Tracfone and SMS Email Gateway
It took a little doing…this is not a normal topic I would post here, but the information seems so useful that I decided to go ahead. I’m not a cell phone user. In fact, I don’t really like them…if i’m at my desk or at home and my phone rings, i’ll answer it. If i’m at a movie, out to dinner or some other family outing, i don’t really want people to be able to call me. I know that i’m not the majority. Regardless, there are different technical notifications such as website service outages, etc that I would benefit greatly from getting a notification to my cell phone. For this reason, I purchased a Tracfone with 2 years of activation in advance so that I don’t pay monthly bills, no “use it or lose it” minutes, no reactivation fees, etc.
Some of you might say “I told you…” ut it turns out, the email gateway was not so straightforward…I simply wanted to send myself text messages using the ##########@messaging.tracefone.com or something similar.
You see, Tracfone outsources it network to other national providers. I don’t know the details and after some research, I found a complicated method to determine which provider and thereby which email gateway to use. After following the steps, i determined that that I was on Metro PCS. This was incorrect information. Evidently the database that was used was out of date or maybe never up to date in the first place. It just didn’t work…
But, by this time I had all the formats for the major providers and it occurred to me that there was an easier way. Ready…? Wait for it…
1) send an email to the following addresses:
3215551234@vmobl.com
3215551234@mmode.com
3215551234@tmomail.net
3215551234@myboostmobile.com
3215551234@messaging.sprintpcs.com
3215551234@messaging.nextel.com
3215551234@mymetropcs.com
3215551234@cingularme.com
3215551234@message.alltel.com
3215551234@questmp.com
Note: of course, the above telephone number is not a valid #
2) wait for a message on your Tracfone and when you receive it, send a reply. When you get the reply at the email address you sent the original message to…you know your provider and your email format!
Yes, I know…it seems obvious to me now, but it wasn’t at all obvious before I did it…I spent maybe 2 hours (15 minutes here, 10 minutes there) trying to figure this out on the assumption that it had to be there.
Hope this helps someone else! If it does, post a comment and let me know…thanks!
UPDATED: I just found a great site for saving money on your next Tracfone — This Tracfone Promo Codes site has every available deal along with other helpful how-to info like how to use bonus codes. Thought it might help some of you save a bit!
Colby
Thanks for the research. Works like a charm. Tracfone should be a little more accommodating than this, but it works quite well.
Jim F
you rock. it took me 17 minutes to read this post & tryit. Needed the wiki post for the new att
BTW washington DC is @txt.att.net
cm
yipppppeeeeee!!!!! i got it to work for photos but i cant get it to work for my mp3,s pleeeeeez help thank you
Jack
Your posts have helped alot,but I’m still having problems. I did as you suggested to locate my provider and I recieved a email back, the phone gives me the option to reply. When I try to reply I don’t connect. How do I reply to the sender? When I try to reply it comes up restriction-45,what does this mean? Thanks Jack
Don Malzahn
I had just got off the phone with Tracfone support, and had been told, “we dont’ suport that, but we’re working on it!”. Perhaps one day they will have their own domain @tracfone.com.
Decided, the interwebs has to have the answer to this dilemna. And it did, great blog!
In the Chicago area, my Motorola W260g uses
12345678999@cingularme.com
Note: of course, the above telephone number is not a valid #
Ron from MN
I have the LG600G. Have been on the fone with Tracfone since i got the phone. Had to have them establish my Internet connection first. It wasn’t working. They said it could take 24 hours after getting my phone on. I had to cll back and have them fix again (3rd time) Finally worked. Could be other peoples problems above. Once I got the Internet working I then had to get the email working. I tried the way above (1st with the # he had…ooops.) Then my own. Tried til I got (my##########)@txt.att.net to text me back. Texted it to my phone number and it worked…yeh! Thank you. I am a bit slow.
Ron from MN
Oh by the way that bit Kathy said about the deleting pics & messages is what all the people at Tracfone try first. I had to keep going through Customer Service chain to get someone to fix my Internet Connection so I could get to doing emails.
Tayvl
I bought a W376G for the camera function (the one I had before was nearly identical, just no camera), and find that there doesn’t seem to be a way to get the pictures from the phone to the computer. I don’t have any interest in wasting minutes sending photos by text message, so it appears that I wasted $30 :>) (Not really…can’t complain about that price at all)
Anyone figure out a way to get pics out of the phone other than by text message?
NC_tracfoner
Just some info that may answer a lot of folks questions.
