Sending an SMS

Discover how to send an A2P SMS

This guide shows you how to send a text SMS and then query it later by its ID.

Endpoints

Below are all APIs url that you will need for this guide:

Transatel APIs	URL
Authentication	https://api.transatel.com/authentication/api
Network SMS	https://api.transatel.com/network/sms

All Transatel APIs are available through our unique API gateway https://api.transatel.com

1. API Authentication

First thing first, let's get your access token by following the getting started guide!

2. Check service eligibility (optional)

Now that you are authenticated, and you have an access token, let's use it to check your eligibility to the service. This is of course optional but will help you make sure that your account has all the proper permissions before going further.

To do so, we will use Transatel APIs eligibility mechanism.

The below example shows how to check your eligibility to send an SMS by checking the /api/sms URL:

curl --location --request OPTIONS \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer
eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJidXNpbmVzc19lbnRpdGllcyI6WyJBbnkiXSwicHJpbmNpcGFsIjoib2NzLXN1YnNjcmlwdGlvbi1vcmRlci1tYW5hZ2VyIiwic2NvcGUiOlsiQ0FUQUxPR19QUk9EVUNUU19SRUFEX1RFQ0hOSUNBTCIsIkNBVEFMT0dfUFJPRFVDVFNfUkVBRCIsIlVTRVJfUkVBRCIsIklOVkVOVE9SWV9TVUJTQ1JJUFRJT05TX1JFQUQiXSwiZXhwIjoxNjE3MjYwNTYxLCJhdXRob3JpdGllcyI6WyJST0xFX0lOVEVSTkFMX1NZU1RFTSJdLCJqdGkiOiJmOTYwNTFmNS05ZmQzLTQxMDEtYjNkZC0xZjY2Y2Q2MWUzZjIiLCJjbGllbnRfaWQiOiJvY3Mtc3Vic2NyaXB0aW9uLW9yZGVyLW1hbmFnZXIifQ.KBTlltd459_4kPV0O3OfsBTFGBtoqRxG65o_NohK1U7IuJAvIjAa8Fj4Qon1ptFrrTR5M2o8l0f9Dl0D7r0Us6Ej6OsVlFXfQKUiXwVytNUTP7POB6l56Svc5CaVqkXgFKyt7_8h6Ii6R_RteujtSzJSWX7zeLSeemxsxKNtHLLIS_HLyNdQyIsVCZWRfFhdPJVQId_p6B08_A54sAwhrT7qssSbtpG1nGzdqsHdFfaqJt9ABhPedatHNlwcWtCnFthrOrD2rv0Yf8OnRLnt-ZWtypr0cqm6U-brtZeBMhcxgzF4afKlJbKN3K3drPJRrRPjL8L9bf2YvzsDWxY5lA'
\
'https://api.transatel.com/network/sms/api/sms'

Above are highlighted the main information to provide to the API:

Authorization header: This is where you provide the previously retrieved access_token

If successful, the response returned will be as follows:

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
allow: POST, OPTIONS
...

A successful response will return a HTTP/1.1 204 No Content with the allow header.
This standard HTTP header will contain a list of HTTP methods that you are allowed to use.

POST: Means that you are allowed to send SMS messages
OPTIONS: Means here that you can perform an eligibility check

3. Send an SMS

Now that you are authenticated and eligible to the service, let's send your first SMS.

Depending on your use case, you can send either a text or a binary SMS.

The below example shows how to send an A2P text SMS:

curl --location --request POST \
    --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    --header 'Authorization: Bearer eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJidXNpbmVzc19lbnRpdGllcyI6WyJBbnkiXSwicHJpbmNpcGFsIjoib2NzLXN1YnNjcmlwdGlvbi1vcmRlci1tYW5hZ2VyIiwic2NvcGUiOlsiQ0FUQUxPR19QUk9EVUNUU19SRUFEX1RFQ0hOSUNBTCIsIkNBVEFMT0dfUFJPRFVDVFNfUkVBRCIsIlVTRVJfUkVBRCIsIklOVkVOVE9SWV9TVUJTQ1JJUFRJT05TX1JFQUQiXSwiZXhwIjoxNjE3MjYwNTYxLCJhdXRob3JpdGllcyI6WyJST0xFX0lOVEVSTkFMX1NZU1RFTSJdLCJqdGkiOiJmOTYwNTFmNS05ZmQzLTQxMDEtYjNkZC0xZjY2Y2Q2MWUzZjIiLCJjbGllbnRfaWQiOiJvY3Mtc3Vic2NyaXB0aW9uLW9yZGVyLW1hbmFnZXIifQ.KBTlltd459_4kPV0O3OfsBTFGBtoqRxG65o_NohK1U7IuJAvIjAa8Fj4Qon1ptFrrTR5M2o8l0f9Dl0D7r0Us6Ej6OsVlFXfQKUiXwVytNUTP7POB6l56Svc5CaVqkXgFKyt7_8h6Ii6R_RteujtSzJSWX7zeLSeemxsxKNtHLLIS_HLyNdQyIsVCZWRfFhdPJVQId_p6B08_A54sAwhrT7qssSbtpG1nGzdqsHdFfaqJt9ABhPedatHNlwcWtCnFthrOrD2rv0Yf8OnRLnt-ZWtypr0cqm6U-brtZeBMhcxgzF4afKlJbKN3K3drPJRrRPjL8L9bf2YvzsDWxY5lA' \
    --data \
    "{ 
      \"mvnoRef\": \"M2MA_WW_TSL_MWC_INTERNAL\",
      \"from\": \"123456\",
      \"to\": \"33612345678\",
      \"type\": \"text\",
      \"text\": \"A picture is worth 1000 words!\",
      \"externalReference\": \"RX12345ZVGT\"
    }" \
    'https://api.transatel.com/network/sms/api/sms'

