Virtual phone number in Canada
#16
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Their support for SMS includes a facility where you can send a text from from a web page, but only to entries you've created in your VoIP.ms address book. Not a good universal solution, unfortunately. If someone sends a text to your VoIP.ms DID, though, it will be forwarded to the email address you supply in your SMS configuration. If you reply to that email it will send your reply back to them as an SMS message.
There may be SIP clients supporting SMS for phones, but I've never had much luck with those.
There may be SIP clients supporting SMS for phones, but I've never had much luck with those.
- SMS sent to your ported in number at VoIP.ms will be sent to your email. When you reply to that email, it will be sent as an SMS to the original sender.
- To send an SMS you do so in a VoIP.ms web page, but the receiver of that SMS has to be in your VoIP.ms address book.
I need to have SMS service at my Canadian and US number.
#17
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Exclusively OMNI/PR, for Reasons
Posts: 4,188
Just to confirm my reading:
I need to have SMS service at my Canadian and US number.
- SMS sent to your ported in number at VoIP.ms will be sent to your email. When you reply to that email, it will be sent as an SMS to the original sender.
- To send an SMS you do so in a VoIP.ms web page, but the receiver of that SMS has to be in your VoIP.ms address book.
I need to have SMS service at my Canadian and US number.
I should also note that the emailed text message includes a unique identifier in the subject that maps back to the source number from which the SMS was sent. That identifier appears to have a very long lifetime; I don't think they get recycled. It's technically possible to send a message to a contact that doesn't exist in your VoIP.ms address book by including that identifier (in the format "[#XXXXXXXXX]") in the subject and sending it to [email protected]. Of course you can also simply reply to a previous SMS sent from that individual to your VoIP.ms DID.
EDIT: There are both Android and Apple texting apps designed to use VoIP.ms' SMS API. They allow you to send texts to arbitrary numbers that are not stored in either your phone's contacts or the VoIP.ms address book. They're not replacements for your regular SMS app, though. The one I've tried is for Android: VoIP.ms SMS
Last edited by Dodge DeBoulet; Jun 17, 2019 at 6:13 am
#18
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Yes, both are correct. You do have the ability to import contacts; you can export Google contacts to .csv, remove extraneous fields with Excel, and import them all into VoIP.ms' address book. Not sure whether Apple offers similar export functionality. If you use Android but don't sync with Google for some reason, there appear to be numerous apps for exporting contacts to various formats.
I should also note that the emailed text message includes a unique identifier in the subject that maps back to the source number from which the SMS was sent. That identifier appears to have a very long lifetime; I don't think they get recycled. It's technically possible to send a message to a contact that doesn't exist in your VoIP.ms address book by including that identifier (in the format "[#XXXXXXXXX]") in the subject and sending it to [email protected]. Of course you can also simply reply to a previous SMS sent from that individual to your VoIP.ms DID.
EDIT: There are both Android and Apple texting apps designed to use VoIP.ms' SMS API. They allow you to send texts to arbitrary numbers that are not stored in either your phone's contacts or the VoIP.ms address book. They're not replacements for your regular SMS app, though. The one I've tried is for Android: VoIP.ms SMS
I should also note that the emailed text message includes a unique identifier in the subject that maps back to the source number from which the SMS was sent. That identifier appears to have a very long lifetime; I don't think they get recycled. It's technically possible to send a message to a contact that doesn't exist in your VoIP.ms address book by including that identifier (in the format "[#XXXXXXXXX]") in the subject and sending it to [email protected]. Of course you can also simply reply to a previous SMS sent from that individual to your VoIP.ms DID.
EDIT: There are both Android and Apple texting apps designed to use VoIP.ms' SMS API. They allow you to send texts to arbitrary numbers that are not stored in either your phone's contacts or the VoIP.ms address book. They're not replacements for your regular SMS app, though. The one I've tried is for Android: VoIP.ms SMS
Is there any benefit to you if I sign up like a code that you can PM me?
#19
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Exclusively OMNI/PR, for Reasons
Posts: 4,188
Sure, use this link to create your account: https://voip.ms/en/invite/MTMyMzMw
First time I've used their referral program. It'll get me a $10 credit, apparently
First time I've used their referral program. It'll get me a $10 credit, apparently
#20
Join Date: Jul 2007
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Keep in mind though that sending SMS is not supported to most countries outside of the US/Canada. You can receive, but not send/reply (including replying via email). Also MMS does NOT work (send or receive), and that includes group SMS messages - and the sender gets no indication that the message has failed. I ended up moving from voip.ms to Google Voice simply because I was missing too many messages due to them being sent to a group.
The one I've tried is for Android: VoIP.ms SMS
#21
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Just to confirm my reading:
I need to have SMS service at my Canadian and US number.
