So I need to programmatically receive text messages from a shortcode. Twilio does not support this. Anybody know a service like Twilio but that is able to receive SMS messages from a short code sender?
Just to be clear. I need to receive a text message from a shortcode to a 10 digit number, not send from a shortcode.
Most services (Twilio, call fire) that let you send from a shortcode can not receive a text message from a shortcode
This can’t be done, shortcodes are unique to each carrier network, when a short code is available across multiple carriers it is implemented on each carrier separatly.
Also shortcodes are not international so 54321 could be used in both the UK and US by totally separate services.
SMS providers like Twilio and Vonage connect to the carriers in the same way as the shortcodes do, they are both an application connection. The carriers do not permit app to app messaging through their network so a shortcode app will only ever be able to send to a real subscriber with a SIM card.
You might find some providers that offer an SMS API by using banks of hosted SIM cards but this can be very flakey and you are usually sharing the number. The other option might be to look at hosting your own SIM card in a usb single or such and recieve the SMS that way.
Actually, Twillio does support this now, although with a big disclaimer that it "cannot guarantee that every short code globally will be able to reach Twilio numbers"
https://support.twilio.com/hc/en-us/articles/223181668-Can-Twilio-numbers-receive-SMS-from-a-short-code-?_ga=2.202438166.641482548.1608644940-210958917.1588771372
I think this article might be just what you're looking for https://help.nexmo.com/hc/en-us/articles/216487658-Inbound-SMS-on-dedicated-US-short-code
You should be able to receive SMS messages on a dedicated US Shortcode.
Related
I have had a couple of customers wondering if they can use their own phone numbers to send out SMS using Twilio.
I am wondering if this is possible?
What are the carrier charges in this case and do I need to verify this number before enabling this functionality for an individual user?
The number you want to send messages from (or to) needs to be controlled by Twilio. However, it is possible to port your number from your current provider over to Twilio and thus give Twilio control over that number. This is possible, at least in some countries.
This support article here describes how this can be done for US numbers.
I would like to check if a set of US numbers are SMS capable - the customer would like to have both SMS and voice on the numbers and I'd like to know if this is possible before porting the numbers to Twilio.
I tried the LookupAPI but that does not seem to give me this information.
I then sent a SMS to the number to see if the SMS is delivered and I get a delivered status in the Twilio API, which in theory would mean that the number is SMS capable, but I'm not sure if this test is conclusive.
Is there any other way I could determine the number capabilities without owning the number?
All US numbers ported over to Twilio support both Voice and SMS.
So I'm using Zapier to send text messages to people added to a MailChimp mailing list. A lot of the subscribers are from other countries so I'm just wondering how the interaction works with Twilio.
Will I need a separate number for each country?
Twilio developer evangelist here.
You don't necessarily need another number, Twilio numbers can send internationally (mostly, check the individual settings on the number to be sure, UK landline numbers, for example, can't send internationally).
However, receiving a message from an international number may not be a good experience for your users as they might expect a local number. Good news is that it is easy to build this.
You can create yourself an SMS messaging service. Messaging services are a combination of a number pool along with smart uses of the number pool. You can start your messaging service with one number and add others later. When you add more than one number the messaging service will geomatch between the people you are sending to and the numbers available in the pool, picking the best number for the user.
I'm not entirely sure how this works with Zapier, whether you can set a messaging service ID for your Zap. If that's not possible, you could use Zapier to send a webhook to something like a Twilio Function which you could set up to send the message.
Let me know if that helps at all.
Is there anyway to send the same text to multiple contacts not as a group text. I have been told that it would need a server to accomplish this. If that is the case I would like to be able to still send texts from my current number not a new number. I have checked out Twilio but have not gotten very far.
Twilio developer evangelist here.
You cannot send mass text messages using Twilio and your existing phone number.
One option you might have is, if you have a Mac you can control the SMS app programmatically to send lots of SMS messages. Here's a blog post with some example code to do that: https://www.twilio.com/blog/2017/06/drawing-pixel-art-text-messages-signal-video-wall.html
That might not be of much help, but while you can send lots of SMS messages with Twilio, you cannot do so using your existing number.
Yes you could send mass texts out to different numbers using twilio. No you could not use your current number.
You would have to purchase a new twilio number that has SMS messaging enabled.
Look at the Twilio documentation and their get started guide, figure out the language you want to create your server in and you will be sending texts in no time. https://www.twilio.com/docs/quickstart/node/programmable-sms You would run the webserver. Twilio does not offer a swift or ios based SMS solution.
https://www.twilio.com/docs/quickstart?filter-language=swift
I am trying to work on Twilio Copilot. I have created the SID.I have also assigned a UK number .I need to send messages to UK, US and South africa for now.
I am currently facing problem is sending messages to US. Do i need to assign a seperate US number for it to work (Same for Other Countries)?
I am using C# Twilio 4.7.2 library.
Twilio developer evangelist here.
My guess is that you have a UK landline number. That is a number that currently supports voice and messaging and starts +441, +442 or +443.
UK landline numbers cannot currently send international SMS.
If you still want to use a UK number to send international messages, you can get a UK mobile number, which will start +447, though currently these numbers do not support incoming voice calls.
Best practice for sending international messages is to try to use a local number to send them. When you are using Copilot it will automatically geomatch the best number to the location you are sending to.