Invalid Numbers

[Steven McNeese]

I was testing to see how the API handles sending text messages to invalid numbers (like a land line). I sent a test message to my office number through the API and received a success and messageID back. A short time later, I received a text message into the box from number 112-161-1611 and message that said:

“1972xxxxxxx Error Invalid Number. Please re-send using a valid 10 digit mobile number or valid short code. This is a test message that will fail”

Can you please explain where the inbound number came from? Is this a random from number assigned by the carrier we are using in the iSMS server?

• This topic was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by Steven McNeese.

[Bryon Davis]

Hi Steven,
The Invalid Number message must have been generated by your carrier, or the carrier of the recipient number. Which number are you referring to? The from number 112-161-1611 is the number from the automated system that sent the error response. I’m not sure where the 1972xxxxxxx came from, is this the number you sent it to? it could possibly the sms center number assigned to the SIM.

Regards,
Bryon

[Steven McNeese]

Byron,

Thanks for the quick response. Sorry for the confusion. The 1972xxxxxxx is the number i was sending to. It is my office so I just masked it out. The 112-161-1611 is the from number of a text message I received shortly after sending the original message to the land line. My assumption is that it is coming from the carrier.

In our solution, customer often give us land lines so I am trying to figure out the best way to capture this issue. I’m going to assume that the message comes from our carrier and that the format will be consistent. Then I will change the listener to look for these “Invalid Number” messages and update the status of the original outbound message.

Can you tell me what happens if the destination number does not have texting capabilities or has texting blocked? Is that a similar situation that will specific to the carrier we are using?

Thank you,

Steve

[Bryon Davis]

Hi Steven,
I think the results will vary depending on the recipient’s carrier, and may not be a dependable indicator that a recipient has sms capabilities. Although receiving that response message would definitely indicate that recipient does not have sms capabilities.

Regards,
Bryon

[Bryon Davis]

In my testing, I do not receive a message back when sending to my land line.

[Steven McNeese]

I just tested sending to other numbers services by different phone companies. I get the message consistently regardless of the land line phone company. So, I think it is coming from our carrier we are using on the iSMS server which is AT&T. It is nice because the responding message includes the number and original message so it will be easy to find the outbound message in our database and update the error_code to indicate Invalid Number.

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