Both are for very basic, short, functional text messages. They both use an austere, even spartan, character set. As long as you know the callback code and the telex address, it is certainly possible to send an e-mail to a telex terminal on some systems. On the same principle that Western Union followed when it placed a picture of a telegram in a newspaper and challenged readers to ignore the message, a telex or an SMS rarely goes unread. Spam, sent laboriously, in a way inconvenient to the sender, is not spam.
Virtual trash can.
Real-world trash can. I have to see this. Recently, I sent a telex to a colleague at a German publishing firm. Later, he described his amazement upon receiving the telex sent down to his floor from some forgotten technical backroom in a dusty corner of his building. Of course, gateways linking clunky teleprinters to trendy mobile phones will eventually soil this spam-free Eden of messaging innocence.