You’re walking down the street or standing in a line somewhere when suddenly a bizarre question comes to your mind. Maybe you pass by a tall woman and get the urge to know who the tallest woman in history was. Or perhaps you spot a landmark and want to learn when it was discovered. Most people let these questions pass quickly through their minds and then go on their way. Some people are starting to use their mobile phones to get the answers, educating themselves while they’re on the go. Although you could use Google from your mobile broadband to get these answers, there’s also another option at your fingertips. You can use one of the many websites out there that are designed specifically to answer the questions that you have via text message. Popular throughout the world, these sites respond personally to you regarding the questions that you pose.

Here are ten sites to keep in mind when you’ve got a question that you want answered by text message:

1. Any Questions Answered (or AQA). This one works in the UK and in Ireland. The company launched five years ago and has answered over 19 million questions via text for over 2 million individual customers. You can text them any time, day or night, and one of the hundreds of people who work for them will contact you via text with an answer to your question. You can try the service out for free but then you pay per question to learn whatever it is that you want to know.

2. ChaCha. This is one of the most popular Q&A text message services in the United States. The great thing about this service is that it’s free. However, there is a limit to the number of questions that you can ask because they want to keep it free for everyone. Otherwise, it works a lot like AQA in that you call or text a question, it gets routed to the worker who would know the best answer and then the answer is sent to you via text.

3. KGB. Another U.S. site that gets compared to ChaCha regularly is KGB. The difference between this one and ChaCha goes back to that price thing; you have to pay per answer to get your questions resolved through this service. However, it’s a high-quality answer site. In fact, this site won an award in 2008 as the best U.S. text directory information service.

4. 118.com. This site is actually the European version of KGB and is owned by the same company. The company also has another Q&A text service in France. Between all of its sites, this company has answered almost one billion questions for over one hundred million inquisitive customers across the globe.

5. Bongo. Another site that works across many different countries is Bongo. It appears to have versions in America, the UK, Canada, Italy and Spain. It costs $2.99 per question so it’s not a cheap service to use but there are still people using it.

6. 4Info. This U.S.-based site combines a traditional Q&A text service with a text message alert service. You can set it up so that you receive regular alerts about certain things (such as sports game scores). However you can also send a question via text search to the site and you will receive an answer back via text. There is no charge for this service.

7. Mosio. This site works more like a common social network. You ask a question and then the question is put out there to your connections around the web. For example, the question will post to Facebook and Twitter. Real people can then answer your question for you and you’ll receive the answer via your mobile phone.

8. Text a Librarian. This is a service offered specifically by a public library system in California in the United States. Like other mobile Q&A services, you send a question via text and a librarian will send you back an answer. This one is limited in hours (you can only ask questions between 1 pm and 6 pm Monday through Friday) and limited to the U.S. but it’s free. It also is important because it points to the growing popularity of this type of service from all different types of businesses. It’s likely that more and more businesses will begin to offer this service to their own customers. The Denton Public Library offers a similar service and other libraries do so as well.

9. Google. You can’t get your questions answered via text by Google everywhere in the world but some customers do have access to this service. Google has set up a system that is similar to the others here in which certain callers can text a question and then have the answer sent over via text. This service is primarily available in developing nations that may have mobile phone access but no Internet access (and therefore can’t simply search Google for an answer). Many people in these countries are finding it possible to now get answers to embarrassing questions using this text service.

10. Birds and Bees Hotline.  You don’t have to be living in a third world country to have questions that you’re embarrassed to ask out loud. This particular service is one that was set up for teens who have questions about sex that they don’t know how to ask anyone in their lives. The teens can text the question to the service and receive a fully informed answer so that they have the information that they need to stay safe.