Frequently Asked Questions
- How long does it take for messages to be delivered?
- It usually takes us less then 2 seconds to submit the SMS to the mobile networks when you ask us to send one, and the text message is usually delivered to the phone a few seconds after this. Sometimes though the handset may be switched off or out of coverage, and so in these cases the network will attempt to deliver the SMS for up to 48 hours, after which time the message expires.
- Can I send texts to the USA?
- We support sending SMSs to the USA and Canada for business customers on a monthly invoiced package, and please contact us to enable this service for your account. Note that texts to these destinations are charged at a flat rate of 10p each.
- Which mobile phone networks do you cover?
- We support virtually all GSM netowrks across the globe. Please see our network coverage map for more details.
- What is the correct syntax for numbers? (i.e. +44, 44, 0 ...)
- If sending an SMS to a handset registered in the default country for your account, the mobile number doesn't need to include the country dialling code, so it can begin with a '0'. If you're sending abroad, then the number should begin with the country dialling code (e.g. '31' for France). The plus sign, '+31', for international texts is optional.
- Do you charge for replies?
- We make no charge for personalised replies, as this is a standard part of our service. The virtual mobile numbers that are used to receive the replies are hosted on Slepe's behalf by a company based in the Isle of Man. Some operators in the UK consider this network to be a roaming partner, the consequence of which is that UK handsets that send texts to these virtual mobile numbers may be charged outside their standard account text bundle. This issue only affects customers on the 3, Everything Everywhere and Virgin networks, and the other operators are happy to handle texts in the usual way for UK networks at no extra cost.
- I sent an email but no text was delivered, and I didn't get an error message...why not?
- How long do prepay messages last?
- Any prepay messages that you buy will last forever, and your credits never expire.
- If I send an Email to SMS, is the subject included in the text message?
- This is probably easiest to explain with an example. If the subject was "Please call me" and the body of the email was "I'd like to discuss the project plans for the new system.", the SMS that would be sent out would be:
Please call me. I'd like to discuss the
project plans for the new system.
So in short, the subject appears at the start of the text, and counts towards the 160 character limit. If there's no subject, then we just use whatever is in the body of the email, and vice-versa.
- Do the emails have to be plain text, or do you support HTML emails?
- Either plain text or HTML emails are fine. For HTML emails we remove all the HTML statements before we send the SMS, so it looks OK to the recipient.
- What is the default Sender ID used when a message is sent?
- The outbound numbers that we use are drawn from a pool of mobile numbers, so if you send the same message to two people, it's very likely that each one would receive the message with a different Sender ID. The mapping between one of the pool numbers and the destination handset is valid for 30 days since the last outbound message was sent, and each person will always receive texts from the same number while the mapping is still active.
If you need to have a single number that people can always use to contact you then our Inbound SMS provides you with a mobile number dedicated for your sole use. With the standard service people can only reply if you have already sent them a message first, whereas Inbound SMS allows you to publish your number to staff and customers alike, and enables them to get in touch with you without you having to contact them first.
- Can I set the Sender ID to be my company name?
- Why am I using more credits than expected?
- A normal text message is 160 characters, but we can join texts seamlessly together so that you can fit in more than the usual 160 character limit. We can concatenate up to 5 'normal' texts to give up to 765 characters in a single message. Each text is charged at 1 credit, so if you were to send a message that was 200 characters long that would require 2 texts joined together, and consequently 2 credits.
If you go to https://www.totext.net/selfcare/options/formattingOptionsPage.jsp , then you'll be able to change the maximum length of messages that you send, by setting the "Maximum Message Length" box to a value between 1 and 5. Don't forget to press "Apply Changes" when you're done. If you send a message longer than the maximum that you've set, then we'll truncate it to make it fit into your specified limit.
- Can I send cyrillic/arabic/far eastern characters?
- Yes, as we have full support for non-UK character sets.
- Does the price per SMS depend upon the destination?
- Can I prepay online?
- Yes, it's easy. Simply login to your account and select the 'Buy Message Credits' button.
- Do you support virtual mobile numbers from other countries?
- We support UK, German and Finnish virtual numbers.
- Can I set the Sender ID to be my own mobile phone number?
- Yes. By default, your account is set to use our own internal numbers so that replies come back in through your toText,.net account. If you'd like to have replies go straight to your phone, you just need to go to this page to configure your account settings.
- Do you support premium rate SMS?
- Not at the moment. Sorry.