First… Tracfone users a LOT of different networks and may even use more than one in a given area; so saying #@xxx.com works in Mytown, USA may not be the same for everyone in that town.
Second… there are two TYPES of cellphone systems currently, GSM & CDMA. AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM carriers; you know you you have a GSM phone if your phone has a SIM chip. And one note, NO you cannot take the SIM chip out of your tracfone and just put it into another phone like you can with the phones of “regular” carriers. The SIM chip is tied to that phone for life; if you ever change numbers or have to reactivate a GSM tracfone phone, you will have to be sent a new SIM chip! (Oh, bother!!!)
Verizon (Alltel) & Sprint are CDMA carriers. No SIM chip. The thing to note here is that Tracfone sells VERY FEW CDMA phones anymore… only if you are in a rural area that has little to no GSM coverage. And what very few models of CDMA phones they offer have little to no features.
So the trade off… CDMA – larger coverage area, especially rural… GSM – cool, hip neat phones.
“Now what has that got to do with ringtones, etc???”
First, the PHONE must have the capabilities… must be able to receive MMS messages to get the wallpaper or ringtone into the phone. Attachments to regular text e-mails will get stripped.
Second, the CARRIER must allow these messages over their network and you have to find the MMS address in a manner similar to finding the text e-mail address. Not all networks allow this and/or not to all customers because it is a ‘data service’.
Third, Tracfone must have an agreement WITH that carrier to pass MMS messages. You may be on Allcingtel with your tracfone and your friend with an Allcingtel phone is able send/receive MMS but you might not. Tracfone usually only does they have phones on that system that can download ringtones or wallpapers from the TRACFONE WEBSITE. They have NO interest in letting you download free ringtones, as they don’t make money on it… Contract carriers make their money either way, they want you to be happy. But Tracfone has to pay EXTRA to allow you to have MMS, so they must recoup that money somehow.
Usually it is GSM phones that you can manage to get your own ringtones/wallpapers onto. For instance, a Motorola W370… It can receive an MMS message, and they CHARGE you! Once for the message and again for the amount of time it takes to download the file. But even then, there may be limits unlike if you had the same phone on a regular contract carrier. For instance, you can download an MP3 ringtone from Tracfone’s website for a W370, but sending yourself one via MMS… MP3s won’t go. I could only get a MID (midi) file to work. And at that, not all midi files are the same… if you think your gonna take a regular computer midi and use it as a ringtone, think again. It must be converted to a type compatible with cellphones. Just not as easy as you might think.
“But my friend has the same model phone I do and he plugs a USB cable from the phone to his computer and downloads stuff…”
FORGET IT! Tracfone uses special firmware in their phones and they basically disable the USB data connection. Possibly to make bucks selling you ringtones, but just as possible, they remove that software inside the phone to make room for the special prepaid minute tracking and such.
This “disabling of the phone” goes hand in hand with why you cannot use an old Tracfone with a regular carrier… different firmware inside. The bottom line is, if you want to know if you CAN download ringtones to your tracfone before you do a whole bucket of research… Just go to Tracfones website, the “download ringtones” part (use their search and type in “download ringtones”) enter your serial number and phone number. If they offer you some stuff to buy, then you MIGHT figure out a way to get your freebies on… if not, I wouldn’t waste my time searching.
Tracfone may have stripped some fun stuff from their phones… But just remember, you get what you pay for. With the amount of money I save every year compared to a contract… I’ll listen to the crappy ringtones! =^)
Hope this helps someone!
blanket
that was the most helpful thing ever,but is there a way to send a mp3 file to a tracfone over email?
Steve
Great information!
I determined the email address of my tracfone (LG 225) by sending a multimedia message to my yahoo account and reading off the address it was sent from: xxxxxxxxxx@mms.att.net, after which I could successfully send .jpg files as attachments back to the phone and view, set as wallpaper, etc.
Also, I was able to successfully send a ringtone from my computer to the phone, by first using this web site: http://mp3mer.com/ to convert an .mp3 file to ringtone format, then emailing it to my phone as an attachment. I could then save it in the phone, where it appeared on my ringtone list!
Don Malzahn
I own a Motorola W260g tracfone. I wanted to use Yahoo.com calendar reminders sent to my cell via text messages, like I did with my old non-tracfone. When you go to register your phone at Yahoo.com, if the model of your phone is not listed to select, just try a few different ones. It only took my two tries, and I got it to work. My W260g now works at Yahoo.com when I selected the A630.
