Thx for replying.  Interestingly, a bunch of email -to -texts to my phone (via mynumber(at)vzwpix.com and vztext.com) arrived this afternoon after being sent this morning.  Then I was able to successfully send some real-time as I tested this afternoon.  Now, however, it seems to not work again.

Turning off/on data worked for my wife’s phone. I also tried turning on/off airplane mode.

I’m not sure what TRANSACT means but try sending yourself text messages from your email client

To send SMS [YOUR_PHONE_NUMBER]@vtext.com

To send MMS [YOUR_PHONE_NUMBER]@vzwpix.com