FAQ

How is Telefio able to be free?

Telefio is supported by individuals who purchase bigger plans in exchange for more features. This way users who cannot afford a bigger plan can enjoy the benefits of a free plan. Basically, paid users provide free group messaging services to organizations who cannot afford them otherwise.

How can I send a message to a category from my phone?

To send a message to a category from your phone, set a unique keyword for the category in your account control panel. Now send a message to your account number with this syntax: KEYWORD Sample message.

Here is an example:
To: Your account number
Message: SOCCER Practice tonight at 8.

Response will be:
From: Your account number
Message: Practice tonight at 8.

How can I send a message to all contacts from my phone?

To send a message to all contacts from your phone, set a unique blast keyword in your account control panel. Now send a message to your account number with this syntax: KEYWORD Sample message.

Here is an example:
To: Your account number
Message: MYKEYWORD Announcement to everyone.

Response will be:
From: Your account number
Message: Announcement to everyone.

How can I search for contacts from my phone?

To search for contacts from your phone, enable searching in your account control panel settings. Now send a message to your account number with this syntax: FIND contacts name

Here is an example:
To: Your account number
Message: FIND alex

Response will be:
From: Your account number
Message: Alex Smith (555-555-5555)

How is my email-to-sms account number formatted?

Your email-to-sms account number will not look like a traditional 10-digit number. Your number is actually an email address that acts as a regular phone number. It will be formatted this way: sms+number@telefio.com.

Here are a few examples:
sms+245@telefio.com
sms+1039@telefio.com

To send a message to your number, simple enter the email address into the TO field on your phone.

To get a real phone number as your account number, you will need to upgrade to a plan that supports custom numbers.

How can I import a list of contacts?

You are able to import a CSV file with a list of contacts. To import, visit the contacts page and click 'Import'. You may need to upgrade to a plan that supports importing.

The columns have to be formatted correctly in order for the contacts to be imported successfully. Use the following columns: name, email and phone_number. You may also include a provider column to specify the mobile provider for each member. This option will only work when your account uses the email-to-sms format. Make sure you use the correct name for the provider. See below for a list of available mobile providers.

3 River Wireless, 7-11 Speakout (USA GSM), Advantage Communications, AIO Wireless, Airtel (Karnataka, India), Airtel Wireless (Montana, USA), AirVoice, Alaska Communications Systems, Alltel, Aql, Arch Wireless, Assurance Wireless, AT&T, AT&T Enterprise Paging, BeeLine GSM (Russia), Bell Mobility & Solo Mobile (Canada), BigRedGiant Mobile Solutions, Bluegrass Cellular, Boost Mobile, BPL Mobile (Mumbai, India), CallPlus, Carolina Mobile Communications, Cellular One (Dobson), Centennial Wireless, Cingular, Claro (Brasil), Claro (Nicaragua), Comcel, Consumar Cellular, Credo, Cricket, C-Spire Wireless, CTI, Emtel (Mauritius), Fido (Canada), General Communications Inc., Globalstar (satellite), Golden Telecom, Google FI, H2O Wireless, Helio, Houston Cellular, Idea India, Illinois Valley Cellular, Iridium (satellite), Iusacell, I wireless, Koodo Mobile (Canada), Kyivstar, Lebanon MTC, LMT (Latvia), MCI Phone, Meteor (Ireland), MetroPCS, Midwest Wireless, MobiPCS (Hawaii only), Mobitel (Sri Lanka), Morris Wireless, Movicom (Argentina), Movistar (Colombia), MTN Ghana, MTN (South Africa), MTS (Canada), NET10, Nextel, NPI Wireless, Ntelos, Omnipoint, Pacific Bell, Page Plus, Personal (Argentina), President’s Choice (Canada), Primtel (Russia), Qualcomm, Qwest, Republic Wireless, Revol, Rogers (Canada), Sasktel (Canada), SCS-900 (Russia), Simple Freedom, Simple Mobile, SL Interactive (Australia), Sprint, Straight Talk, Suncom, Telus Mobility (Canada), Thumb Cellular, T-Mobile, T-Mobile (Austria), T-Mobile (UK), Tracfone (prepaid), Triton, UMC (Ukraine), Unicel, Uraltel (Russia), US Cellular, Verizon, Verizon Wireless, Vessotel (Russia), Viaero Wireless, Virgin Mobile (Canada), Virgin Mobile USA, Vodacom (South Africa), Vodafone (Italy), Western Wireless, Wind Mobile, Wyndtell, YCC

How can I schedule a message?

Scheduling a message is very easy. All you need to do is go to the new message page, select the contacts you want to send the message to, enter the contents of the message and then select 'later' from the menu. It will give you a date selector which you can use to select when the message should be sent out.

You may need to upgrade to a plan that supports message scheduling.

Can I have more than one administrator?

Yes. Certain plans allow more than one administrator to manage the account. All administrators in the account have the same rights. They can do everything the main administrator can.

Administrators can manage contacts, categories, messages and replies. They can also update the account settings and create messages from their phones.

To add an administrator, select the 'Administrator' checkbox from the contacts edit page and set a password for the member.

How can I join the contacts list from my phone?

To join an organization's contacts list from your phone, set a join keyword in your account control panel settings. Now send a message to your account number with this syntax: JOINKEYWORD. You may also add your name to set your name with this syntax: JOINKEYWORD Alex Smith.

Here is an example:
To: Your account number
Message: JOIN Alex Smith

Response will be:
From: Your account number
Message: You have subscribed to receive messages from YOUR ORGANIZATION. Reply with STOP to stop messages or START to resume.

How can I stop receiving messages from Telefio?

To stop receiving messages from Telefio, reply with 'STOP' (without quotes) to the number that sent you the message. To start receiving messages again, send 'START' (without quotes) to the number again.

How can I forward replies received from contacts to my number?

To forward contacts' replies to your number, enable forwarding in your account control panel settings and select the contacts that you want to forward replies to. Forwarding may only be available in certain plans.

Why is there a monthly limit on some plans?

To improve delivery rate, we offer real SMS plans. The SMS plans cost more per message so there is a limit to how many messages you can send per month. If you need more messages per month, upgrade to a higher plan with a larger monthly quota.

How can I add more contacts when I'm over the member limit?

Some plans have a limit on how many contacts you may have. To add more contacts, please upgrade to a higher plan.

Why am I not receiving messages from Telefio?

There may be multiple reasons why you are not receiving messages from Telefio.

• If you replied with 'STOP', you may need to reply back with 'START' to resume messages.
• If your account has an email-to-SMS number, your mobile provider may not be set.
• If your account has an email-to-SMS number, your mobile provider may not have a reliable email-to-SMS gateway.

How can I send MMS/picture message?

To send MMS (sending picture message) you go to New Message > Type your message in message box > under Attach an image section you can choose a file (your image).

Please remember that sending an image/picture message costs 2 credits as this is an MMS message (up to 1600 characters), but only 1 credit per regular SMS message, which is less than 160 characters.