PS You can select how many texts Yahoo.com sends out per day, in case you go crazy and don’t want to lose too many of your minutes. 8*)
roman
Need help, I know many people are having problem with the flexability of the Motorola w376g, so I’ll just ask to see if I am wrong, hopefully. I have used the above information sms.att.net hell even used txt and mms and I got an email from all three. The only problem is when I try and download the file, don’t know if it’s too big or what, it says 32kb, but either way it won’t download, it kicks out. I was curious if it had something to do with the email gateway in the message settings? Or perhaps I need a way to disable the Bsafe program. Does anybody know where I can do this.
Also will the Warlox Wireless group be able to place a SIM card in that will allow me to keep using the phone?
roman
Guess I should ahve mentioned the 32kb is a ringtone. sorry
Elizabeth
Thanks a lot!!! This helped me so much!
Jess
Yippee it worked I’m so glad i found this site
CT is 5555555555@txt.att.net
thanks
tom
I have tried each one with no luck…..the easiest would be if I could enter my email address in
my address book but Trac will not let me.
I too talked to 3+ people at Trac and none could help–besides barely understanding them.
I just need to find out the string for the carrier but finding what one I piggback off of is the key. Help
Tom
jlee
Thanks for the info, Tracfone in Tallahassee, FL area
0123456789@mmst5.tracfone.com
Sean
Worked for me, too, in Vermont. I was able to help out a customer in a pinch. Burlington area is vtext.com Brattleboro is email.uscc.net
Bless you Bryan!
Denise
Never texted before and you made it sooooo easy. Thanks from Buffalo, NY !!
Antonio
@txt.att.net works for me it should be in your list
Ed
For Tracfone Users:
yourphone#@mmst5.tracfone.com
works in Southern California (Thousand Oaks)
JJ
Works to perfection!
The Del Rio Texas gateway is: 830-***-****@txt.att.net.
Great!
Johnny Sacc
why not just send a SMS message to you email address. thats the easy way
Denise
Hey, just wanted to say thanks for the posts! we upgraded my son’s Tracfone to a w376g hoping that it would be better than the other phone he has….I had to get a new phone number for him so that it would be active immediately…transfered the min. over. And found out that, sure enough, he has full bars on his phone, where as on his old one, he could barely make a call….
Now, I gave this a bit of thought last night after I read a post, on another site, stating that Tracfone uses AT&T and T-Mobile…My husband and I both have phones through AT&T and have terrible reception where we live, so I started wondering if my son’s TF was on T-Mobile. I’ve been searching the internet trying to figure out how to determine this and then I ran across this wonderful post….Out of curiousity, I emailed to the txt.att.net and got a bounce back. Then I looked at the list and found one that I thought might be the T-Mobile and gave it a shot…badda bing, badda boom…worked like a charm. I deleted the message without downloading it to avoid using his minutes…but at least now I know that T-Mobile does what AT&T cannot where I live…May be useful when our contracts are up.
Thanks again!!!!
Denise in Olive Branch, MS
Denise
Oh…And I did try to send a text to my email addy from his phone, but so far it hasn’t come through…at least I got his right on the second try.
Thanks again!!!
Denise in Olive Branch, MS
BG
My wife’s Tracfone has the email address of 1##########@mmst5.tracfone.com. Hope this helps.
Maria
@Ron from MN
I got the same provider (txt.att.net) I followed the steps to find it and it did sent me back my text message, but I do not know how to attach a picture so I can send it to my computer…help!
Maria
@NC_tracfoner
Hi, I got my email gateway (@txt.att.net) but I still do not know how to upload pictures from my tracfone (LG225)to my computer. I don;t know how to email from the fonetrac. Csn you help? Thanks!
Glen Treft
I LOVE my Tracfone!
I dumped my AT&T phone and got out of my cellphone contract when the company changed its terms. (Did you know that if they do that, it voids the contract? They don’t tell you that, but I saw it on the Consumerist site and it worked! No termination fee too. Haha.)
Anyway, I got a prepaid Tracfone and I haven’t ever had a problem with it. I wouldn’t know about the customer service because I never had a reason to call them.
But the best thing about this is that there aren’t any bills and I know what my costs are because I pay upfront for my calls. It’s great!
Lika
@Steve
I use Mp3mer.com too and I really like it. Just upload mp3 file, cut out what you want and you can add a fade at the beginning and/or end of the song. In advanced mode you can add other stuff as well.
