Set up an SMS Channel for Bandwidth
This topic describes how to set up a Bandwidth SMS channel on Yeastar P-Series Cloud Edition, so that agents in your business can receive and reply to SMS messages from customers on their Linkus UC Clients.
Requirements
The Yeastar PBX should meet the following requirements:
- Firmware: Version 84.12.0.23 or later
- Plan: Enterprise Plan (EP) or Ultimate Plan (UP)
- Domain Name: Due to the limitation of the third-party platform, the domain name must NOT contain underscore character(s), otherwise the messaging channel will encounter authentication failure, or will fail to receive messages.
- Domain Certificate: A valid domain
certificate is installed.Note: If the root domain of your Cloud PBX is NOT the standard Yeastar-provided domains (ycmcloud.com, yeastarcloud.com, or yeastarycm.co.za), you NEED to install a valid domain certificate for the PBX first, otherwise the messaging channel will encounter authentication failure, or will fail to receive messages.
Supported message types and limits
- Supported message types
- The Bandwidth SMS channel supports text messages and multimedia messages (MMS), where the supported MMS file types are determined by Bandwidth. For more information, see Bandwidth supported MMS file types.
- Limits
-
- File size: Max. 100 MB
- File retention period: 24 hours
Prerequisites
Procedure
Step 1. Obtain a Webhook URL on PBX
Obtain a Webhook URL from PBX web portal first, which is required when you configure a number for SMS on Bandwidth.
- Log in to PBX web portal, go to .
- Click Add, and select SMS.
- In the ITSP drop-down list, select
Bandwidth.A Webhook URL for Bandwidth is generated and displayed in the Webhook URL field.Important: The URL will change once you leave the current page, please make sure you use the latest Webhook URL for the configuration on the service provider's customer portal.
- Note down the Webhook URL.
Step 2. Configure a number for SMS on Bandwidth
If your business needs to communicates with US-based customers, you should confirm the registration requirements with the SMS service provider and complete the phone number registration to avoid disruption in message delivery.
- Create an application using a sub-account and configure the callback with PBX's Webhook URL.
- On the details page of the new application, associate the application with your location.
- Enable HTTP SMS and MMS messaging for your location and the associated application.
- Search the number that you want to use for SMS and associate it with your sub-account.
- Note down the Application ID and Account ID for the integration with PBX.
Step 3. Create and configure an SMS channel on PBX
Create an SMS channel on PBX, and configure the channel with the authentication information and number obtained from Bandwidth.
- Log in to PBX web portal, go to .
- Click Add, and select SMS.
- In the Authentication tab, enter the authentication
information of Bandwidth.
- Name: Enter a name to help you identify the channel.
- ITSP: Select Bandwidth.
- Application ID: Paste the Application ID obtained from Bandwidth.
- Account ID: Enter the Account ID of your Bandwidth account.
- Username: Enter the user name of your Bandwidth account.
- Password: Enter the password associated with your Bandwidth account.
- In the Messaging Settings tab,
configure the channel.
- In the Message Sending Rate drop-down
list, specify the number of messages that PBX can send per
second.Note:
- If the number of messages to send exceeds the set value, PBX will arrange the messages in queue and send them at the sending rate.
- If the sending rate set in PBX exceeds the limit set by the SMS service provider, it may result in message delivery failures. Contact your SMS service provider to confirm the sending rate limit of your account and increase the limit as needed.
- Optional: If you want the system to automatically close the sessions that have been inactive for a specific period of time, select the checkbox of Close Session Automatically, then set the timeout in the Session Timeout (Days) field.
- In the Number section, click
Add to add a message routing
rule.
- Number: Enter the purchased
number in E.164 format (
[+][country code][phone number]
). For example,+14102161183
. - Destination for Inbound
Messaging: Specify the destination of
inbound messages from the number.
Option Description Extension If selected, choose an extension from the Extension drop-down list. Only the extension user can receive inbound messages from the number.
Message Queue If selected, choose a queue from the Message Queue drop-down list. All the agents in the selected message queue can receive inbound message(s) of new sessions in the queue. However, only the user who picks up a session will be able to receive and respond to the follow-up inbound messages in the session.
- Extensions allowed to create messaging sessions: Select the extensions that are allowed to initiate a messaging session with customers.
- Number: Enter the purchased
number in E.164 format (
- Click Save.
- In the Message Sending Rate drop-down
list, specify the number of messages that PBX can send per
second.
- Click Save.
Result
- A messaging channel is created successfully. You can see the channel displayed in the Messaging Channel list with Status showing .
- PBX automatically tracks and records the number of messages sent
and received on the channel, where the Total column
indicates the total number of sent messages, including both successfully
sent messages and failed ones.Note:
- For sent messages, PBX only tracks the number of the messages sent from agents' Linkus UC Clients. If you want to calculate the actual cost of sent messages, consult with the SMS service provider for the precise number of messages transmitted, as long text messages (longer than 160 characters) are automatically split into segments and then re-assembled when they are received, increasing the number of sent messages.
- You can filter the statistics by a time period using the time filter.
What to do next
Send text messages to the phone number and see if the specified agent can receive messages on his or her Linkus UC Client.