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.
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.
I want to try to send SMS to a cellphone in Austria. I have set up a free trial Twilio account to do so. however, my Twilio account seems not to be capable of doing so. but I think it should be possible to send SMS with the trial account?
This is a screenshot of my Twilio number where you can see that it's not capable of messaging:
this is the exception i get when running my python-code which tries to send the SMS:
twilio.rest.exceptions.TwilioRestException: HTTP 400 error: 21606: The From phone number +43720881723 is not a valid, SMS-capable inbound phone number or short code for your account.
any idea on how I can get this running? in other words: how can I activate SMS-capability for my free Twilio account? if this is possible, what are the limitations, i.e., how many free SMS messages can I send?
thanks!
To send SMS with trial twilio account TEST ACCOUNT SID and TEST AUTHTOKEN which is placed inside Phone Number > Tools > Test Credentials rather than ACCOUNT SID and AUTHTOKEN given by Console Dashboard > Account Summary.
Because ACCOUNT SID and AUTHTOKEN is bind after you buy the twilio number and TEST ACCOUNT SID and TEST AUTHTOKEN is bind with +15005550006.
If you received this error while trying to authenticate with your Test Credentials, you probably tried to send a message with a From number from your live account. The only number that can be used to send successful messages with your Test Credentials is +15005550006
If you use this number +15005550006 along with your 'demo' twilio sid and token, this will show you the success (no error) but it actually not sending you any sms/ text.
Go to this page https://www.twilio.com/console/sms/getting-started/build and set a phone number like "+133438*****". Twilio will auto provide you a number like (334) 384-**** and by clicking the buttons you need to generate the phone number as like "+133438*****". Once you successful, try to use your 'live' sid and token number within the API. But before integrating the same, you can fire a SMS in your own phone number from this page https://www.twilio.com/console/sms/getting-started/build.
Otherwise, the API error message will show you that - [HTTP 400] *Unable to create record: The 'From' number +1*********** is not a valid phone number, shortcode, or alphanumeric sender ID.
Your number is not capable (configure) for SMS sending. Go to your account and enable SMS capability. After that you will see a green check mark with text
"https://demo.twilio.com/welcome/sms/reply/" instead of Messaging". Similar to below screenshot
I got this error when I was using test Account SID and test Auth Token along with a regular number. Then I changed the Account SID and Auth Token to the regular ones and it worked as expected, i.e. allowed me to send SMS to a verified phone number.
If your number is sms capable and still you are getting the 21606 error, then check 'Active Numbers' tab under 'Manage Numbers'. It should show your number '+43720881723' as an active number.
I had found two errors in this regard, the problem is in the evaluation account and its limitations, but I found a way around it, within the rules of twilio.
Access this page and follow the instructions: https://www.twilio.com/console/sms/get-setup
Write down the number he gives you, this will be your new number, paste it in your application, it will solve your problem, but you still need to do one last thing, you need to check the number you want to send the message to, access this page:
https://www.twilio.com/console/phone-numbers/verified
After you do this, you can try to send the message again, if it fails, the problem must be elsewhere, as it worked for me.
To send SMS with trial Twilio account, test ACCOUNT SID and test AUTHTOKEN which can be found at
Phone Number > Tools > Test Credentials rather than ACCOUNT SID and AUTHTOKEN given by Console Dashboard > Account Summary.
In my case, upgraded my Twilio account and copied the US Florida phone number as it is (9549386330) and got
"is not a valid, SMS-capable inbound phone number or short code for your account"
I only needed to put "1" in front of 19549386330 and it worked.
so check the country code of your phone number as well.
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.
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