest a reliable API that works with VBA to get cell carriers.

@Darr247,

Not sure I understand the concept of code in text messages.

But we only send out messages for our existing clients and we do include an unsubscribe option, therefore the only thing to concern is if message did not reach the client, therefore we would like to have a API that returns the current holder of that number including the carrier.

FYI- I know there are plenty avail on the market, however when a tested a few none of them where 100% accurate, and this is why I am looking out for you experts, if you had good experience with one please let me know.

Thanks,
Ben

What you are looking for is https://www.twilio.com/. I use this myself.   Specifically you are looking for sms https://www.twilio.com/sms. The API is very easy to use and there are helper libraries for popular languages https://www.twilio.com/docs/libraries.

In php their example looks like:

<?php

require "/path/to/twilio-php/Services/Twilio.php";

$AccountSid = "{{ account_sid }}"; // Your Account SID from www.twilio.com/console
$AuthToken = "{{ auth_token }}";   // Your Auth Token from www.twilio.com/console

$client = new Services_Twilio($AccountSid, $AuthToken);

$message = $client->account->messages->create(array(
    "From" => "+12345678901", // From a valid Twilio number
    "To" => "+12345678901",   // Text this number
    "Body" => "Hello from PHP",
));

// Display a confirmation message on the screen
echo "Sent message {$message->sid}";

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If you have your information in a database, you would just loop through and send.

There are limitations https://www.twilio.com/help/faq/twilio-basics/how-many-calls-and-sms-messages-per-second-can-my-twilio-account-make?baseUrl=%2Fhelp%2F and as  already said several years ago and still valid, make sure the people you are sending to have opted in to you sending them information.

@Scott,


1- I am currently looking for Carrier verification only, while this seems to be for sending msg's.

2- I see they have examples for different languages, any idea how can I make it work with Access VBA?

Thanks,
Ben

The title of this question is misleading. The entity is not sending email to phones; it's sending texts to phones, with no easy way for the receiver to turn off those texts if they're not the intended recipient.

I have a solution for this in classic asp with vb script. This should get you close enough using vba.

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28331195/Get-Provider-From-Cell-Number.html?anchorAnswerId=39758559#a39758559

There is also a vb script option on twillio https://www.twilio.com/blog/2010/04/using-twilio-with-classic-asp-and-vbscript.html

Essentially, post to the api to get a token, then post the token along with the information you want to send back to the api

Thanks to all participants!