Retrieve Text Messages Online

Why Receive SMS Online?

The first question that some people may ask is why would you want to retrieve a text message via an Internet connection in the first place? There are several reasons why someone would want to do that!

For example, if there is a particularly special text message that you would like to retain on your computer, getting that message online is perhaps the easiest option. It can be a lot easier (and more official) than typing out the message yourself on your computer keyboard!

For concerned parents, this can also be a useful tool to keep an eye on their children, intercepting all the text messages that the young ones receive.

Also, if you retrieve text messages online, it can be easier to reply to these messages using a standard computer keyboard than to thumb your way through T9 predictive text. This is true even if your smartphone has a QWERTY keyboard like many HTC smartphones and the Motorola Q.

Retrieve Text Messages Online

Depending on where you live, there are different services available that will let you forward or intercept text messages bound for your cell phone, redirecting them to an e-mail address or a Web server.

In researching this topic, we came across a forum discussion at XtremeVBTalk.com. The thread goes through rather in-depth instructions on how to get a PC to read an incoming SMS message, uploading it to a Web server. This is perhaps one of the most technical solutions and probably is not achievable for the average mobile phone user.

Alternatively, you can look into a solution like SMS Backup from Yahoo! India. To our knowledge, this service is not available outside of India at this time, but Yahoo! could be looking to expand to other countries. Basically, with SMS Backup, you forward any text message to a particular number (582438243) and then it is automatically sent to your Yahoo! Mail e-mail address.

Mobile E-mail is Easier to Manage

There are ways to send a free text message, but what about receiving them? Well, you'll find that many mobile service operators like Rogers Wireless and T-Mobile offer a mobile email solution for all of their cellular customers.

Instead of asking friends, family and business associates to send an SMS message your way, you can tell them to send an e-mail to your mobile address. This is easy for Blackberry device users, but what about the rest of us? Well, you'll need to check with your service provider, but you probably already have an e-mail address!

For example, Fido users in Canada have an e-mail address that reads 1234567890@fido.ca, where 1234567890 represents your 10-digit cell phone number. These e-mail messages can be forwarded to web-based services (Gmail, Hotmail, etc.) as well as being sent to your cell phone. This is probably the easiest way to retrieve text messages online.