Prerequisites
In order to receive an SMS, you need the following:
- A 46elks account.
- A virtual phone number with SMS capabilities.
- A server connected to the internet.
For development purposes you can use NGROK.
Setting up a listening server on your account
Receiving an SMS is done with a simple POST request to the sms_url attached to your
virtual phone number. When you have configured your sms_url, you are ready to initiate the listening script.
You sms_url configuration might look something like this in the dashboard:
Run your receive SMS code
You can now run the code below by sending an SMS to your virtual number. If all goes well you will receive the reply as you have defined it in your code.
There's not a lot more you need to know. Now it's up to you to decide want you want to do with the received SMS. For full details, see the API reference.
Pricing
We bill you (and are billed ourselves by the operators) per SMS part sent. Messages that don't fit in a single part will be split up into several parts and you'll be billed for each part. Our engineers have written a comprehensive Knowledge Base article that covers all the details, but a good rule of thumb is:
- If the message doesn't contain foreign characters, emoji, or symbols other than !"#¤%&'()*+,-.:;<>=?¡ you can fit 153 characters per part.
- Otherwise, you can fit 67 characters per part.
This is just a rough estimate — the actual number of characters that fit may be more or less than that (it's an encoding thing). Again, be sure to read the Knowledge Base article if this is important to you or get in touch.
Up-to-date prices can be found on our pricing page. We offer volume discounts to customers that send more than 50 000 SMS / month.
Coverage
You can use 46elks to send SMS to almost anywhere in the world. The flags below represent all 219 countries and provinces we currently have coverage in. Our numbers team is really good so don't hesitate to reach out to support if you have special needs — if there's a telco out there, they'll find a way to reach it.
🇦🇫 🇦🇱 🇩🇿 🇦🇩 🇦🇴 🇦🇮 🇦🇬 🇦🇷 🇦🇲 🇦🇼 🇦🇺 🇦🇹 🇦🇿 🇧🇸 🇧🇭 🇧🇩 🇧🇧 🇧🇾 🇧🇪 🇧🇿 🇧🇯 🇧🇲 🇧🇹 🇧🇴 🇧🇶 🇧🇦 🇧🇼 🇧🇻 🇧🇷 🇮🇴 🇧🇳 🇧🇬 🇧🇫 🇧🇮 🇰🇭 🇨🇲 🇨🇦 🇨🇻 🇰🇾 🇨🇫 🇹🇩 🇨🇱 🇨🇳 🇨🇽 🇨🇨 🇨🇴 🇰🇲 🇨🇩 🇨🇩 🇨🇰 🇨🇷 🇭🇷 🇨🇺 🇨🇾 🇨🇿 🇨🇮 🇩🇰 🇩🇯 🇩🇲 🇩🇴 🇪🇨 🇪🇬 🇸🇻 🇬🇶 🇪🇪 🇪🇹 🇫🇰 🇫🇴 🇫🇯 🇫🇮 🇫🇷 🇬🇫 🇹🇫 🇬🇦 🇬🇲 🇬🇪 🇩🇪 🇬🇭 🇬🇮 🇬🇷 🇬🇱 🇬🇩 🇬🇵 🇬🇺 🇬🇹 🇬🇬 🇬🇳 🇬🇼 🇬🇾 🇭🇹 🇭🇲 🇭🇳 🇭🇰 🇭🇺 🇮🇸 🇮🇳 🇮🇩 🇮🇷 🇮🇶 🇮🇪 🇮🇲 🇮🇱 🇮🇹 🇯🇲 🇯🇵 🇯🇪 🇯🇴 🇰🇿 🇰🇪 🇰🇼 🇰🇬 🇱🇦 🇱🇻 🇱🇧 🇱🇸 🇱🇷 🇱🇾 🇱🇮 🇱🇹 🇱🇺 🇲🇴 🇲🇰 🇲🇬 🇲🇼 🇲🇾 🇲🇻 🇲🇱 🇲🇹 🇲🇶 🇲🇷 🇲🇺 🇾🇹 🇲🇽 🇲🇩 🇲🇳 🇲🇪 🇲🇸 🇲🇦 🇲🇿 🇳🇦 🇳🇵 🇳🇱 🇳🇿 🇳🇮 🇳🇪 🇳🇬 🇳🇴 🇴🇲 🇵🇰 🇵🇸 🇵🇦 🇵🇬 🇵🇾 🇵🇭 🇵🇱 🇵🇹 🇵🇷 🇶🇦 🇷🇴 🇷🇺 🇷🇼 🇷🇪 🇧🇱 🇰🇳 🇱🇨 🇻🇨 🇼🇸 🇸🇲 🇸🇹 🇸🇦 🇸🇳 🇷🇸 🇸🇨 🇸🇱 🇸🇬 🇸🇰 🇸🇮 🇸🇧 🇸🇴 🇿🇦 🇬🇸 🇰🇷 🇸🇸 🇪🇸 🇱🇰 🇸🇩 🇸🇷 🇸🇯 🇸🇿 🇸🇪 🇨🇭 🇸🇾 🇹🇼 🇹🇯 🇹🇿 🇹🇭 🇹🇱 🇹🇬 🇹🇴 🇹🇹 🇹🇳 🇹🇷 🇹🇲 🇹🇨 🇺🇬 🇺🇦 🇦🇪 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇺🇾 🇺🇿 🇻🇪 🇻🇳 🇻🇬 🇻🇮 🇾🇪 🇿🇲 🇿🇼 🇦🇽Throughput
Default maximum throughput is 100 SMS per minute per account. Additional messages will be queued and sent in-order. Contact support if you require additional throughput.
More info
Get in touch with our support and we'll help you out.
