SMS

Provider

NotifyBC depends on underlying SMS service providers to deliver SMS messages. The supported service providers are

• Twilio (default)
• Swift

Only one service provider can be chosen per installation. To change service provider, add following config to file src/config.local.js

module.exports = {
  sms: {
    provider: 'swift',
  },
};

Provider Settings

Provider specific settings are defined in config sms.providerSettings. You should have an account with the chosen service provider before proceeding.

Twilio

Add sms.providerSettings.twilio config object to file src/config.local.js

module.exports = {
  sms: {
    providerSettings: {
      twilio: {
        accountSid: '<AccountSid>',
        authToken: '<AuthToken>',
        fromNumber: '<FromNumber>',
      },
    },
  },
};

Obtain <AccountSid>, <AuthToken> and <FromNumber> from your Twilio account.

Swift

Add sms.providerSettings.swift config object to file src/config.local.js

module.exports = {
  sms: {
    providerSettings: {
      swift: {
        accountKey: '<accountKey>',
      },
    },
  },
};

Obtain <accountKey> from your Swift account.

Unsubscription by replying a keyword

With Swift short code, sms user can unsubscribe by replying to a sms message with a keyword. The keyword must be pre-registered with Swift.

To enable this feature,

1. Generate a random string, hereafter referred to as <randomly-generated-string>

2. Add it to sms.providerSettings.swift.notifyBCSwiftKey in file src/config.local.js

   module.exports = {
     sms: {
       providerSettings: {
         swift: {
           notifyBCSwiftKey: '<randomly-generated-string>',
         },
       },
     },
   };
   

3. Go to Swift web admin console, click Number Management tab

4. Click Launch button next to Manage Short Code Keywords

5. Click Features button next to the registered keyword(s). A keyword may have multiple entries. In such case do this for each entry.

6. Click Redirect To Webpage tab in the popup window

7. Enter following information in the tab

   • set URL to <NotifyBCHttpHost>/api/subscriptions/swift, where <NotifyBCHttpHost> is NotifyBC HTTP host name and should be the same as HTTP Host config
   • set Method to POST
   • set Custom Parameter 1 Name to notifyBCSwiftKey
   • set Custom Parameter 1 Value to <randomly-generated-string>

8. Click Save Changes button and then Done

Throttle

All supported SMS service providers impose request rate limit. NotifyBC by default throttles request rate to 4/sec. To adjust the rate, create following config in file src/config.local.js

module.exports = {
  sms: {
    throttle: {
      max: 4,
      duration: 1000,
    },
  },
};

where

• max - max numbers of requests per duration. Default to 4.
• duration - time span in ms. Default to 1000.

To disable throttle, set sms.throttle.enabled to false in file /src/config.local.js

module.exports = {
  sms: {
    throttle: {
      enabled: false,
    },
  },
};