Send SMS from 3CX, Send multiple SMS through 3CX

[telis]

Hi,

I have set up twillio with 3CX to receive and reply to SMS messages.

Our main use case for SMS is "broadcasting" IT status messages to users mobiles, the "Scheduled maintenance window is now over" and that sort of thing.

Does 3CX cater to the use case? I can't figure out how to send one SMS let alone SMS messages to large group?

 

[telis]

OK, I have figured out how to send an outbound SMS. You have to allow it in the extension and then a new icon appears when you hover over the '+' icon in the chat windows of the 3CX web client. Unfortunately my mobile phone is in chat with someone else (I transferred an earlier chat) and I don't appear to be able to seize it. My colleague is on the phone so I can't ask him to drop the chat. So that isn't going to fly in any scenario.

Also this doesn't address my specific use case of bulk send, which I don't think is the intended use can of the feature,

 

[NickD_3CX]

Hi @telis ,

The 3CX SMS feature is not designed with Bulk SMS in mind. It is meant as a P2P SMS Messaging solution.
A2P is what you want from the sound of it. This you should look in the documentation of your SMS Provider to see how you can achieve that programmatically, outside of 3CX.

 

[telis]

OK @NickD_3CX , thanks for confirming. I will make a feature request for bulk outbound SMS messaging in case anyone else wants it and I'll also start a separate thread about how to take over SMS chats when another stuff member has them.

 

[hewso]

I agree @telis,

We would also like the ability to send bulk SMS and then have the replies come back into 3CX chat function so that the cases can be worked. This seems like a gap in functionality. The only way we have acheived this is to send the bulk sms from the same number that we are using for 3cx and then any inbound messages are picked up by 3cx. This is not ideal however because we have a script running from a spreadsheet and I cannot hand over the solution to the call centre.

Yours in hope...
Charlie

 

[VoIPTools]

It does not seem likely that 3CX will add this capability into the phone system. This would be more like a "dialer" where you provide a list of contacts and push a general message to the list. I think more likely you will need to build this functionality yourself. Also, remember that each SIP provider has their own APIs for sending SMS so you will need a provider-specific solution.

 

[hewso]

We are using Twilio and Telnyx that are both supported by 3cx. We send bulk SMS outside the solution but we receive responses into the 3CX.

We have a solution that is working but it is not integrated with the phone system - we would like to be able to

1. screen pop based on email / phone number (email online chat, CLI for phone and sms) to the account
2. display call / chat history alongside our CRM. (currently we need to manual look for the data)

 

[VoIPTools]

It will be interesting to see what is possible when 3CX releases V18 and the announced ticketing software integration. Rumor is that this will happen in SP1 or SP2 after the initial release of V18.

 

[hewso]

It will be interesting to see what is possible when 3CX releases V18 and the announced ticketing software integration. Rumor is that this will happen in SP1 or SP2 after the initial release of V18.

It will be interesting to see the features of the help desk soln as we currently use Zammad. It would be more helpful if we could merge the interface so that at least email, chat, sms and facebook could all be managed in the same interface....