Twilio SMS
Send text messages through Twilio.
| Category | SMS |
| Authentication | Account SID and auth token |
| Reaches | api.twilio.com |
| Needs an agent | No |
| Demo mode | No |
Capabilities
Section titled “Capabilities”sms.send
Getting the credentials
Section titled “Getting the credentials”- Sign in to the Twilio console.
- On the dashboard, copy the Account SID and the Auth Token.
- Buy or note a phone number capable of sending SMS to your country. Phone Numbers, Manage, Active numbers.
For a school, an alphanumeric sender id is often better than a number, because a message from “SCHOOLICT” is more obviously legitimate than one from an unknown mobile number. Availability depends on country: it works in Australia and much of Europe, and does not in the United States or Canada. Alphanumeric senders cannot receive replies.
Consider using a subaccount for Plugboard so its usage and its credentials are separate from anything else your school sends.
Configuring it in Plugboard
Section titled “Configuring it in Plugboard”Admin, Connectors, Twilio SMS, Configure.
Settings
Section titled “Settings”| Field | Value |
|---|---|
accountSid |
The Account SID, starting AC |
fromNumber |
The sender, for example +61400000000, or an alphanumeric sender id |
Use E.164 format for numbers: a plus, the country code, then the number, with no spaces or brackets.
Credentials
Section titled “Credentials”| Field | Value |
|---|---|
authToken |
The Auth Token |
Save and test.
Before you text a parent
Section titled “Before you text a parent”SMS is more intrusive than email, and a school texting families is making a choice to make on purpose.
Consent. Check what your enrolment paperwork says about contacting families by text. “We may contact you” is not the same as “we may text you”, and some jurisdictions treat them differently.
Timing. A message sent when a repair is marked ready at 7pm arrives at 7pm. If you are automating, think about hours.
Cost. Every message is billed. A school with two thousand devices and an active repairs desk sends more messages than the estimate in the meeting.
Replies. If you send from a number, people will reply to it. Somebody has to be reading those, or you need an alphanumeric sender that cannot receive replies, so the impossibility is explicit rather than accidental.
Numbers go stale. Parent mobile numbers change and your SIS is not always told. Failed sends are worth watching rather than assuming delivery.
What sends by SMS
Section titled “What sends by SMS”SMS is used for notifications where you configure it to be. Email remains the default channel for everything, and the email messages page is where the wording lives.
The common pattern is email for everything and SMS only for ready-for-collection, which is the message where the delay between sending and reading costs something.
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”| Symptom | Cause |
|---|---|
401 on test |
Wrong Account SID or Auth Token. The SID starts AC |
21606 or “not a valid from number” |
The number is not on your account, or is not SMS-capable in the destination country |
21612 |
The route from your sender to that destination is not permitted |
| Alphanumeric sender rejected | Not supported in the destination country. The United States and Canada do not allow it |
| Messages sent, never arrive | Check the Twilio console’s message log. It shows carrier-level status |
| Sudden failures after months | The auth token was rotated, or the account ran out of credit |