I’m not really a big text messager, but occasionally it seems to be the easiest way to get a message to somebody.  I’m pretty fast with the keypad on my phone, even though I don’t do it all that often, but Clint is pretty much agonizingly slow with his.  In any event, whether you’re fast or slow, it seems silly to use that tiny keypad if you have a perfectly good keyboard available, and can use it instead.

Yesterday a friend called to ask me to look something up online for her.  It was a potential birthday present that her Mom wanted her to look at, and she didn’t want to wait until she got home, because she still had several hours worth of errands to run.  I looked it up but I really wasn’t sure what she’d think of it.  I tried to take a picture with my cell phone, so I could message it to her, but the picture just wasn’t coming out well enough to be of any help.

I finally remembered that, at some point in the past year, I’d seen a website that lets you send a free text message from your computer to someone’s phone.  I wondered if there was a similar service for sending pics to phones, and wouldn’t you know it, after just a few minutes of googling, I had several options to try!  I figured I can’t be the only person who might find something like this useful, so I thought I’d test a few out and let you know how well they work.

1)  The first page I found is called PixDrop. It only works for sending pics to Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint users, but that worked out for me yesterday, since my friend is on Verizon.

It was simple to use: select the carrier, type in the cell number you want to send to, and upload your picture. (If you’re wanting to send a pic of something online, you’ll need to download the image [right-click~save image as] or get a screenshot first.)  The message arrived in less than a minute.

2) While I was searching, I decided to look for the text-messaging site I’d seen before.  Turns out, it’s by the same people who did PixDrop!

It’s called TxtDrop.com and it’s also very easy to use: you enter your email address, your friend’s cell phone number, and the message you want to send.  That’s it.  (They also have a Widget for Mac OS X, and a Gadget for Windows Vista, so you don’t have to go to the website every time you want to send a message.)

3)  I checked out one more site for sending text messages from computer to phone, just so I’d have an alternative if the other ever gives me trouble.

It’s called Text4Free, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that (if you’re in the US, and use Verizon, T-Mobile, Cingular, Cricket, US Cellular, or Cincinnati Bell) you can also attach a picture, graphic, or audio file!

4)  I also I tried 811.com.

It looked promising, because it has options for sending audio, video, text, and picture messages, but I ended up being disappointed by it.  I uploaded my picture, and entered the to and from cell numbers, and entered the security code, then waited for my message to arrive.  It didn’t take long but, to my surprise, there was no picture visible!  I had to click a link—which looked to me to be a web link—to view it, and when it did appear, it was very tiny.  Now I’m worried that I will have data transfer charges on my next bill, even though it didn’t warn me first of possible charges. . . .      : (

Last option for today, I promise. . . .

Of course, if you know somebody’s service provider, you can just write an email from your mail program, and send it directly to their phone, provided you stick to short messages. (Long ones may bounce back, or may be truncated or split into separate messages; each provider has a different character limit, and each handles too-long messages differently.)

Because I’d like to keep this post from becoming any longer than it already is, I’m just going to give you links to a couple of pages that have lists of email addresses used by different providers:

1) Link one has a long list of both US and Canadian service providers. (For some reason Verizon is missing from this list, but it’s on the others.)

2) Link two has a chart that also gives info on character limits, plus links to more info, and links to some carrier sites that let you text directly from the site.

3) Link three is a short list of popular US providers, but it has links to much more detailed information about how each handles text messages, and what the cost is to the recipient.

One last option I read about, if you don’t know somebody’s carrier: you can email a message to theirphonenumber@teleflip.com.  You have 160 characters to use, including the subject line, and:

TeleFlip is free to use, without registration, for up to 100 messages per month. If you want to send more than that, you’ll have to sign up for one of their subscription services, which start at $5 per month. It should work with any SMS-enabled phones in the U.S. and Canada.

I’m sure none of this will turn me into a texting fiend, but it may come in handy for sharing photos with certain friends and family members who never remember to check in on our family blog, or our DropShots page.  ahem.