Skip to content
WelcoYour alerts, by text.

How email to SMS alerts work with Welco in Canada

Email to SMS alerts with Welco work like this: your system emails an alert, and the on-call cellphone gets it as a short text. You don't install anything. You change where one alert email goes, and Welco trims the email and picks the right phone.

Text me my alertsBook a demo

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

  • Nothing to install
  • About 15 minutes of setup
  • No per-user fees

Works by email with

  • Ignition
  • Nagios
  • Metasys
  • 3CX
  • MadgeTech

An alert email from alarms@scada.example.org arrives. The Welco rule “Pump station alarms, weekdays 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.” trims it, and Day-shift operator gets one text: “Welco: [Pump Station 2] Well 3 level LOW LOW alarm at 1:58 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Day-shift operator received: Welco: [Pump Station 2] Well 3 level LOW LOW alarm at 1:58 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.

Animation: an alert email, "ALARM ACTIVE: Pump Station 2 / Well 3 Level LOW LOW", arrives at Welco and becomes one text to the day-shift operator: "Welco: [Pump Station 2] Well 3 level LOW LOW alarm at 1:58 PM. Reply STOP to opt out."

What changes once Welco is set up

  • Alerts reach a person, not an inbox

    The alarm lands on the cellphone of whoever is on call, even at 3 a.m., instead of sitting in a mailbox until morning.

  • One short text per alert

    Welco keeps the site, the problem and the time, and drops the banners and footers. Most alerts fit in one text.

  • Nights go to the night person

    Simple rules send daytime alerts to the team and after-hours alerts to whoever is on call.

  • You can see it arrived

    Each text shows as delivered, or says in plain words why not, such as a phone that's turned off. Welco never promises delivery, and our delivery rates disclosure explains why.

Set up email-to-text alerts in 4 steps

Whoever looks after the system can do this, and there is nothing to install. Our case studies follow real teams through the same steps.

  1. Sign up and verify your business

    Sign up with your work email, tell us about your business and book a short intro call. We check every business and a card before it can send a single text. That keeps alert numbers trusted by mobile networks.

  2. Invite the staff who should get alerts

    Send each person an invite by email, or share a join link. They open their own join page, enter their mobile number, tick an unchecked box and reply YES to one text. Until they do, Welco sends that phone nothing.

  3. Point your system's alert email at your Welco address

    In your SCADA, monitoring or building system, add your Welco address as one more alert recipient. Then add the address the system sends from to your approved senders.

  4. Alerts arrive as texts that start with Welco

    Each alert lands as a short text that begins with Welco: and ends with the STOP line. That is the format US carriers require, and Welco uses it for Canadian phones too. Your team keeps getting the emails as well.

Try it with the system you already run

Sign up, verify your business and add one email address. The 7-day free trial includes 15 message credits.

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

Text me my alertsBook a demo

One alert, start to finish

Here is what happens to a single lift station alarm on a Saturday night in January, from the alarm server to the reply.

  1. The alarm notifier sends its usual email

    ops-alerts@plant.example.org: ALARM ACTIVE, Lift Station 4 / Wet Well Level HIGH

  2. Welco checks it

    The sender is on your approved list, and the night rule says lift station alarms go to the standby operator.

  3. The standby operator's phone buzzes

    Welco: [Lift Station 4] Wet well level HIGH, 2.6 m at 2:41 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

  4. The operator replies in the same text thread

    On my way

  5. The reply comes back as an email

    Welco sends text replies back by email to the address that sent the alert. When that is a shared mailbox like ops-alerts, the whole team sees who is on it.

    Reply from the standby operator's phone: On my way

Times are an example. Delivery speed depends on mobile networks, so Welco never promises a time. Replies use message credits, the same as alerts.

What happens to a long alert email

Alert emails carry a lot of extra lines: banners, links, footers and legal notes. Welco cuts them away and keeps the host, the state and the time.

Alert email from monitor@it.example.com, subject “** PROBLEM Host Alert: db-01 is DOWN **”. Welco trims it to one text of 83 characters: “Welco: [Server] Host DOWN - db-01 (10.5.160.9) at 3:12 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Text received: Welco: [Server] Host DOWN - db-01 (10.5.160.9) at 3:12 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

Characters419831 credit

Animation: the alert email "** PROBLEM Host Alert: db-01 is DOWN **" is trimmed into one text: "Welco: [Server] Host DOWN - db-01 (10.5.160.9) at 3:12 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

That text is 81 characters, so it counts as one text. The long email sent as is could use up to 6. Read why texts split into segments.

Which systems can send email to SMS alerts

Any system that can send an email can send its alerts through Welco, from a SCADA server to a building controller. These are some of the systems teams already point at their Welco address. For anything else, follow the steps for any system that sends email.

Before and after Welco

How alerts reach people today

  • Alarm emails wait in a shared inbox until someone checks it.
  • Carrier email-to-text addresses stopped delivering: Bell retired its service, and Rogers and Fido reportedly stopped.
  • A long alert splits into several texts, or gets cut off.
  • Anyone who learns the address can send to it.

How they reach people with Welco

  • The on-call cellphone gets a short text, wherever that person is.
  • Welco sends from verified, alerts-only numbers.
  • Each alert is trimmed to the lines that matter.
  • Only systems you approve can start a text.

You decide who gets what

Simple rules, set once. One alert can go to one phone or to the whole crew.

  • Rules on sender, subject or words

    Text alerts with CRITICAL or DOWN, and leave the rest in email. See alert rules.

  • Day and night routing

    Weekday alarms go to the day crew, and nights and weekends go to the person on call.

  • Several phones, one alert

    Text the whole crew from one alarm. Each phone gets it only once.

  • Calm during a burst

    When one fault, like a power bump in a storm, sets off dozens of alarms, flood limits keep phones usable.

STOP, HELP and staying in control

Every person who gets alerts can opt out by replying STOP. Replying HELP gets them help, and they can always email hello@welco.ai. Welco replies to these in English only.

A phone that replied STOP gets no more alerts, even urgent ones. If an on-call phone goes quiet, delivery reports tell you why in plain English. The full opt-in process is on our SMS compliance page.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to install anything to start getting alert texts?

No. Welco works from the email your system already sends. There is no software, plug-in or cellular modem to install. If your system can send an email to an address you type in, it can send texts through Welco.

Do my staff need an app?

No. Alerts arrive as regular text messages on any cellphone. Each person joins once from an email invite and replies YES. After that there is nothing to open or log in to.

What happens to the alert emails we get today?

Nothing changes. Welco is one more recipient on the alert, so the emails still reach your inbox as before. You can remove the old recipients later if you like.

Can someone reply to an alert text?

Yes. A reply goes back by email to whoever sent the alert, so the team can see who is handling it. It doesn't acknowledge the alarm in your system, and Welco does not pass unanswered alerts to the next person. Each reply uses message credits like any other text.

Does Welco need a connection into our network or servers?

No. Welco only receives the alert email your system already sends out through your mail server. There is no agent, no open port and no remote login, and nothing in your system changes. The Welco security overview covers the rest of a typical review.

Can I test my setup before anyone gets a text?

Yes. Turn on test mode and send an alert as usual. Welco logs the text it would have sent, but nothing goes to a phone and no credits are used. Turn test mode off once you are happy with the result.

How long does it take to get the first alert text?

Changing the alert address takes a few minutes in most systems. Before that come a short intro call and the check on your business and card. Once you are verified and a phone has replied YES, the next alert email becomes a text.

What does it cost?

Plans are priced by message credits and billed in US dollars, with no per-user fees, no hardware and no setup fee. A short alert to one phone uses 1 credit. The 7-day free trial includes 15 credits, and your card isn't charged until you approve a plan. See plans and prices.

Change one email address and see your first alert text

Sign up, invite your team and point your alert email at Welco.

Text me my alertsBook a demo

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