Inbound SMS at a glance

What does inbound mean?

Inbound means “incoming” or “directed inwards”. It is the opposite of “outbound”, which means “going out” or “directed outwards”.

This article deals with inbound numbers and inbound messages. In particular, we are talking about inbound mobile numbers. Inbound numbers allow you to receive messages on our platform. Even though the term is not clearly defined, it is usually used to refer to numbers that are not “normal” cell phone numbers that are used with regular smartphones. Instead, inbound numbers are usually integrated into systems that enable additional functions. These can be telephony systems, but also SMS gateways like ours. Our SMS gateway offers the decisive advantage that you can retrieve and manage incoming messages in various ways. The different numbers you can purchase have different perks.

To give you a good overview, however, we will only deal with the inbound properties of the numbers in the following text.

Actually, inbound stands for any kind of communication that comes in. In our case, you probably want to be able to receive SMS. This is especially useful if you use SMS for long-term communication with customers.
We offer you three different options for this, which we would like to take a closer look at here. Each of the three options has its own advantages and disadvantages. The benefit depends above all on your individual use case.

The reliable one: Dedicated numbers

In most cases, it makes sense to get a dedicated number. This is not only much more reliable than using shared numbers, but also much more professional. This is simply because this number is exclusively assigned to you. With your own number, you ensure that the messages actually and exclusively reach you and that there is no confusion on the recipient side with other companies that might use this number.

If you use your own number, you can assume that considerably more customers will make use of the reply option. You can get instructions on how to book your own number on our help page.

If you book your own number via our inbound system, you can filter by country. You will also see whether the number in question can receive SMS from alphanumeric senders (A2P SMS) and whether it can receive SMS and voice messages.

Which one is right for you depends on what you want to use the number for. For example, if you want to receive codes for two-factor authentication, make sure you choose a number that can receive SMS from alphanumeric senders.

Depending on the type of your number, different costs may apply. These will be displayed to you before you complete the booking.

Use this option if:

You communicate with customers or you depend on having a fixed number from which to send SMS.