Travel Technology - W: 2-way SMS texting via PC, u.s. v-number, no actual U.S. phone

Seemed simple enough to me, but I'm having trouble finding it. Like the subject line says, I'm looking for 2-way SMS texting via PC. This is for single person use. I'd like to be issued a U.S. virtual phone phone number. I don't want to have to run out and get an actual U.S. cell phone with cell provider service.

I've found at least one provider who would ultimately issue my own shortcode to me and I'd then have exactly what I want, for a mere $14,000 a year. Who can maybe recommend someone who can beat that by at least $13,600?

Suggestions appreciated :)

You can get a UK number from fishtext.com. You can send and receive SMSes for free from Google Mail. Go to the beta section and turn it on. It works through the online messenger. The person on the other end doesn't get a number, but they get something they can reply to that will get back to you.

Yeah, if you just want to be able to text phones in the US from your PC and have them respond back to you PC, then all you need to do is use AOL Instant Messenger or Yahoo Messenger or something like that.

That would be totally free, but the drawback would be that you'd have to message them first. They couldn't send you a text message out of the blue. They would have to respond to one of your messages.