The ability to send an electronic mail message to a Short Message Service (SMS) address within the AT&T wireless network allows users to deliver text messages directly from their email clients. This process involves addressing an email to a recipient’s ten-digit AT&T phone number followed by the “@txt.att.net” domain. For example, to send a text to the phone number 555-123-4567, the email address would be 5551234567@txt.att.net.
This functionality provides a convenient way to communicate with AT&T mobile subscribers without needing a smartphone or dedicated texting application. Historically, it bridged the gap between older email-centric communication and the rise of mobile texting, enabling users to leverage their existing email infrastructure for mobile communication. This system offers the advantage of easy message archiving and allows for sending messages from devices lacking SMS capabilities, such as desktop computers.