By David
Although cell phones and computers started out as separate and distinct entities, this has become less and less the case as time moves forward and technology continues to improve. Now, the line between a cell phone and a computer is so blurred that you can really only differentiate by the level of hardware present in each. As such, it is not surprising that anything you can do on a phone, you can also do on a computer, including sending an online text.
There are three primary ways of doing this:
The first and oldest of the methods for sending an online text is via email. Though the feature allowing you to connect an email account to your phone only became widely available recently, it has been around for quite a while. Utilizing a connected email account, you can send a text message to a friend from your computer and have them receive it on their phone and vice versa, allowing two way text communications using either your computer or your phone.
Instant messaging
The second of the methods available for sending and receiving online text messages is the use of an instant messenger program. Many companies have created instant messengers, allowing users to communicate in a text format with one another so long as they are both using the same program, and online at the same time. Occasionally, some messengers will even allow you to send messages to contacts who are not online essentially leaving them a message so they can get back to you later. When phones started being able to download and install applications to increase their functionality, these companies developed mobile phone versions of the messengers that linked to the accounts people had already established. This allowed people to send messages to their contacts from their computer or their phone and receive them on either media platform as well.
VoIP Applications
The final method for sending and receiving an online text is through the use of a Voice over IP application on your phone. These applications are designed in such a way that they override your phone’s native calling and texting services, instead routing these services through your data connection. The large majority of these applications require that you sign up for an online account prior to being able to set up the application on your phone. The online account will then link to the phone with the app and the two things will work in unison, allowing you to text from your phone as usual, but without the expense of a texting plan. However, because you have an online account, you can also access your messages from the computer. From here, you can read and respond to your messages, being able to contact anyone whose phone number you know as though you were sending the messages from your phone.
Now that you are more familiar with the different methods for sending and receiving online text messages, you can decide which methods are right for you.
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