Vonage SMS Messaging
Information about using your Vonage telephone number to send and receive SMS Messages
Vonage 10-digit telephone numbers support SMS/MMS Messaging
The Vonage Business Communications app (VBC) support SMS/MMS messaging frequently called text messaging.
SMS (Short Message Service) is designed to send short text communications.
MMS (Multimedia Message Service) includes support for sending/receiving photos, videos, and audio files.
On this page you will find...
The telephone industry heavily regulates messaging by best practices and legal regulation. This is done to limit unsolicited messaging, spam, fraud and other unwanted messages. In these regulations messaging is categorized as "Consumer Messaging" or "Non-Consumer Messaging". Your personal phone falls into the Consumer category. Vonage messaging at Drexel falls into the Non-Consumer category.
Protecting Consumers from unwanted messages, is paramount to the entire messaging ecosystem, including carriers and regulators. As a result there are more restrictions placed on the accepted behavior of Non-Consumer messaging such as Vonage at Drexel.
Vonage SMS messaging at Drexel are typically intended to be Conversational between two parties (consumer or non-consumer). Conversational messaging is a back-and-forth conversation that takes place via text. Typically this means the first message is initiated by the Consumer or messages initiated by the Non-consumer are welcome or expected by the Consumer. This is typically the majority of all Vonage SMS messaging at Drexel.
Vonage SMS messages at Drexel may also be Informational. Informational messaging is when a Consumer gives their phone number to a Non-Consumer and asks to be contacted in the future. Appointment reminders, welcome texts, and alerts fall into this category because the first text sent by the business (Drexel) fulfills the Consumer’s request. A Consumer needs to agree to receive texts for a specific informational purpose when they give the Non-Consumer their mobile number. If your business use case falls into this category, it's acceptable use case; however, you are advised to contact the Drexel IT Network Operations Center for a consultation.
Vonage SMS messaging at Drexel is NOT intended to be Promotional. Promotional messaging is a message sent that contains a sales or marketing promotion or would include solicitation of donations. This use is not permitted. If you have the need for Promotional messaging, contact Drexel IT Network Operations Center for a consultation and a recommendation for alternate products that can help you.
In all cases it is important that the content of messages sent from Drexel phone numbers are professional and respectful. The telephone messaging industry identifies specific content categories identified as potentially harmful or deceitful to consumers and messages of this nature are not permitted. For the most part, these are common sense restrictions. If you are interested in more details, the industry categorization is listed further below.
- SMS messages can be 500-characters. But the carrier may split these into 160-character bits.
MMS messags are limited to 1MB in size
- SMS and MMS text messages are supported in the U.S. and Canada only
- MMS supported files for SENDING
Currently support for sending images is paused. This should be corrected shortly.
File formats .jpg .jpeg .png .bmp
- MMS supported files for RECEIVING
Image .jpg .jpeg .png .gif .bmp .dib
Audio .mp3 .wav .3gp .amr .3ga .m4a .m4p .m4b .m4r
Video .mp4 .3gp .h263 .h264 .m4v
- Sending URL text strings (such as https://google.com) is not supported.
An exception exsits for URLs in the drexel.edu and ansp.org domains along with zoom.com and zoom.us.
If you have a business need to send URLS with other domains, contact the Drexel IT Network Operations Center.
Note If you send a URL that is not allowed, you will not receive a notice that your message was rejected and not sent the the recipient. If sending a URL for the first time, it is a best practice to confirm that your recipient received the URL. Send this confirmation as a separate message.
Group Messaging is not supported.
You can receive a group message, but your response will only be sent to the sender.
For example, Short code messages, such as the ones used for 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) or Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) cannot be received by Vonage (virtual) numbers as it promotes non-human verification.
Desktop App
- Navigate to the SMS tab
- If you have a Business Inbox, click My Apps, then Business Inbox
- Click New SMS (or, if using Business Inbox, click New Message)
- Select a saved contact or type a phone number, then click the Green Message icon (on right).
- Type the message and/or click the Plus (+) icon to select a file to attach.
- Click Send
Mobile App
- Tap the Message icon (lower left)
- Tap Create New icon (upper right), then select a contact or type a number
- Type the message and/or click the Plus (+) icon to select a file to attach
- Tap Send
Note If you have multiple telephone numbers, click the Sending As link (above the Message bar) to select a different number
Desktop App
- Navigate to the SMS tab
- (if you have a Business Inbox, click My Apps, then Business Inbox)
- Toggle Recent or Unread as applicable
- Click the message you want to read
Mobile App
- Tap the Message icon (lower left)
- Tap the message you want to read
Specific content categories have been identified as potentially harmful or deceitful to consumers as follows and are not permitted in messaging.
| High-risk FinancialServices |
Payday/cash advance loans • Short-term loans (unless directly from lender bank) • Auto loans • Stock alerts • Mortgage loans • Student loans • Debt collection (unless directly from the lending company) • Lead or commission generation • Tax relief programs • Cryptocurrency |
| Get Rich Quick Schemes |
Deceptive work-from-home programs • Secret shopper ads• Riskinvestments • Multi-level affiliate marketing • Gambling/sweepstakes |
| Third-Party Services |
Debt collection or consolidation • Debt relief or reduction • Debt forgiveness • Credit repair • Lead generation • Generic job alerts |
| Controlled Substances |
Tobacco • Vaping • Cannabis/CBD • Illegal drugs |
| SHAFT |
Sex • Hate speech • Alcohol • Firearms • Tobacco • Profanity |
| Scams |
Phishing • Fraud • Spam • Deceptive marketing |
| Charity |
Donation requests • Donation offers(filtered based on use) |