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WelcoYour alerts, by text.

Email-to-SMS gateway for alerts in Canada, or an alert service?

An email-to-SMS gateway for alerts used to be free: send to 4165550123@txt.bell.ca and the phone got a text. Bell retired that gateway on December 31, 2025, and carriers on both sides of the border are closing theirs. Welco gives your alarms one address that doesn't depend on a carrier. It adds approved senders, routing and trimming, and texts only staff who said yes.

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  • One address for every phone
  • Works on any Canadian or US carrier
  • No per-user fees

Works by email with

  • Any system that emails
  • Nagios

Replaces email-to-text from

  • Verizon
  • AT&T

Published:

Setting up alerts with Carrier email-to-text gateway takes 4 steps. With Welco it takes 4.

With Carrier email-to-text gateway

  1. Look up each person's carrier
  2. Type number@carrier into the alarm
  3. Hope the carrier still delivers
  4. Redo it when someone changes carrier

With Welco

  1. One Welco address for every phone
  2. Approve the systems that may send
  3. Route by time and trim long alarms
  4. See why a text didn't arrive
Animation: a Carrier email-to-text gateway setup and a Welco setup are built side by side.
  • Bell retired Text via Email on December 31, 2025, calling it a smishing channel. Rogers and Fido users reported theirs stopped around June 2023.
  • Telus was still reported working in 2025. In the US, AT&T ended its gateway in 2025 and Verizon expects to finish by March 31, 2027.
  • General SMS gateways still work, but they are built for any message, not for alarms.
  • Welco is built for alarms only: approved senders, confirmed phones, rules and delivery reports.

Gateway or alert service: who should pick which

A gateway is not always the wrong answer. The top row is where an alert service wins, the bottom row is where a gateway can serve you better.

  • Pick Welco if alarms used number@carrier

    SCADA panels, data loggers, UPS cards and Nagios contacts were often set up years ago with Bell or Rogers addresses. Those are the ones going quiet.

  • Pick Welco so strangers can't text your crew

    Open gateways took mail from anyone. Welco only accepts mail from senders you have approved, so a spoofed email can't wake your on-call staff.

  • Pick Welco to see failed texts

    A dead gateway often fails in silence. Welco's plain-English delivery reports say why a text didn't arrive, such as a phone that was off.

  • Pick a gateway if alarms must stay on-site

    An on-site hardware SMS gateway, such as SMSEagle, keeps texting inside your building. On-site alarm dialers are weighed in our Sensaphone alternative.

  • Pick a gateway to message the public

    General SMS platforms handle many kinds of messages and may reach countries Welco doesn't text yet. Welco is for staff alerts only.

  • Keep a carrier gateway that still works, at your risk

    Telus's @msg.telus.com gateway was still reported working in 2025, but nothing says it will last. Check the email-to-SMS gateway list for status.

Alarm texting before and after you retire the gateways

A list of carrier addresses

  • One number@carrier entry per phone, typed into every alarm system.
  • A new phone or a switch from Bell to Telus quietly breaks the address.
  • An alarm vanishes with no bounce, and the panel thinks it sent.

One Welco address

  • Every system sends to the same address, and rules pick the phones.
  • Staff keep their alarms when they change carrier, because they joined with their own number.
  • Night alarms go to the on-call phone by time-of-day routing.

Three ways to turn an alert email into a text

Bell, AT&T and Verizon dates come from their own notices, and other carrier status and ClickSend's price from user or third-party reports. All prices are in US dollars (USD). Customers in Canada pay in US dollars too. For tool-by-tool matchups, see side-by-side alert tool comparisons.

Still working?

Carrier email-to-text
Bell retired it December 31, 2025. Rogers and Fido reportedly stopped around June 2023. Telus still reported working. In the US, AT&T ended it June 17, 2025, Verizon ends by March 31, 2027, and T-Mobile reportedly stopped around December 2024
General SMS gateway
Yes
Welco
Yes, for mobile numbers in Canada, the US, the UK and the Netherlands

Cost

Carrier email-to-text
Free while it lasts
General SMS gateway
Per message. ClickSend is about US$0.0226 to US$0.0081 a text plus a carrier fee, per third-party reviews
Welco
No per-user fees, no hardware, no setup fee. See Welco pricing

Who can send

Carrier email-to-text
Anyone who knows the address. Open gateways had no sender check
General SMS gateway
Depends on the account settings
Welco
Only senders you approve

Who gets texts

Carrier email-to-text
Whoever's number is typed in
General SMS gateway
Whoever's number is typed in
Welco
Phones that replied YES

Routing and trimming

Carrier email-to-text
None
General SMS gateway
Varies, often built for general messages
Welco
Rules by sender, words and time, plus one-text trimming

