According to Real Simple Magazine, you can SEND text messages from your email account. You must know the recipient’s carrier to do this. Just like sending an email, simply send the email to the recipient’s mobile phone number @ the carrier (example: 5554567890@vtext.com). The proper address of the carriers would be as follows:
Verizon Wireless: @vtext.com
AT&T: @txt.att.net
Sprint: @messaging.sprintpcs.com
T-Mobile: @tmomail.net
Alltel: @message.alltel.com
Virgin Mobile: @mobl.com
My son warns that this is only a free service for sending texts and not for RECEIVING them.