SeriouslyTrivial.com

I have sent many emails to cellphones as text messages, but never the other way around. My daughter has sent me emails this way before, so I knew it was possible. She said all you have to do is enter the email instead of the phone number.  I tried this on my N95, but the message client would not accept an email address as the number.

Intially, I thought it was a software issue, but it is not. It took me a good part of the day to figure this out and I thought I’d share my findings. I was very surprised how hard it was to find this information!

Apparently, for Verizon customers, like my kid, you can just use the email address. It doesn’t work that way for ATT and has to do with their “SMS-to-Email gateway”.

Of course, one of the things I tried was to send myself a text message from my email account and see what number it came from. Well, it ends up being this weird 10-digit number. I found that I could successfully reply to it, but I’m guessing it’s only a temporary achievement based on the original message and would eventually stop working.

What you have to do is send a message that begins with the email address followed by a space to a special 3-digit number for the ATT SMS-to-Email gateway, either 111 or 121. Supposedly it depends on your area of the US: 111 (e.g., North Carolina) or 121 (e.g., San Francisco Bay Area). I live in LA and 121 worked for me.

For example: Send a text message to 121 with the body of the text message like “me@gmail.com This message will go to my email account.”

I use my email inbox for important “To-Do’s” and this is a great way to add to the list. A great time saver is to set up a template with your email address followed by a space. Also, I set up a Contact named ptw with the 121 mobile number. It’s easier to type ptw than 121 on the keypad. I only wish you could add a subject line, but it’s always blank.

I gleaned most of this info from here and here

Over the last week, I’ve been on the phone to Nokia probably 5 or 6 times. I was on hold for maybe 4 to 5 hours. Fortunately, I’ve got a speaker phone at work and I could just sit there and work while they paid for the call on their toll-free line…hahaha.

Anyways, I hadn’t heard anything on my N97 pre-order so I was calling to find out what was up. Last week, the guy told me that he talked to fullfillment and my phone was going to ship on Monday. Well, still no email or on Monday and I called again. Busy all day. Next day. “Oh I can’t access your order, but I’ll give your number to my manager and he will call you tomorrow.” Well no call the next day…of course…and I called again. “Oh I can’t access your account so I’ll have my manager call you today.” Surprisingly, I did in fact get a call that day. He didn’t tell me, but was about to write up an entirely new order. I told him I got a 25% discount on my pre-order and he said he would have to get back to me the next day and would call at 9am. Well, of course I got no call and called the idiots at Nokia back again. I ended up being put on hold and after 15 minutes it disconnected. I called back yet again. Eventually I was told that my order was cancelled a week ago and they couldn’t offer me the same deal now. I even spoke to a manager to plead my case and describe the HORRIBLE customer service I received.

So how did I got from “your order will ship on Monday” to it was “cancelled a week ago”??? Nokia customer service is fckin stupid. On the bright side I’m thinking maybe I won’t go with the N97. A touch-only device just isn’t good for me. I like tactile buttons. I’m often switching songs or podcasts in the car and touch doesn’t work well in that environment.

I mad as hell at Nokia, but I still like their stuff. The N86 looks like it might be a good replacement for my N95-1 so perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. iPhone 3G S is looking good as well. Guess I’ll wait and see…I’m still mad as hell tho.