Looking to text a cellular phone using your computer? There are plenty of simple, entirely free ways to accomplish this. Many web sites claim to allow you to text, but you will often run into situations where you have to provide personal information before sending your message. Additionally, many of these sites are limited to a few specific cell phone carriers, so if the person you're trying to text has a plan with an unsupported carrier, they will not get the text you tried to send.
The most headache-free method to text from your PC requires a copy of AOL Instant Messenger, which can be downloaded for free at http://www.aim.com. This is a popular instant messaging program that can be used to text cellular phones on most major carriers. Since it's a software program that's extremely simple to use, it can be used to communicate via text messages as quickly and easily as you would with a cellular phone, but entirely for free (the person who receives your text must have text messaging enabled as part of their cell phone plan).
Sending Texts from Your PC Using AOL Instant Messenger
Once you've downloaded and installed aim, open the program and select AIM--> New IM
This will open a window where you will select "Or send a Mobile Text Message." Enter the area code and phone number without any spaces or parentheses. For example, entering:
2528888888
in that box would send your text to the phone number (252)888-8888. Once you've entered the number properly, you can type your message in the larger text box below. Click the "Send" key in the bottom right-hand corner to send your message.
Remember that standard texting rates apply to the individuals you text using this method. How and if they are charged for the texts you send depends upon their contracts with their cellular providers. Additionally, texts sent in this fashion are limited to the same length constraints as texts you would send via cellular phone. Some phones are able to break longer texts up into multiple messages, others will only get the first 160 characters of the message you compose.
Additionally, to prevent malicious/anonymous texting, only phones enabled to receive texts via AIM can be reached using this service. However, you can enable just about any cellular phone on any plan to work with AIM at the website linked above, so get the individuals you want to text with your PC to do this and you'll be able to text them (at no cost to you) as much as you please.
