VoIP Innovations offers SMS services that can be enabled on a per-DID basis. All you need to take advantage of these services is a VoIP Innovations DID! All DIDs on our network now fully support SMS, which includes inbound, outbound, email forwarding, SMS forwarding, and now API Get/Post. Please see your Packages and Pricing Page located under the billing tab for a breakdown of the costs for our SMS services.
To activate SMS on your DID(s), log in to the VI Back Office and go to DIDs > Manage DIDs. Find the DID that you wish to activate, and click "Configure DID" to launch the DID Configuration Wizard. On the main tab there will be a dropdown menu for different types of SMS.
Propagation for your SMS DIDs will take up to one hour to take effect. Please see the main SMS wiki article for more information regarding sending and receiving SMS traffic.***
The first option for SMS is to not have SMS enabled on the DID of your choice. It will be the option that says "DISABLED"
The second option in the drop-down menu is "SIP". This option allows traffic for SMS to passed to your PBX. Please note you will need to ensure that you have compatible equipment (PBX, phone, etc.) that can receive SMS messages.
The third option in the drop-down menu is "EMAIL". This option will enable the Forward to Email service for SMS and only this service. You will need to enter the email(s) of your choice to receive the SMS message. If you wish to forward to multiple e-mail addresses, simply separate them with semicolons and no spaces. You will also be able to reply to the email which will then be sent back to the number that originally messaged you. Please note you will want to ensure the email address you're sending from has a valid SPF record. More information on SPF Records can be found in our Wiki.
Example: test@email.com;testing2@email2.com;testemployee@test3.com
The fourth option in the drop-down menu is "FORWARD". This option will forward any SMS message sent to your DID onto the phone number you enter in the text box. Something to note is that it will only forward SMS messages, this does not forward calls.
Two other options from the drop-down menu are "API GET" and "API POST". These 2 options are the different locations you want the messages sent to regarding your API. You will want to make sure that you have a valid username, IP, and password as this will be important for sending outbound SMS messages. You can find these in the Back Office under Add-Ons -> API -> API Users.
GET and POST methods can achieve the same goal via HTTP. GET requests data from a specified resource. POST submits data to be processed to a specified resource. GET requests can be cached, and they also
remain in the browser history. GET Requests should never be used dealing with sensitive data as the values are sent in the URL of the GET Request.
GET requests also have length restrictions in the return URL. POST requests are never cached and the values are sent in the HTTP message body. There are no restrictions on data length or data type. Below is a test SMS that was sent via GET and POST.
GET
POST
As you can see in both screenshots, the GET request shows the message in the Query String, while the POST request is in the body of the message. Therefore, we recommend using POST.
You can test capturing HTTP requests by going to https://hookbin.com and creating a new endpoint. Once you create your endpoint, paste it in the URL in the Back Office. Please allow 15 minutes for propagation on DIDs that already have SMS enabled. If this is a brand-new number, then it can take up to one hour to propagate.
Once you create your endpoint and propagation has passed, start sending SMS messages to your DID. You can go back to your hookbin endpoint by grabbing the endpoint ID of your URL. In the above screenshot, that would be EJOxme44. The full URL would be the following:
{+}https://hookbin.com/bin/EJOxme44+
You will need to ensure that you have /bin in your URL to navigate back to your Hookbin Endpoint. Once you are there you will see your SMS requests via GET or POST. Keep in mind these are public bins so they should only be used for testing.
To have the previously mentioned URLs fields automatically filled, you can set a default SMS URL. To do this you will need to go to Account -> Settings. Here you will see a textbox that is labeled "Default SMS URL". After filling this text box in and clicking the "Update Settings" button, you will now have the API fields filled in by default with the URL entered.
The last option we have to offer for SMS is Programmable Telco. This is our CPaaS Platform and this allows for you to send SMS to an external URL or server. Once you enable the DID for Programmable Telco, this can assign your external URL under Apps > Programmable Telco.