Above are highlighted the main information to provide to the API:

Authorization header: This is where you provide the previously retrieved access_token.
mvnoRef: Customer account identifier provided by Transatel at setup.
from: The originator of the SMS. To be valid, this value should be whitelisted in our system.
to: The recipient of the SMS.
type: The format of the message, text in this case.
text: The content of your SMS.

If successful, the response returned will be as follows:

HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
  "mvnoRef": "M2MA_WW_TSL_MWC_INTERNAL",
  "messageId": "c1e2fac8-0572-4e2c-a487-c3cc5cbbc85c",
  "creationDate": "2023-04-19T13:30:00Z",
  "createdBy": "you",
  "direction": "MT",
  "from": "123456",
  "to": "33612345678",
  "type": "text",
  "encoding": "GSM-7",
  "segments": 1,
  "network": "on-net",
  "text": "A picture is worth 1000 words!",
  "validityPeriod": 2880,
  "externalReference": "RX12345ZVGT",
  "_links": {
    "self": {
      "href": "https://api.transatel.com/network/sms/api/sms/c1e2fac8-0572-4e2c-a487-c3cc5cbbc85c"}
    }
  }
}

A successful response returns a HTTP/1.1 201 Created, meaning that your SMS request was successfully processed and the identifier of your SMS message is returned as messageId. The _links returned in the response will allow you to consult later the details of the SMS.

4. Consult the SMS (optional)

Once your SMS request has been processed, you can consult the detail anytime as follows:

curl --location --request GET \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer
eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJidXNpbmVzc19lbnRpdGllcyI6WyJBbnkiXSwicHJpbmNpcGFsIjoib2NzLXN1YnNjcmlwdGlvbi1vcmRlci1tYW5hZ2VyIiwic2NvcGUiOlsiQ0FUQUxPR19QUk9EVUNUU19SRUFEX1RFQ0hOSUNBTCIsIkNBVEFMT0dfUFJPRFVDVFNfUkVBRCIsIlVTRVJfUkVBRCIsIklOVkVOVE9SWV9TVUJTQ1JJUFRJT05TX1JFQUQiXSwiZXhwIjoxNjE3MjYwNTYxLCJhdXRob3JpdGllcyI6WyJST0xFX0lOVEVSTkFMX1NZU1RFTSJdLCJqdGkiOiJmOTYwNTFmNS05ZmQzLTQxMDEtYjNkZC0xZjY2Y2Q2MWUzZjIiLCJjbGllbnRfaWQiOiJvY3Mtc3Vic2NyaXB0aW9uLW9yZGVyLW1hbmFnZXIifQ.KBTlltd459_4kPV0O3OfsBTFGBtoqRxG65o_NohK1U7IuJAvIjAa8Fj4Qon1ptFrrTR5M2o8l0f9Dl0D7r0Us6Ej6OsVlFXfQKUiXwVytNUTP7POB6l56Svc5CaVqkXgFKyt7_8h6Ii6R_RteujtSzJSWX7zeLSeemxsxKNtHLLIS_HLyNdQyIsVCZWRfFhdPJVQId_p6B08_A54sAwhrT7qssSbtpG1nGzdqsHdFfaqJt9ABhPedatHNlwcWtCnFthrOrD2rv0Yf8OnRLnt-ZWtypr0cqm6U-brtZeBMhcxgzF4afKlJbKN3K3drPJRrRPjL8L9bf2YvzsDWxY5lA'
\
'https://api.transatel.com/network/sms/api/sms/c1e2fac8-0572-4e2c-a487-c3cc5cbbc85c'

If successful, the response returned will be as follows:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{
  "mvnoRef": "M2MA_WW_TSL_MWC_INTERNAL",
  "messageId": "c1e2fac8-0572-4e2c-a487-c3cc5cbbc85c",
  "creationDate": "2023-04-19T13:30:00Z",
  "createdBy": "you",
  "direction": "MT",
  "from": "123456",
  "to": "33612345678",
  "type": "text",
  "encoding": "GSM-7",
  "segments": 1,
  "network": "on-net",
  "text": "A picture is worth 1000 words!",
  "validityPeriod": 2880,
  "externalReference": "RX12345ZVGT",
  "_links": {
    "self": {
      "href": "https://api.transatel.com/network/sms/api/sms/c1e2fac8-0572-4e2c-a487-c3cc5cbbc85c"}
    }
  }
}

A successful response returns a HTTP/1.1 200 OK with the details of the SMS.

Your SMS messages will be available for consultation for 3 months.

What to do next?

Learn more about our Network SMS API by checking the overview & API reference: