Receive SMS messages in a web application in the US on a hosted server

I'm trying to build a simple web application that will allow people to send SMS messages FROM their mobile phone TO my application.

I've seen this question asked before:

Receive SMS messages by web application
Receiving a SMS message in a .NET application

... but I have a few unique (I think) circumstances.

1. I'm expecting a very small number of messages (
2. My users are all in the U.S.
3. I don't need to SEND SMS messages - I just want to allow users to be able to send messages TO the application

I'm aware of major SMS "providers" like Clickatell. However, their services seem like HUGE overkill.

Ideally, I'd like users to be able to send an SMS message to an EMAIL account I have set up. However, based on a (superficial) investigation, it looks like that's not possible. (E.g., I tried it on my iPhone, and the message isn't received).

So, I guess the next best alternative is that my users send SMS messages to a dedicated phone number, and have those messages forwarded to an email account on my server. That would work, I guess. But I'm not sure how to do the forwarding part, or if it's even possible.

Clickatell offers a service like that, but they charge a few hundred bucks to set up a number, a few hundred bucks to RENT the number each month, and a few pennies for each message. And, they only offer non-US phone numbers. (In the US, you apparently need to have a "short-code", that's INCREDIBLY expensive). Seems like there should be a MUCH simpler approach.

I've read that people buy cheap phones and connect them to their server, but I don't have my own server (I'm using a cheap hosted server at MediaTemple).