How is text messaging sent to a Cricket phone?

Text messages can be sent to any Cricket subscriber using an email program and the recipient's 10-digit phone number. Send it to 10digitphonenumber@sms.mycricket.com, and a Cricket subscriber receives it on his phone.

For example, to send a text message to 555-555-5555, send an email to 5555555555@sms.mycricket.com. When sending a text message to a different area code, use 1 before the 10-digit phone number. Cricket subscribers can also receive text messages sent via the mycricket.com website. The sender does not need to be a Cricket subscriber to use the Web service, and the recipient does not need to subscribe to Cricket's text messaging service.