Can Twilio receive SMS from China? - sms

Checking out the relevant guide page, I see that "Two-Way SMS" is marked "No".
What exactly does this mean? Does it mean that SMS numbers are not available in China? Does is mean that a U.S. Twilio number can't receive an SMS from China? Does it mean that the Sender ID will be modified when I send from my U.S. number to China?

Twilio employee here.
You're right that we don't support two-way SMS in China currently, but you can use Twilio to purchase a Chinese phone number and use it to send SMS messages to Chinese mobile users.
Since our Chinese numbers are currently one way, the recipients of your messages will not be able to reply to them. So if you need to get some information back from your users, you might want to include a link in your message.
Note that our Chinese numbers are currently an "alpha" feature, so you will need to contact support to purchase one.

Related

Twilio SMS delivery to DND number

I am sending SMS using Twilio API. During testing i found that it sometimes delivered message to the phone number but does not sends all the time. This is the case of DND activated numbers(Do Not Call List).
I knew this is because of Sender routing done by Twilio. When Twilio sends SMS using a number(only numeric sender-FROM), i received the message, but when it sends message using some alphanumeric sender(like DM-044138), it does not delivers the message.
Now my question is do we have any access to change this ? Can we set something that could guarantee the delivery even for the DND numbers ?
Any help would be highly appreciated.
Your problem is you are sending it to India.
Please review the following.
This feature is only available when sending messages to supported countries
As you can see from the list below India is not a supported country.
https://www.twilio.com/help/faq/sms/what-countries-does-twilio-support-alphanumeric-sender-id

Twilio changing alphanumeric id to phone number

I recently started using Twilio to send SMS in one of my apps. Although the twilio's dashboard shows that the SMS was send using the set alphanumeric sender id. It arrives on my phone with a different number totally. Anyone have any idea why? There's nothing about this on the Twilio website.
It turns out this is a carrier problem. They can change sender id (within reason) to increase the chance that an SMS is delivered. So there's basically nothing Twilio can do about it.
If you still have doubts, contact Twilio support.

Send/receive SMS in Latvia

Could anyone tell which countries would be able to send and receive SMS AND calls to Latvia?
I can't seem to find an answer, it appears that LV numbers can't send SMS, yet I see prices on the pricing page. I'm quite confused as of which country I should get a number in (and the price).
If I get a LV number, does it mean i can send, but not receive SMS? It would be fine for my app (already built, waiting to go live).
Basically, it is a browser app acting as a soft phone (single user), so no landline involved. Is there a way to solve the country problem?
Twilio evangelist here.
Looks like we currently only have Voice enabled Latvian numbers (numbers with a +371 prefix). Buying one costs you $1 US and use can use it to have Twilio make a voice phone call from it or receive phone calls to it.
For SMS, Twilio does support sending international SMS from US numbers, so you certainly could buy a US number and use it to send text messages to a Latvian number. The pricing for that is here (scroll down to see per-carrier pricing details).
Hope that helps clarify.

Twilio: Messaging is unavailable for this phone number

I have a Twilio test account for now. I got assigned a Belgian phone number and I validated my own mobile number. I'm trying to send simple SMS message from my assigned Twilio number to my mobile number but that doesn't work.
The dashboard indicates "Messaging is unavailable for this phone number." But in the messaging FAQ (https://www.twilio.com/help/faq/phone-numbers/which-countries-does-twilio-have-phone-numbers-in-and-what-are-their-capabilities), it is mentioned that Domestic and Global SMS is enabled for Belgium.
1) Why can't I send SMS messages if my country is listed as SMS enabled?
2) Is it because I have a trial account and will it work once I upgrade?
Answer to your questions:
1) Why can't I send SMS messages if my country is listed as SMS enabled?
For this, I can say may there something wrong in your code.
If your country is listed in SMS enabled countries, then it will work there is no issue.
2) Is it because I have a trial account and will it work once I upgrade?
From an trial account You can send SMS to the number with you registeted. To other numbers it will work after you upgrade your account.
If you share your code then will be easy to help you.
You can refer this, I think it will help you.
http://phpobserver.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/build-sms-text-message-into-your-web-apps-twilio-api/
The problem is that the phone number you have configured is a Belgian phone number. Twilio currently doesn't support sending SMS from a Belgian phone number to a Belgian phone number.
The solution is that you have to configure Twilio to to send the SMS from a US number to the Belgian phone number.
If you're on a trial account, release the assigned Belgian phone number. Then under number management section in your dashboard you will see:
You don't have any Twilio numbers, but your first number is on us. Get it now.
Click on "Get it now". Then, if you verified using a Belgian phone number it will by default show you a phone number from Belgium. Click on "Choose your own number". Then go to the dropdown box and change the country to US such that the proposed phone numbers are US numbers.
With the US numbers you will see that they are capable of sending SMS to Belgian phone numbers. The only disadvantage of this approach is that the SMS will appear to be coming from US. But depending on your application this may not be such a big problem.
Twilio evangelist here.
Its likely that the Belgian number that you were assigned when you created your account only has voice enabled on it, but the good news is that Twilio does have SMS enabled Belgian numbers.
When you click the "Buy a Number" button, you can tell Twilio to only show you numbers that are SMS-enabled:
Hope that helps.
At the time of posting, there were no SMS enabled Belgian numbers available. It seems that the pool of Belgian numbers that support both SMS and Voice is very limited and you need to be lucky to get one.

Twilio SMS verify destination phone numbers and verification ID

I have two questions.
I am creating a website for a client I am trying to code in Twilio SMS tools for end users and for management. I have the request and response tools built so I am all set functionally. So the questions are:
A. Can I send SMS message to any phone number OR does every number I send an SMS have to be added to twilio and verified before I can freely send SMS? It would be nice if I could just collect my phone numbers from the end users and free them from the pain of the verification process.
B. If I must verify end users then can I send SMS messages to them with their verification code? Right now an automated message call is sent to the phone number that wants SMS updates and you have to key in a six digit verification code....AND then you can send that person SMS messages. The phone call is kind of awkward.
A. Once you have a regular Twilio account, you can send an SMS to any phone number. However, some phone numbers (e.g., most landlines) cannot accept an SMS. If you try to send an SMS to those numbers with your cellphone, you will probably get a message back from the carrier that the number cannot accept SMS. However, Twilio will report success in sending the message, even though the message obviously cannot be sent to that number, and you will get no indication that the message did not go through.
But, no, there is no need to specifically add the numbers as verified for them to work with Twilio.
You can use a service like https://www.carrierlookup.com/ (which Twilio told me about) to check if a phone number can receive SMS messages.
B. -- you do not need to verify end users through Twilio, although I do think there are restrictions on a Twilio trial account that will be removed once you have a paid Twilio account.
Twilio evangelist here
Once you upgrade, you can send a message to any phone number. While you are using a trial account, you have to verify a number in order to send a message to it. More info about how a trial account works is here:
http://www.twilio.com/help/faq/twilio-basics/how-does-twilios-free-trial-work
Hope that helps.
Regarding verification: Twilio has a service that allows verifying phone numbers, including format, carrier, if it's mobile or landline, etc: https://www.twilio.com/lookup
API Docs: https://www.twilio.com/docs/lookup/api

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