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Replace carrier email to text for alarms: a 15-minute checklist

To replace carrier email to text for alarms, you change one address per system, and each alarm texts the on-call phone again. This checklist covers the whole job, from finding every old Bell, Rogers or Telus address to testing and sign-off. Once your business is verified, most systems take about 15 minutes each.

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  • About 15 minutes per system
  • Move one system at a time
  • No app for on-call staff

Works by email with

  • GE iFIX
  • Ignition
  • PRTG
  • MadgeTech

Published:

Plant SCADA emails 7055550174@txt.bell.ca; the Bell gateway replies 250 OK but drops it, so no text arrives. The same alert sent to plant-alarms@welco.ai goes through Welco to the phone. The email reaches Welco and the phone shows: “Welco: [North Plant] Generator 2 run status ALARM at 4:17 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Animation: the old carrier address 7055550174@txt.bell.ca is replaced with the Welco address plant-alarms@welco.ai, and alerts arrive again.
  • Get your business verified first, with your business number ready. Then plan about 15 minutes per system.
  • Do the inventory before anything else. The panel at the remote site is the one people forget.
  • Test every system with a real alarm to a real phone, not just a log line.
  • Delete the old gateway addresses, Telus ones included. Don't keep them as a backup.

Do my alarms need this checklist?

  1. 1.Do two or more of your systems text phones through a carrier email address?
  2. 2.Are those systems spread across more than one site, such as a treatment plant and its outlying lift stations?
  3. 3.Would you struggle to name every place an alarm phone number is stored today?

Answer the 3 questions to see your result.

Where you stand when the checklist is done

  • Every alarm reaches a phone again

    Each system on your list has sent one live test, and the text showed up where it should.

  • No forgotten gateway addresses

    The inventory turns up the old dialer, the distribution list and the script nobody remembered.

  • Nights go to the standby phone

    Rules send after-hours alarms to the person on standby, not the whole crew.

  • A record you can hand over

    One page lists each system, its Welco address and the date it passed its test.

What to have ready before switch day

A little prep turns this into an afternoon's work. Gather these first.

  • A list of alarm systems

    Every system that sends alarms by email, with an admin login for each.

  • The on-call people

    Who is on standby, with an email address for each invite. Each person joins Welco with their own cellphone and one YES.

  • Someone to trip a test

    A person at each site who can set off a safe test alarm on request, even at a station an hour's drive out.

  • A verified Welco account

    Do this first. Sign up with your work email and book the short intro call, because nothing sends until your business is approved.

Inventory checklist: find every gateway address

Search each place for carrier domains such as txt.bell.ca, pcs.rogers.com, msg.telus.com and, for US phones, vtext.com. The full list is on our gateway address list.

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Move one system from email-to-text to Welco

Repeat these steps for each system on your inventory. Start with the ones that run unattended overnight, especially through the winter.

  1. Approve the system as a sender

    Add the address the system sends from to your Welco approved senders. Welco refuses alarm mail from any address you haven't approved.

  2. Replace the gateway address

    Delete each carrier address from the system. Put your Welco address in once, even if it replaced several phones.

  3. Decide who gets what

    Set an alert rule if only some alarms should become texts, or if nights should go to one phone.

  4. Dry-run in test mode

    Trigger an alarm with test mode on. You'll see the exact text in Welco without sending it or using credits.

  5. Send one live alarm and check delivery

    Turn test mode off and trip the alarm again. Confirm the text on the phone and in the delivery report, then note the date.

Ready to move your first system?

Verify your business, confirm the phones, and work down your list.

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing

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What a moved alarm looks like on the phone

A township water plant's GE iFIX tag alarm used to go to two Bell addresses, which stopped at the end of 2025. After the switch, both operators get this from one Welco address.

Alert email from ifix-alarms@wtp.example.org, subject “WTP ALARM”. Welco trims it to one text of 82 characters: “Welco: [WTP] Boost Pump 2 fail to start ALARM at 4:44 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Text received: Welco: [WTP] Boost Pump 2 fail to start ALARM at 4:44 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

Characters174821 credit

Animation: the alert email "WTP ALARM" is trimmed into one text: "Welco: [WTP] Boost Pump 2 fail to start ALARM at 4:44 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

See the full GE iFIX alarm SMS setup for tag and group settings.

Sign-off checklist after the switch

Tick these off before you call the job done.

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Systems that need a few extra minutes

Most swaps are one field. A few take more care, so plan for them.

Frequently asked questions

Can I move one system at a time?

Yes, and it's the safest way. Move the alarm that would hurt most if missed, test it, then do the next. Systems you haven't moved yet keep their old addresses until you get to them, so a Telus address that still works keeps working meanwhile.

What if a system only accepts one email recipient?

That's fine. Put your Welco address in that one field. Welco sends the alarm to every person who joined for it, and each phone gets it once. A field that used to reach one operator can now reach the whole standby crew.

Should I keep the old gateway addresses as a backup?

No. A gateway that has closed may still accept mail and drop it, as Rogers users reported. Leaving it in place gives a false sense of cover and clutters your contact list. Delete it once the Welco test alarm arrives.

Who should be on hand on switch day?

You need someone with admin access to each system, someone who can trip a safe test alarm, and the people who will get the alarms. They only need to join and reply YES once. For remote or fly-in sites, a phone call to the operator is usually enough.

What does it cost to move our alarms to Welco?

There is no setup fee, no hardware and no charge per person on call. Each text uses message credits from a monthly plan, priced in US dollars. Use the 7-day free trial and its 15 credits to move and test your first system, then pick a plan on the pricing page.

Do on-call staff need to install anything?

No. Alarms arrive as ordinary texts that start with Welco:, so there is no app and no account for them. They reply YES to the first confirmation text. After that, STOP takes them off the list and HELP gets them help.

Work through your alarm list today

Verify once, then about 15 minutes per system. See plans and pricing or start free.

Get my alarm texts working againBook a demo

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing