Addressing Email to SMS Delivery Issues

[Tech Support]

Email to SMS is in the middle of becoming obsolete.

At the moment (Summer 2025), AT&T has completely shut down all of their formerly free, public email-to-SMS gateways. Verizon and T-Mobile have abandoned support for theirs even if they haven't outright shut them down.

While PageGate supports the ability to send SMTP/Email messages, email-to-SMS systems are not reliable. For the Email-to-SMS gateways that are still functional, it is not unusual for messages delivered through this system to it take 12 to 48 hours for to show up on devices and cannot be relied on for critical messaging.

For reliable SMS messaging, you'll need to use one of the following:
1) SMS API
SMS APIs are companies like Twilio, RingCentral, ClickSend, etc. that provide a messaging API and typically charge a nominal per message fee to route traffic through their gateways. When a client registers an account with one of those companies, they will have access to the necessary API keys to configure PageGate for this delivery method.

2) Carrier Enterprise System
Most carriers are willing to give dispatch centers, PSAPs and other emergency management entities free access to their enterprise messaging platforms and PageGate absolutely supports the necessary communication protocols to support them.

Where possible, we recommend that these gateways be used in a public safety context, as they can offer a very reliable method of delivery with no cost to the dispatch center. The only down side is that a registration processes with the carriers is required, to have access to this option.

3) Cellular Hardware
On the hardware side of things, there are cellular modems/routers/gateways. These devices have an interface PageGate can use to send and receive SMS messages, just like a cell phone.

Cellular modems are easier to use with physical systems as they connect via USB or RS-232 serial connections. Cellular routers/gateways are easier to use in virtual environments as they can be reached via TCP using Telnet or SSH protocols.

PageGate is completely hardware agnostic, so a client could use Cradlepoint, Cisco, Multitech, MicroHard or any other manufacturer's hardware as long as they support RS-232, USB, Telnet or SSH connections, and have a commandset that supports sending and receiving SMS.

If you would like to set up a time to review what method of delivery might be best for your site, please send an email to support at notepage dot com