SMS alerts in Canada, on Rogers, Bell, Telus and the rest
Welco sends SMS alerts in Canada to on-call phones on Rogers, Bell, Telus, Freedom, Vidéotron and the brands that run on them. Your system emails its alarm to your Welco address, and each confirmed phone gets a short text. It matters now because Bell retired its email-to-text gateway on December 31, 2025.
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- Works on the number, not the carrier
- Nothing to install
- Staff opt in on their own phone
In the alarm system’s notification settings, the old address 4165550123@txt.bell.ca is crossed out and replaced with plant-alarms@welco.ai.
Saved. Alerts now go to plant-alarms@welco.ai.
- Bell retired Text via Email (
@txt.bell.caand@txt.bellmobility.ca) on December 31, 2025, per Bell's end-of-life FAQ. - Rogers and Fido email-to-text reportedly stopped around June 2023. We found user reports, not an official Rogers notice.
- Telus
@msg.telus.comwas still reported working in 2025. One gateway is a thin thread for an alarm, though. - Welco texts the mobile number itself, so a crew spread across several networks needs only one address.
What changes for a Canadian on-call crew
One address for every network
Ryan is on Koodo, Emily is on Fido. Both get the same alarm, because Welco texts their numbers, not a carrier address.
Nights go to the person on call
After-hours routing sends the 2 a.m. alarm to the night phone, in your own time zone.
You see what reached each phone
A delivery report shows each text's result, which no carrier gateway ever gave you.
Phone changes stay in Welco
Someone ports from Bell to Freedom? Nothing changes in your SCADA, BMS or monitoring tool.
Email-to-text on Canadian networks, carrier by carrier
Canada has three national networks plus strong regional players, and most phone brands ride on one of them. Here is what we could source about their email-to-text addresses. The US side is in the carrier email-to-text shutdown guide.
Brands listed are the main ones on each network. Status comes from the sources below, not from our own tests.
Bell
- Brands on it
- Virgin Plus, Lucky Mobile
- Email-to-text address
@txt.bell.ca,@txt.bellmobility.ca- Status as of October 2026
- Retired December 31, 2025. Bell named no replacement.
Rogers
- Brands on it
- Fido, Chatr
- Email-to-text address
- Rogers and Fido gateways
- Status as of October 2026
- Reported stopped around June 2023 (user reports, no official notice)
Telus
- Brands on it
- Koodo, Public Mobile
- Email-to-text address
@msg.telus.com- Status as of October 2026
- Still reported working in 2025
Vidéotron (Quebecor)
- Brands on it
- Freedom Mobile
- Email-to-text address
- Not covered by our research
- Status as of October 2026
- Test with a real alarm before you rely on it
SaskTel
- Brands on it
- SaskTel
- Email-to-text address
- Not covered by our research
- Status as of October 2026
- Test with a real alarm before you rely on it
Sources: Bell: Text via Email end-of-life FAQ (read October 2026); Rogers community: email to text not working (read October 2026); Public Mobile community: msg.telus.com (read October 2026); Mobile network operators of the Americas (read October 2026)
Why a working Telus gateway is no reason to wait
Bell called its gateway a smishing channel when it shut it down. Carriers treat email-to-text as a spam risk, so a gateway that works today can be filtered or closed with little warning.
Most crews also mix networks. If one person is on Telus and two are on Bell or Fido, the alarm list is already broken for two of three phones. Your system's mail log will still say the email was sent.
A gateway also gives you no receipt. Welco reports what happened to every text, so a dropped alarm shows up in the morning instead of after a flooded wet well.
Move a Canadian alarm off a carrier gateway
Most systems need one address change. Sites with many panels can follow the full migration checklist.
Find every carrier address
Search each system's contact lists for
txt.bell.ca,txt.bellmobility.ca,msg.telus.comand any Rogers or Fido address. Note whose phone each one is.Sign up and invite the phone owners
Sign up with your work email and your Business Number. Invite each person by email; they join with their own number and reply YES.
Approve the sending system
Add the address your SCADA, BMS or monitoring tool sends from to your approved senders. Mail from anyone else is refused.
Swap the address and test
Put your Welco address where the carrier address was. Trigger a test alarm and check the delivery report before you delete the old line.
Get your Canadian alarms back on the phone
Start with a 7-day free trial, 15 message credits, on real alarms from your own system.
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A lift station alarm in Ontario, before and after
A wastewater SCADA used to email a Bell gateway address. Through Welco, the operator on call gets the part that matters.
Alert email from scada-alarms@utility.example.ca, subject “ALARM ACTIVE: LS3 Wet Well Level High”. Welco trims it to one text of 88 characters: “Welco: [Lift Station 3] Wet well level HIGH, 2.41 m at 2:14 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”
Text received: Welco: [Lift Station 3] Wet well level HIGH, 2.41 m at 2:14 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.
Characters199881 credit
More examples are on the pump and lift station alarms page.
Canadian rules that touch alert texts to staff
None of this is legal advice. It is what we know about how texting works in Canada, and where Welco stands.
CRTC and the short-code rules
The CRTC regulates telecom in Canada. The carriers' association, CWTA, runs short codes and expects those programs to answer STOP, ARRET, HELP, AIDE and INFO. Welco sends from toll-free numbers, not short codes, and answers STOP and HELP today. See the full list of stop words.
CASL and alerts to your own staff
CASL covers commercial electronic messages. An alarm text to your own staff about your own systems is not marketing, and Welco carries alerts only. Every person still opts in on their own phone, as carrier compliance explains.
Privacy, PIPEDA and Quebec
Welco stores data in the United States. Under PIPEDA you can use a provider outside Canada, but you stay responsible for the data. Quebec's Law 25 asks for a privacy impact assessment before staff phone numbers leave the province. Our privacy policy says what we keep and for how long.
Frequently asked questions
Which Canadian carriers still offer email-to-text?
@msg.telus.com was still reported working in 2025. Bell retired its gateway on December 31, 2025, and Rogers and Fido reportedly stopped around June 2023. We haven't found a source for Freedom, Vidéotron or SaskTel, so test with a real alarm.Do I need a different setup for Freedom, Vidéotron or SaskTel phones?
Can staff in Quebec reply ARRET instead of STOP?
Are alarm texts to my own staff covered by CASL?
Can I sign up with a Canadian Business Number?
Put your alarms on every Canadian network
Swap the carrier address for your Welco address and test it on tonight's on-call phone.
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