Rogers has 2 ways (that I know of) for sending short e-mails to people as text messages.
sms.rogers.com
Send an e-mail to [email protected] where TENDIGITPHONENUMBER is your ten digit phone number (i.e. 555-555-5555, but without the dashes). You’ll receive a message looking like this:
Each messages seems to come from a unique 11 digit address, even if the incoming e-mail address is the same. This is a limitation of the rogers system (or specifically “by design”). Bell apparently does not have this limit.
The first was 222220000, the 2nd 222220001, and so on.
NOTE: These incoming number is longer than a phone number (typically 10 digits).
I can’t find any documentation for this, but I did find a rogers technician recommending it.
No idea what the limits are, or how to avoid being blacklisted (if that’s even a thing).
I found a thread talking about a spammer that was sending explicit (ala “hey sexy boy”) messages to people using this method. Of note, the incoming 11 digit numbers were either in 22222xxxx format, or 3333333xxx form. This happened this year actually. It was eventually resolved, I think anyway (the replies in the thread stopped).
pcs.rogers.com
The legacy mail-to-text service. This exists so older non-smartphones can get e-mail. It’s beholden to some limitations, but has some additional features like custom e-mail addresses ([email protected]).
THIS IS NOT WORTH USING. YOU MAY BE CHARGED $5 A MONTH!
IF YOU TEST THIS, MAKE SURE YOU DON’T ACCIDENTALLY SUBSCRIBE.
http://www.rogers.com/cms/html/addons/en/email_to_text.html
Send and receive email via text messaging
- Your phone’s e-mail address is your [email protected]
- You will receive a ‘Message Alert’ when an e-mail is sent to your phone.
- Simply reply “read” to the Message alert if you want to receive the message, or reply “block” to the Message alert to block the sender from sending you future messages
Features & Benefits
- Receive the first 160 characters of each message automatically. If the message is over 160 characters, you must reply MORE to be sent more of the message.
- Create your own e-mail address (eg. [email protected]). Availability is on a first come, first serve basis
- Spam control blocks unwanted e-mail messages
Reply Commands:
<td> <strong>Short Forms</strong> </td> <td> <strong>Description</strong> </td><td class="shrtform_col"> R </td> <td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Reads or gets the next part of the message </td><td class="shrtform_col"> B </td> <td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Adds the sender to your “deny” list (spam control*) </td><td class="shrtform_col"> F </td> <td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Forward the entire e-mail message (including attachments) to another e-mail address </td><td class="shrtform_col"> F </td> <td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Forward the entire e-mail message to a list of e-mail addresses (separate addresses with semicolons) </td><td class="shrtform_col"> Gcc,<br />G cc </td> <td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Retrieves the cc list on a received message </td><td class="shrtform_col"> </td> <td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Replying with any other text will send that text back to the original sender as a reply to the sender's email </td>
To configure the service itself, you send texts to 0000000000 (10 zeros).
<td> Description </td><td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Turns the E-Mail to Text service on </td><td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Turns the E-Mail to Text service off </td><td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Defines your alias (e.g. <i>name</i>@pcs.rogers.com) </td><td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Defines a familiar name (e.g. “John Smith”), in addition to the e-mail alias, for outbound e-mails from your phone </td><td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Turns alerts off for e-mail sent to <i><b>number</b>@pcs.rogers.com</i>. <b>Note</b>: You must define an alias in order to use this command! </td><td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Turns alerts for <i><b>number</b>@pcs.rogers.com</i>back on </td><td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> All replies will be sent to all addresses in the ‘To' and ‘cc' fields of the original received e-mail </td><td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Turns carbon copy reply off </td><td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Add a sender to the “allow” list, removing that sender from the “deny” list if necessary. (spam control*) </td><td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Add any address from a domain to the “allow” list (<i>any user</i>@domain.com) </td><td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Add a sender to the “deny” list, removing that sender from the “allow” list if necessary. (spam control*) </td><td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Add any address from a domain to the “deny” list (<i>any user</i>@domain.com) </td><td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Request service in French </td><td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Returns a list of help topics </td><td colspan="2" class="desp_col"> Returns help for using a specific command </td>
Online Tool
There are also online tools you can access, once logged in to your rogers account, for doing this.
Other Fun Things
It seems if you accidentally text a regular phone line, Rogers will charge you 15 cents, and a robot will read the text.
On Twitter and Text Messages
A text message typically has a limit of 160 characters. This rule should apply above.
Twitter is historically 140 characters because they allocated 140 characters for the message, and 20 for the name.
In practice though, Twitter actually limits your username to 15 characters. Your styled “Full Name” can be the whole 20 characters. I don’t have confirmation of this, but technically 15 characters + “@t.co” is also 20 characters.
http://mentalfloss.com/uk/technology/35957/why-is-twitter-limited-to-140-characters
On Other Services
Replace [num] with a 10 digit phone number (i.e. 5555555555).
- [num]@sms.rogers.com
- [num]@txt.bell.ca – also http://txt.bell.ca
- [num]@msg.telus.com
- [num]@fido.ca – but this appears to be the rogers legacy service. @sms.fido.ca may work
- [num]@msg.koodomobile.com
- [num]@mobiletxt.ca (PC Mobile) – no website, but bell runs the domain
- [num]@vmobile.ca (Virgin Mobile)
- [num]@txt.windmobile.ca – May require activation
- [num]@sms.sasktel.com (Saskatchewan)
- [num]@text.mts.net (Manitoba)
This isn’t trying to be a comprehensive list, but at least lists several of the Canadian ones. I can’t find one for Roam Mobility.