# Email-to-SMS gateways in 2026: which US carriers still support them, and what to use instead

> Email to SMS gateway list for US carriers in 2026: AT&T ended email to text in June 2025, Verizon calls vtext legacy. Status, sources and what to use instead.

Canonical: https://mobilevalidate.com/blog/email-to-sms-gateways-2026 · Last updated: 2026-10-14

![An envelope routed through a flagged mail gateway to a phone with an unknown status, below it an API console sending through a tower to a phone with a delivered message, beside a carrier list with one gateway closed and the rest unknown](https://mobilevalidate.com/images/blog/email-to-sms-gateways-2026.svg)

*Email-to-text gateways are closing or unconfirmed; registered A2P SMS returns a delivery receipt*


By MobileValidate team (https://mobilevalidate.com/about) · Published: 2026-10-14 · Category: Deliverability · Tags: Email to SMS, SMS gateway, A2p SMS, 10dlc, Carrier lookup, Deliverability, US

Email-to-SMS gateways are mostly gone for US businesses in 2026. AT&T shut its email-to-text service on 17 June 2025. Verizon still documents vtext.com but calls it a legacy, low-volume consumer platform that isn't meant for business messages. We found no current T-Mobile or UScellular documentation. For anything a business sends, use registered A2P SMS through a messaging provider instead.

This guide gives the carrier list with a source for every status, explains why gateways fail even where they still exist, and shows what to move to. If you have a gateway that still sends alerts to your own team's phones, the last sections explain how to keep that working while you migrate.

## What is an email-to-SMS gateway?

It's a mail server run by a mobile carrier that turns an e-mail into a text message. You address the e-mail to the subscriber's 10-digit number at the carrier's domain, for example `5555555555@vtext.com`, and the carrier delivers the body as an SMS (or as an MMS on a separate picture domain).

Gateways date from the early days of SMS, when e-mail was the easiest way for a computer to reach a phone. They became a free shortcut for server alerts, paging systems, appointment reminders and small-business notices. Three properties made them convenient and also make them fragile:

- **The domain is per carrier.** You need to know which network serves the number. There is no shared domain that works for everyone.
- **The input is ordinary e-mail.** It goes through the carrier's mail filtering, not through the controls that apply to business SMS.
- **There is no contract.** Gateways are a consumer feature. The carrier can filter, throttle or close them, and several have.

## Which US carriers still support email to text in 2026?

Only Verizon still documents a gateway on its own site, and it says the gateway is not for business use. Here is what each carrier's own pages say, as checked on 14 October 2026:

| Carrier | Gateway domain (SMS / MMS) | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T (AT&T Wireless) | `txt.att.net` / `mms.att.net` | **Ended 17 June 2025**, in both directions | [AT&T support article](https://www.att.com/support/article/wireless/KM1061254/), last updated 14 August 2025; domains from [community-maintained list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_gateway) |
| Verizon | `vtext.com` / `vzpix.com` (often listed as `vzwpix.com`) | **Documented as a legacy platform** for "low-volume consumer traffic only"; not for A2P | [Verizon support page](https://www.verizon.com/about/privacy/account-security/email-to-text-faqs) |
| T-Mobile | `tmomail.net` (as commonly listed) | **No current carrier documentation found**; check with T-Mobile | Domain from [community-maintained list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_gateway) |
| UScellular | `email.uscc.net` / `mms.uscc.net` (as commonly listed) | **No current carrier documentation found**; check with the carrier | Domain from [community-maintained list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_gateway) |
| Prepaid brands and MVNOs | Varies by brand | Usually depends on the host network; check with the carrier | — |

Three details matter when you read this table:

