Last updated 9 May 2024
Welcome to voipl SMS, we’re glad to have you onboard. This guide will show you how to use our simple, flexible email to SMS service. The service has been designed to allow customers the maximum flexibility in how they can send SMS and allow existing data or contact lists to be used in a simple manner.
There are 4 methods to use voipl Email to SMS:
This is the simplest method when using email to SMS. You simply send an email to
The SMS message will be the body of the email, converted to plain text, however you can send HTML- formatted emails and they will be converted for you. Just be careful to remove your email signature as it will be sent via SMS if it is in the email, otherwise please refer to the ‘Automatic Signature Removal Section’ below for the method where the voipl system will remove it. You can send any characters, including emoji, however sending special characters can consume more credits because of the way that those characters are sent.
Quick Steps - Single:
Have you got an existing recipient list as a text file or spreadsheet/csv and trying to send them all the same message? Using attachment mode will be the best for this use case. Address the email to sms@sms.voipl.co, attach the text list or a csv file, then put the SMS as the message body and send.
For the attachment, the mobile numbers must be the first element or column on each line to be recognised but there can be other data in each line/row. For a text file, the mobile number must be separated from any data by a comma or space. For either file type, the header row will be ignored if present, though it will register as an invalid recipient.
Note: multi-recipient modes cannot be combined in one email to SMS, though one multi-recipient mode can be combined with single recipient use.
Quick Steps - Multi/Attachment:
If your data is in another system, then cut and paste could be the best way to put it into an email to SMS. If the recipient mobile numbers are in a single line/row then you can paste that data into the subject of the email and the mobile numbers will be parsed and sent to all recipients. Like attachment mode, send the email to sms@sms.voipl.co.
The mobile number data must be separated with either a comma or space but will use comma is at least one is present. All other usage is the same attachment mode. Note that is the only mode where the subject is used
As before, multi-recipient modes cannot be combined in one email to SMS, through one multi- recipient mode can be combined with single recipient use.
Quick Steps - Multi/Subject:
If your data is in another system, then cut and paste could be the best way to put it into an email to SMS. If your data is in a single column then you can paste that data into the body of the email to use this mode. The mobile numbers will be parsed and sent to all recipients. Like the other multi-recipient modes, send the email to sms@sms.voipl.co.
The recipients will be parsed from the start of the line to a comma, space or newline. After the list of recipients you need to include a delimiter of five equals signs (=====). Any information before the delimiter will be considered as recipients and everything after will be sent as the SMS message. The email subject will be ignored.
As before, multi-recipient modes cannot be combined in one email to SMS, through one multi- recipient mode can be combined with single recipient use.
Quick steps – Multi/Body:
Some customers’ email systems automatically add a signature or other text to an email which will be picked up and added to the email to SMS. To stop this from occurring, you can add a delimiter (==voiplend==) to your email body and all text after that will be skipped. This means that you don’t need to think about deleting your email signature or changing your email system, just add the delimiter and send.
Quick steps – Automatic signature removal:
The voipl system is generally configured with a default sender ID on each account or user. This will usually be either a mobile number or alpha-numeric ID (maximum 11 characters). In some circumstances, customers will need to set a unique/one-time sender ID which can be done by sending the ID in the subject line. The instructions for this are below.
Quick steps – Overriding sender ID:
As part of the SMS sending process, we will validate all recipients as valid phone numbers, including international recipients. Any invalid recipient will be removed prior to sending, not charged and you will receive back a list of the invalid recipients attached to the response email. Valid recipients will always be sent. If an incorrect format is used in a multi-recipient email, this will cause multiple invalid recipients.
Valid recipients are as follows:
Please note that a number is defined as valid when meeting either of the above criteria. We are unable to determine whether a valid number is capable of receiving SMS, is in service or is correct for the intended party and any valid recipient accepted by the telco network will be charged as normal.
The voipl system utilises standard email security verification measures to ensure that your account can’t be affect by any unauthorised use of your email address. Commonly this is called ‘spoofing’ and the system will block any attempts from a spoofed email address.
In some cases, a valid sender can still fail the SPF and DKIM validation checks that are performed. Failure can occur for a number of reasons, including temporary failure, incorrect configuration, etc. If your email to SMS fails the security check after previously working, then it is most likely a temporary failure outside of the voipl system. Please check your email servers and try again. Any larger issue will be detected and addressed upon account setup.
To prevent recipients receiving duplicate messages, the voipl system will detect whether a recipient has been sent a message with identical content within the last hour and prevent sending of that message. Any detected duplicate messages are not charged to the customer as they are never transmitted to the Telco. Duplicate message detection occurs regardless of the SMS sender ID.
If sending a test message to a recipient prior to a larger payload, it is recommended to add some additional text to the test message if the customer is also planning to include the test recipient in the final submission.
If a customer account has been configured with a virtual mobile number, they will have the ability to receive inbound SMS messages and replies and have them sent back to the corresponding email inbox. Each virtual mobile is linked to a single customer user account, i.e. email address, and cannot be shared between user accounts. This is to ensure that inbound SMS messages are only sent to the correct email inbox.
When sending with the Sender ID as a virtual mobile number, a reply path is set up so that any reply can be linked directly with the original sent message. In this way, multiple users can share a single virtual mobile. The primary user account linked to the virtual mobile does not need to do anything to access reply SMS, however any additional users will need to manually set the Sender ID to the virtual mobile in E.164 format (+614xxxxxxxx) or mobile number format (04xxxxxxxx). Any reply SMS messages received will be matched back to the email address of the original sender and delivered to their inbox.
Please note that while the voipl system does allow for a continued 2-way conversation between email and SMS, the body of any reply email must be cleared to avoid previous messages being included in the SMS.
voipl uses the standard SMS telecommunications systems to send and receive messages. As such, certain requirements must be met for message submissions. Below are the key considerations when composing an SMS payload.
Alphanumeric Sender ID
With Alphanumeric Sender IDs, you can send SMS messages to supported countries from a personalized Sender ID (for example, the name of a business or organization) instead of an E.164- formatted phone number.
Alphanumeric Sender IDs can contain up to 11 characters and can use the following:
Sender IDs must contain at least one letter. Special characters and punctuation are not allowed. Please note that when overriding the default Sender ID, the voipl system will automatically remove any invalid characters and truncate the provided Sender ID if longer than the allowed 11 characters.
Message Structure, Content & Length
The SMS system designates the structure and maximum length of a message. The key characteristics of an SMS message are as follows: