Recently, Telekom and Vodafone in Germany announced that they will no longer support landline SMS as of March 1, 2023.
As an alternative to fixed-network SMS, you can use our voice function in most cases. This allows you to have text messages delivered as a call to landline phones, which are then automatically read out on the phone.
Below you will find a brief overview of what fixed network or landline SMS are and the alternative.
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Landline SMS are SMS that are sent to a landline number or, in rare cases, sent from a landline phone. When received via a landline number, SMS messages could previously either be displayed on the terminal or were delivered as a call or message on the answering machine. In these cases, the text was read out.
Companies used the delivery of SMS as a call, for example, as an alert, but also to send their customers appointments or other notifications.
For many, the discontinuation of fixed-network SMS at the beginning of March 2023 came as a surprise. Telekom states the following on its own website about the reasons:
The reason for discontinuing the service is that usage has been declining sharply for some time. The continued provision of this service is therefore no longer technically or economically viable for Telekom.
Source: Telekom, translated by our team.
SMS gateway providers often offer a text-to-speech (also called voice) feature that in many ways serves the same purpose as landline or fixed network SMS.
You send a text to a landline number and our gateway delivers that text as a call. The content is read out on the phone when the recipient answers the call. Of course, this function only replaces those fixed network SMS, which was also previously delivered and read out as a call.
Looking for more information about our voice gateway?
Visit our product page or have a look at the Voice API documentation.
If you want to use our voice gateway as an alternative to landline SMS, you can do so in several ways.
Address our Voice API directly from your system and thus individually determine how you want to use the service. In our webapp, you can also create webhooks in a snap.
A wide variety of scenarios can be implemented via automation services such as IFTTT or Zapier. Our text-to-speech feature is also available, so you can choose from thousands of triggers that will send your message.
We’re constantly expanding the availability of our service on third-party platforms – have a look at our other integrations as well.
Do you have questions about our voice gateway and its use as an alternative to landline/fixed network SMS?
Do not hesitate to contact us. We are looking forward to your message.
Header picture by Julian Hochgesang via Unsplash