- **AT&T's shutdown is complete.** Its support article says: "Effective June 17, 2025, you can no longer send or receive texts using email." It also says people with AT&T Wireless can't use e-mail to text you, and you can't use text to e-mail them ([AT&T](https://www.att.com/support/article/wireless/KM1061254/)).
- **Verizon's page discourages business use in plain words.** It says "Vtext/VZpix is not intended for business/non-consumer (also known as A2P) messages", and that "most messages sent via email-to-text are from spammers". Subscribers can block the feature by texting `Off` to 4040 ([Verizon](https://www.verizon.com/about/privacy/account-security/email-to-text-faqs)). Some third-party sites report a planned retirement date. We could not find one on Verizon's own pages, so ask Verizon if you depend on it.
- **UScellular's wireless business now belongs to T-Mobile.** T-Mobile's purchase of UScellular's wireless operations, including its customers, closed on 1 August 2025 ([Cleary Gottlieb](https://www.clearygottlieb.com/news-and-insights/news-listing/t-mobile-completes-acquisition-of-uscellulars-wireless-operations-and-select-spectrum-assets)). As customers move to T-Mobile systems, any UScellular gateway behaviour may change. Check with the carrier.

Lists of gateway domains are easy to find online, but most are copied from each other and few cite the carrier. If a carrier doesn't document a gateway today, treat it as best effort that can stop at any time.

## Why are email-to-SMS gateways unreliable for business?

Even where a gateway still accepts mail, it fails in ways you can't see. The short version: no delivery receipt, heavy spam filtering, and a hard dependency on knowing the right carrier.

| Problem | What happens | What A2P SMS gives you instead |
|---|---|---|
| No delivery receipt | The mail server accepts the e-mail; you never learn whether a text arrived | A delivery receipt per message from your provider |
| Spam filtering | Mail can be rejected, delayed or dropped silently, often in bulk | Registered senders with carrier-reviewed use cases |
| Subscriber opt-out | A Verizon subscriber can block all email-to-text with one keyword | Per-sender opt-out (STOP) that you record and honour |
| Carrier must be known | Wrong domain = no message, and often no bounce | The provider routes by number; you don't pick a carrier |
| Ported numbers | The old carrier's domain is wrong after a port | Routing follows the number automatically |
| Formatting limits | Subject lines, long bodies and attachments are truncated or mangled | Defined encoding and segment rules |
| No support or terms | A consumer feature that can change or close without notice | A contract, a status page, support |

**No delivery receipt.** An SMTP "250 OK" means the carrier's mail server accepted your message, nothing more. You can't tell a delivered text from one that was filtered, truncated or dropped. Our post on [SMS delivery receipts vs HLR lookups](/blog/sms-delivery-receipt-vs-hlr-lookup) explains what a real receipt tells you, and why even that has limits.

**Spam filtering.** Carriers filter gateway mail hard because, in Verizon's words, most of it comes from spammers. Legitimate senders share that reputation. A burst of alerts after an outage looks exactly like the traffic the filters are built to stop.

**The carrier must be known, and porting breaks it.** Since 24 November 2003, US mobile subscribers can keep their number when they switch carriers ([FCC](https://www.fcc.gov/general/wireless-local-number-portability-wlnp)). The area code and exchange show where a number was first assigned, not who serves it now. Someone who moved from Verizon to T-Mobile keeps the number, but `number@vtext.com` no longer reaches them. Many ported numbers silently stop receiving gateway messages, and nothing in your logs says why. Our post on [why carrier lookups go wrong after porting](/blog/mobile-number-portability-why-carrier-lookups-can-be-wrong) covers the mechanism.

If texts already fail for other reasons, our [cause tree for undelivered SMS](/blog/why-sms-is-not-delivered) walks through invalid numbers, unreachable phones, landlines, filtering and handset issues.

## What should businesses use instead of email to text?

Use application-to-person (A2P) SMS: send through a messaging provider's API from a registered sender. In the US that means one of three sender types, each with its own registration:

| Sender type | Registration | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 10DLC (ordinary 10-digit number) | Brand and campaign registration through your provider | Most business messaging: alerts, reminders, OTP, customer care |
| Toll-free number | Toll-free verification through your provider | National senders, customer service |
| Short code (5–6 digits) | Separate application and carrier approval | High-volume programmes |

Our [A2P SMS explainer](/blog/a2p-sms-explained) covers how the traffic flows and what drives the cost. 10DLC registration explained walks through brands, campaigns, timelines and throughput. The move gives you three things a gateway never could: a delivery receipt per message, a sender the carriers have reviewed, and routing that follows a ported number without you doing anything.