When a text fails

Carrier email-to-text
Often dropped with no bounce
General SMS gateway
Varies by provider
Welco
A delivery report in plain English

Sources: Bell: Text via Email end-of-life FAQ (read Oct 6, 2026); Rogers community: email-to-text not working (read Oct 6, 2026); Public Mobile community: msg.telus.com notifications (read Oct 6, 2026); AT&T support KM1061254 (read Oct 5, 2026); Verizon: vtext and vzwpix shutdown (read Oct 5, 2026); SigSpan: T-Mobile email-to-text gateway (read Oct 5, 2026); NVRtxt: email-to-text shutdown (read Oct 5, 2026); DDIY: ClickSend review (read Oct 5, 2026)

A well pressure alarm, from logger email to text

Telemetry loggers at remote wells, from rural Alberta to the Fraser Valley, often emailed a carrier address. Here is the same kind of alarm going to Welco instead.

Alert email from alerts@telemetry.example.ca, subject “CELX 204417 alarm”. Welco trims it to one text of 93 characters: “Welco: [Well 6] Pressure above 585 kPa, latest 609.5 kPa at 4:44 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Text received: Welco: [Well 6] Pressure above 585 kPa, latest 609.5 kPa at 4:44 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

Characters169931 credit

Animation: the alert email "CELX 204417 alarm" is trimmed into one text: "Welco: [Well 6] Pressure above 585 kPa, latest 609.5 kPa at 4:44 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

Every text starts with Welco:, so staff know it's an alarm, not spam.

Swap one dead gateway address today

Verify your business, invite whoever owned that gateway phone, and put your Welco address where the carrier address was.

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

Replace my gateway addressesBook a demo

Systems that used carrier addresses for alarms

Each tile opens a setup page with a masked alarm before and after. Ignition sites can also see Ignition texts without an SMS account, and our glossary entry on email-to-SMS gateways explains the old model.

Replace gateway addresses in 15 minutes

Work through one system at a time. Our carrier shutdown migration checklist helps you find every address.

  1. Find every carrier address

    Search your alarm settings for @txt.bell.ca, @txt.bellmobility.ca, @msg.telus.com, @vtext.com, @txt.att.net and similar domains. Write down whose phone each address reached.

  2. Create your Welco account

    Sign up and verify your business. Welco gives you one address for all your alarms.

  3. Invite the owners of those phones

    Each owner joins from your email invite with their own cellphone number. They reply YES to a confirmation text before alarms flow.

  4. Approve the system and swap the address

    Approve the system's sending address. Then replace each number@carrier entry with your Welco address.

  5. Test and watch the report

    Trigger a test alarm. Check the delivery report to confirm each phone got the text.

Frequently asked questions

Is an email-to-SMS gateway the same as an alert texting service?

No. A gateway turns any email into a text for whatever number it is given. An alert texting service adds checks built for alarms. Welco only takes mail from approved senders, only texts phones that replied YES, routes by time and explains failed texts in plain English.

What happens to an alarm sent to a dead carrier gateway?

Often nothing you can see. Rogers and Fido users reported alarm emails that simply stopped arriving as texts, and reports say T-Mobile's US gateway dropped mail with no bounce. Your alarm system thinks it sent the text, and the phone never rings. That is why a quiet alarm list deserves a test, not trust.

Can a general SMS gateway send my alarm texts in Canada instead?

Yes, many can turn email into texts. They are built for every kind of message, though, so alarm features such as time routing, trimming and approved senders vary. Most charge per message, often in US dollars, sometimes with carrier fees added. Compare that with Welco pricing, which has no per-user fees.

Is Welco free like the carrier gateways were?

No. The carrier gateways were free because they only passed mail along, with no checks and no reports. Welco is a paid service with no per-user fees, and it starts with a 7-day free trial that includes 15 message credits. A card verifies the business, but it isn't charged until you approve a plan.

Do staff phones need to be on a certain carrier for Welco?

No. Welco texts any mobile number in Canada, the US, the UK and the Netherlands, whatever the carrier. Each person joins once with their own number, and it keeps working if they change carrier. With carrier gateways, a carrier change broke the address and the alarm went nowhere.

Why are carriers closing the gateways my alarms depend on?

Open gateways had no sender check, so they became a channel for spam and scam texts. Bell said as much when it called its gateway a smishing channel. They also don't fit the A2P rules carriers now use for business texting, explained in our 10DLC guide. Bell and AT&T have closed their gateways, and Verizon expects to finish by March 31, 2027.

Can one Welco address replace a dozen carrier addresses?

Yes. Every system sends to your single Welco address, and a rule decides which phones get each alarm. Adding a new operator means one invite, not editing every panel. Removing someone who left is done once in Welco.

Retire the carrier addresses before they fail you

Put your Welco address where number@carrier used to be.

Replace my gateway addressesBook a demo

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