A Nony Mouse
@Jim F
Palo Alto in SF Bay Area also through ATT.
Thanks for this site!
Doo-Wop
I seem to be having the same trouble. I was able to reply with a text message but I cannot attach a picture. If anyone could help us, please do. Thanks in advance.
@Maria
Beaugrand
##########@mmst5.tracfone.com worked for me in Indianapolis. Thanks a bunch.
Ed B
This worked great. Thanks for your research.
Jayne
You ROCK!!! Thank you for this blog entry! It worked like a charm! You have earned major karma for this random act of kindness!
(and, for the record, I feel the same way about cell phones that you do).
MrE2u2
Thanks!! @txt.att.net here in Oregon
Edward
Thank-you so much.
For South East Iowa use:
##########@vtext.com
Edward
jman
Thank’s for you help!
boston, MA has the email: 3215551234@txt.att.net
Abe M.
xxxxxxxxx@vtext.com is for vrizon
but im looking for safelink wireless in ny
Renee - SC
I live in SC and have the Samsung Tracfone… this worked for me:
phonenumber@txt.att.net
Thanks so much for this site, I would have never found the email code. I just emailed my phone using that address and it came through as a text. THANKS AGAIN!!!
Jeffrey DeVries
How to get facebook text on tracfone and **other off brand carriers (guide)
You know that to use facebook text you need to pick you carrier from the list. Most tracfone user know by now that tracfone is not on that list. This works because tracfone uses service from T-Mobile and at&t, ect.
1.send a text from your tracfone to you email
2.check you email, find the text from you tracfone
3.look at the address or for something that says “ This message was sent from a [insert carrier here] phone.” or something like it.
4.Put that carrier in the list and good to go.
*Standard messaging rates apply.
** Other off brand carriers may just work the same way.
Audrey
Thanks! genius, worked like a charm
JRB
Just got a new LG600G and cannot play the browser or send email. All the att.net addresses bounce back from cingularme.com.
I’m in 918 (Oklahoma).
Rick Altobello
@mmst5.tracfone.com works in Central Kansas
Jim Oberst
Great post. Worked like a charm. Cingular for central Arkansas.
Brittany
What about sending a message to an international number that uses Vodafone for their carrier? I have the Samsung T301G through Tracfone and I have tried replying to the message but it does not work.
Jinouchi
Just to throw it out there… I’m able to send MP3s to my Motorola W376g, but it isn’t very easy. First, a couple things you should know:
1. ANY file named .mp3 will be stripped. You must rename it .mid (or something else) for it to go through.
2. You may have to send it to an MMS specific address rather than the usual SMS. For example, I had to send mine to #@mms.att.net, as opposed to #@txt.att.net. It’s up to you to find out what your is. Remember, Google is your best friend.
3. The file size must be very small – I forget what the limit is, either 1MB or 500KB.
4. Not positive on this one, but I believe my phone would only play mono files, not stereo. Most audio encoding software should have this option when you’re encoding audio. I’m a Linux geek, so I just use LAME from the command line with the -a option to make it mono.
5. Again, not sure on this one, but if I recall correctly, my phone wouldn’t play files over a certain Kbps. I believe 32Kbps worked fine, don’t know about anything higher than that.
So, using all the above information, you should be able to play MP3s on your phone. I don’t use my TracFone any longer as I’ve gotten a ‘real’ phone with T-Mobile and therefore cannot test this any more to tell you exactly what to do.
One last thing: If I recall correctly (again, I can’t test this anymore, sorry), I was unable to play MP3s once I saved them; I could listen to them just fine when I open up the MMS message, but if I saved it it would not play, so I had to mark my messages with my MP3s to not be deleted and listen to them from there. It’s a pain in the neck, I know, but it is possible.
Just as a side note… If you use Linux, or have Cygwin installed, you’d use this command to create a phone compatible version of your MP3:
lame filename.mp3 -b 32 -a
-b sets the bitrate to 32Kbps, and -a makes the output a mono file. This info probably won’t be useful for very many people, but I thought I’d share it anyway.
It took me many hours over the course of several months to figure out all the tweaks that had to be made, so I hope this helps someone.
Having written this, I’m getting the urge to write a more detailed how-to and post it online. If I ever get around to it, I’ll post a link to it (hopefully that’s allowed here). Anyway, good luck to all!
JR
works great!! thx so much!!
Bob
Great post. For central Vermont area its yourtendigitnumber@vtext.com