Verizon also points business senders to its own enterprise messaging product, which it says has "a similar email-to-text interface" ([Verizon](https://www.verizon.com/about/privacy/account-security/email-to-text-faqs)). Many SMS providers offer the same idea, an e-mail address that turns mail into SMS through a registered sender. That can be the shortest path for a monitoring tool that can only send e-mail. The important difference is that the message then travels as registered A2P traffic, not through a consumer gateway.

Whatever you move to, the old rules still apply. You need consent for the messages you send, and a registered sender doesn't create it. Our [TCPA checklist for SMS](/blog/tcpa-compliance-checklist-for-sms) lists the US obligations. Never use any route, gateway or A2P, for unsolicited bulk messages.

## How do I migrate off an email-to-SMS gateway?

Most gateway use today is internal: server monitoring, on-call paging, building alarms, or a small office that texts customers from an e-mail client. A migration has five steps:

1. **Inventory every sender.** Search configuration files, monitoring tools, printers, alarm panels and scripts for gateway domains such as `vtext.com`, `txt.att.net` and `tmomail.net`. Anything addressed to `txt.att.net` has failed since 17 June 2025.
2. **Choose the sender type.** For a few internal alerts, a provider's e-mail-to-SMS or API on one registered number is usually enough. For customer messages, register a 10DLC campaign or a toll-free number for that use case.
3. **Store numbers, not addresses.** Keep each recipient as an E.164 number (`+15555555555`) and let the provider route it. A stored gateway address bakes in a carrier guess that goes stale when the person switches carriers.
4. **Record consent and opt-outs.** For customers, store when and how they agreed, and honour STOP. For staff, a short written opt-in for on-call texts avoids surprises.
5. **Test delivery with receipts.** Send a test to each recipient and confirm the delivery receipt before you remove the old path. Keep a second channel (push, voice or e-mail) for critical alerts.

## Where does a carrier lookup fit if I still use a gateway?

A carrier lookup tells you which network serves a number today, which is exactly what a gateway address depends on. While you migrate, it helps in two ways:

- **Pick the right domain, or find dead ones.** For each staff number on your alert list, the carrier tells you whether the stored gateway address can still work. A number now on AT&T has no gateway at all. A number that moved from Verizon to another carrier won't receive mail sent to `vtext.com`.
- **Catch ported numbers.** The [general carrier lookup](/services/carrier-lookup) returns `original_carrier` when it differs from the current `carrier`, a strong hint that the number was ported. The [MNP lookup](/services/mnp-lookup) answers `ported` or `not_ported` with the current network code, for any country, in real time or in bulk.

For US and Canadian numbers, the [US and Canada carrier lookup](/services/us-carrier-lookup) is the more specific option. It returns the current `carrier` and `line_type` and runs in bulk jobs only. The general carrier lookup works in real time too. A real-time request for one alert list looks like this (shown with the documented [test numbers](/docs/test-mode)):

```bash
curl https://api.mobilevalidate.com/v1/lookup \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MOBILEVALIDATE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"numbers": ["+447700900001", "+447700900002"], "checks": ["carrier", "mnp"]}'
```

For a larger list, send the same checks to `POST /v1/jobs`, or use `checks: ["network.carrier_us"]` for US and Canadian numbers (bulk only). Run the free `POST /v1/jobs/estimate` first: it checks nothing and shows the maximum cost. Unknown or inconclusive results are never charged. See [bulk jobs](/docs/bulk-jobs) for the workflow and the [pricing page](/pricing) for current prices.

Be clear about what the lookup doesn't do. It doesn't tell you whether a gateway is still running; only the carrier knows that. And it doesn't make a gateway reliable. It just removes one of the ways it fails while you move to A2P. After the move, the same lookup is useful for different reasons: removing landlines before you send and routing by the current network, as our [SMS routing use case](/use-cases/sms-routing-mnp-hlr) describes.