- SMS sent to your ported in number at VoIP.ms will be sent to your email. When you reply to that email, it will be sent as an SMS to the original sender.
- To send an SMS you do so in a VoIP.ms web page, but the receiver of that SMS has to be in your VoIP.ms address book.
I need to have SMS service at my Canadian and US number.
If you have a more technical inclination, voip.ms now supports SMS SIP, so you could you can tinker with the settings and try and get an app like Bria configured to receive calls and texts.
I would still not rely on voip.ms for heavy text use because of its limitations around things like short codes and group/MMS messages.
#22
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Exclusively OMNI/PR, for Reasons
Posts: 4,188
Their REST API has no such limitation, somewhat unsurprisingly. I confirmed that with the same number I used to test the web UI. Not sure why they felt it needed to be enforced in the latter.
#23
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: San Francisco/Sydney
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Please try this again with a number that you are absolutely certain is not in your address book. I actually verified this before my prior post and got an error that the number I typed in was not a valid contact when I clicked "Send." And I verified it again just now.
Their REST API has no such limitation, somewhat unsurprisingly. I confirmed that with the same number I used to test the web UI. Not sure why they felt it needed to be enforced in the latter.
Their REST API has no such limitation, somewhat unsurprisingly. I confirmed that with the same number I used to test the web UI. Not sure why they felt it needed to be enforced in the latter.
Just tested it again twice. Once with one of my numbers that I'm certain I've never SMS'ed, and then a second time with the phone number for a Denny's restaurant half-way across the country that I picked at random. Both worked fine. (Well.. both sent. I'm guessing the Denny's didn't get the SMS, but that's not really the point)
Edit: OK, I might know what your problem is. Are you putting a "1" in front of the number? Try leaving that out and just enter a 10 digit number...
#24
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Exclusively OMNI/PR, for Reasons
Posts: 4,188
I don't have ANY addresses in my address book, and I've never had problems sending SMS's.
Just tested it again twice. Once with one of my numbers that I'm certain I've never SMS'ed, and then a second time with the phone number for a Denny's restaurant half-way across the country that I picked at random. Both worked fine. (Well.. both sent. I'm guessing the Denny's didn't get the SMS, but that's not really the point)
Edit: OK, I might know what your problem is. Are you putting a "1" in front of the number? Try leaving that out and just enter a 10 digit number...
Just tested it again twice. Once with one of my numbers that I'm certain I've never SMS'ed, and then a second time with the phone number for a Denny's restaurant half-way across the country that I picked at random. Both worked fine. (Well.. both sent. I'm guessing the Denny's didn't get the SMS, but that's not really the point)
Edit: OK, I might know what your problem is. Are you putting a "1" in front of the number? Try leaving that out and just enter a 10 digit number...
Through the Mobile Portal it works fine.
Mystery solved ...
Last edited by Dodge DeBoulet; Jun 18, 2019 at 5:58 am
#25
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Nope, that's not it but I figured it out ... you and @javabytes are using the mobile web portal. I've been using the SMS Message Center. That apparently limits you to address book entries only, as I've tried it with and without a leading "1", dashes, parentheses, and spaces. If it's not in my address book I get this:
Through the Mobile Portal it works fine.
Mystery solved ...
Through the Mobile Portal it works fine.
Mystery solved ...
#26
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Exclusively OMNI/PR, for Reasons
Posts: 4,188
I did, just as I stated in the post you quoted (repeated below).
Nope, that's not it but I figured it out ... you and @javabytes are using the mobile web portal. I've been using the SMS Message Center. That apparently limits you to address book entries only, asI've tried it with and without a leading "1", dashes, parentheses, and spaces. If it's not in my address book I get this:
Through the Mobile Portal it works fine.
Mystery solved ...
Through the Mobile Portal it works fine.
Mystery solved ...
So ... the really weird thing is, even though I'd had the issue above this morning, I'm not having it now. The 10 digit number is working and it's sending texts just fine via the message center.
Last edited by Dodge DeBoulet; Jun 18, 2019 at 4:43 pm
#27
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Even something as simple as a trailing space can cause it to fail. But you definitely can send SMS from the message center by typing in the number directly.
#28
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Exclusively OMNI/PR, for Reasons
Posts: 4,188
I thought I did just that.
I will admit that there is a non-zero probability that I didn't.
:shrug:
#29
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Thank you all for all the pointers and potential pitfalls.
I have set up and ported my main number over as well as a US/Canadian toll-free number for calls outside my home area code.
Dodge DeBoulet: I used your link, let's see what happens
I have set up and ported my main number over as well as a US/Canadian toll-free number for calls outside my home area code.
Dodge DeBoulet: I used your link, let's see what happens
#30
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Exclusively OMNI/PR, for Reasons
Posts: 4,188
Thank you! Looks like I got a $10 credit!