Texting/emailing messages help

Shouldn't an email sent to a Sprint phone (using this format:
1234567890@messaging.sprintpcs.com) alert the subscriber immediately just
like it does when the SMS text message is sent phone to phone? That has been
my experience with the other services but not so with my associate's Samsung
phone.

The only way he knows there is an email message waiting for him is to go and
query his mailbox. When I stopped by 2 different Sprint local retail stores
and posed this question, all I got was "a deer in the headlight" look from
the employee.

Any ideas of there? Thx.

Yes, when sending a text message to
<myphonenumber>@messaging.sprintpcs.com, a notification that a I had a
text message was received in less than a minute. But, sending an email
to <myscreenname>@sprintpcs.com just puts the email in my in-box and
does not notify me.