## How do I use carrier data responsibly?

- **Look up numbers you have a reason to process.** Your own staff, customers and people who gave you their number. Our [acceptable use policy](/legal/acceptable-use) forbids building contact lists for unsolicited messages.
- **A carrier isn't consent.** Knowing the network doesn't give you permission to text anyone, through a gateway or any other route.
- **Sequential ranges are refused.** Requests with 20 or more consecutive numbers return `403 suspected_enumeration`.
- **People can object.** Our [opt-out form](/opt-out) suppresses a number; suppressed numbers are skipped and never charged.

Carrier names are used descriptively. MobileValidate is not affiliated with AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile or UScellular, and carrier policies can change after the date we checked them.

## What are the key takeaways?

- **AT&T's email-to-text ended on 17 June 2025**, in both directions, per AT&T's own support article.
- **Verizon still documents `vtext.com`**, but calls it a legacy, low-volume consumer platform that isn't for business messages, and subscribers can block it.
- **We found no current carrier documentation for T-Mobile or UScellular gateways.** Check with the carrier before relying on them.
- Gateways give **no delivery receipt**, are **heavily spam-filtered**, and depend on knowing the **current carrier**, which porting changes.
- Businesses should send **registered A2P SMS** (10DLC, toll-free or short code) through a messaging provider, with consent and opt-out handling.
- While you migrate, a **carrier or MNP lookup** shows which stored gateway addresses are already wrong. It never replaces consent, and it never makes gateways suitable for bulk sending.

## Sources

1. [Say goodbye to email-to-text and text-to-email (last updated 14 August 2025)](https://www.att.com/support/article/wireless/KM1061254/) — AT&T, 2025
2. [Manage email-to-text](https://www.verizon.com/about/privacy/account-security/email-to-text-faqs) — Verizon, 2026
3. [T-Mobile completes acquisition of UScellular's wireless operations and select spectrum assets](https://www.clearygottlieb.com/news-and-insights/news-listing/t-mobile-completes-acquisition-of-uscellulars-wireless-operations-and-select-spectrum-assets) — Cleary Gottlieb, 2025
4. [Wireless Local Number Portability (WLNP)](https://www.fcc.gov/general/wireless-local-number-portability-wlnp) — Federal Communications Commission, 2026
5. [SMS gateway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_gateway) — Wikipedia, 2026

## Frequently asked questions

### Does AT&T still support email to text?

No. AT&T's support article says that effective 17 June 2025 you can no longer send or receive texts using email. Addresses such as number@txt.att.net no longer deliver texts to AT&T Wireless customers, and AT&T customers cannot reply to an e-mail by text.

### Does Verizon email to text (vtext.com) still work?

Verizon's support page, checked on 14 October 2026, still describes email-to-text at number@vtext.com and number@vzpix.com, but calls it a legacy platform for low-volume consumer traffic only and says it is not intended for business (A2P) messages. Subscribers can block it by texting Off to 4040.

### What is the T-Mobile SMS gateway address?

Lists usually give number@tmomail.net. We could not find a current T-Mobile support page that documents the gateway or its status, so ask T-Mobile before relying on it. Treat any undocumented gateway as best effort with no delivery guarantee.

### Why shouldn't a business use email-to-SMS gateways?

They give no delivery receipt, mail is spam-filtered and can be dropped silently, subscribers can switch the feature off, and you must know the recipient's current carrier. After a number is ported, the old carrier's gateway address is wrong. Verizon says its gateway is not meant for business messages at all.

### What should I use instead of an email-to-SMS gateway?

Send application-to-person (A2P) SMS through a messaging provider's API, from a registered sender: 10DLC numbers with a registered brand and campaign, a verified toll-free number or a short code. You get delivery receipts, opt-out handling and carrier-approved throughput.

### How do I find which carrier a US number is on for an SMS gateway address?

The area code does not tell you, because US numbers can be ported between carriers. A carrier lookup returns the carrier serving the number today. Use it on numbers you have a lawful reason to process, such as your own staff's phones for alerts.