Back then most Canadian cell providers used to (maybe still do) forward SMS from emails sent to a special address that was basically just <phone number>@telus/b

Back then most Canadian cell providers used to (maybe still do) forward SMS from emails sent to a special address that was basically just <phone number>@telus/bell/whatever.ca. They would do the opposite to, as SMS replies would get send back as an email. I used to SMS friends from my email client and later my iPod touch using email.