Welcome to Email-to-SMS, Which Includes both SMS and MMS Messaging!
Looking for detailed info in a hurry? Download the email-to-SMS cheat sheet!
The screenshots in this process come from Gmail, but you can use any email provider that’s compatible with our systems. If you’ve received this as an email attachment, then your email is compatible with our systems.
If you’re reading this as an attachment to an email, congratulations! Your email is now set up and ready to send and receive text messages (SMS and MMS). Here’s a quick step-by-step rundown of how this nifty process works.
How to Send Email-to-SMS Messages
This system is designed for person-to-person messaging, not mass messaging. Although Mongotel imposes no limit on the number of texts you can send, sending too many texts in too short a time or too many texts with identical contents can result in the carrier blocking your number without informing either of us.
This is the process for sending text messages from your email. You can send either SMS or MMS messages. Here’s the difference between those two message formats:
SMS—Short Message Service messages are what most people refer to when they say the word “texting.”
MMS—Multimedia Messaging Service messages are text messages that include attachments (like pictures, videos, or emojis).
Step 1: Log in to the email address associated with your number’s email-to-SMS service.
Log in to whichever email provider you used to register for email-to-SMS services.
Step 2: Compose a new email.
In the account tied to Mongotel’s email-to-SMS services, click the button to compose a new email.
Step 3: In the To field, enter the 10-digit phone number of the person you’d like to text followed by “@sms.mongotel.com.”
To send an SMS to multiple recipients at the same time, add all the addresses to the To field (do not use the CC or BCC fields). Each recipient will receive a separate SMS. This will not create a group chat.
Fill out the To field using the same format as shown in the example images above.
Step 4: Disregard the subject line of the email. It will not appear in the text message.
You can enter whatever you like in this field, but know that it will not appear in the text message. Text messages do not include subject lines. However, what you enter in this field will still appear in the Sent folder of your email.
Step 5: In the body of the email, type your text message. Consider removing your email signature when texting.
Keep in mind that SMS messages have a 160-character limit per segment. If your message is longer than 160 characters, it will be sent as multiple SMS messages, with standard messaging rates applying to each message. You might find it helpful to use a character counter, such as https://wordcounter.net/.
This will be the body of your text message.
Step 6 (Optional): Add attachments as JPG or PNG formats to send picture messages.
Only JPG and PNG formats will be sent. Note that JPEG and JPG are not the same thing.
Mongotel’s email-to-SMS service includes the ability to send MMS messages, empowering you to send picture files in your texts. Just click the button to attach files, select your chosen pictures, and confirm.
Step 7: Send the email.
Click the Send button.
How to Receive SMS-to-Email Messages
To receive text messages in your email, all you have to do is check your inbox. You can even reply directly to those messages with Mongotel’s email-to-SMS service. Here’s how.
Step 1: Log in to the email address associated with your number’s email-to-SMS service.
Log in to whichever email provider you used to register for email-to-SMS services.
Step 2: Check your inbox for an email titled “SMS from [phone number] to [your number].”
The format for subject lines of incoming texts will be “SMS from [phone number] to [your number].” See the above image for an example of what this might look like.
Step 3 (Optional): To reply to that message as an SMS, reply to the email, entering the content of your text message in the body of the reply.
Make sure you’re sending the email from the same address that received the SMS.
Keep in mind that SMS messages have a 160-character limit per segment. If your message is longer than 160 characters, it will be sent as multiple SMS messages, with standard messaging rates applying to each message. You might find it helpful to use a character counter, such as https://wordcounter.net/.
Click the Reply button, type up your text message in the body of the email, and you should be good to go!
Wrap-Up
And there you have it! Following these two processes, you should now have a seamless and easy-to-understand method of sending and receiving SMS and MMS messages.
Having Trouble? Contact Support or Try One of These Tricks
Here are a few self-service options that might enable an immediate resolution to the issue. If the problem persists after completing any relevant options from the list below, our support agents will be happy to connect by phone at (718) 942-9990 or email at info@mongotel.com.
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