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With Email to Voice, can I send phone messages from my Contacts System, like my CRM, Dispatch, PCS or ERP, such as SalesForce.com or SAP?

Yes. First, ensure that your ‘From’ email address is the same email address that you have setup through Email To Voice. This is by default the email address you used when you subscribed to Email To Voice. However, you can have us assign a different email address as the Authorized Email Address. Just contact us and make that request.

Then just enter an additional email address for your contact with the format, like 5551231234@tts.message-service.org

How can I send a single email to multiple users?

There are five ways to send a message to multiple users in a single email. (But, remember, that you cannot send a single email to multiple users using different communication methods.) Refer to Tips for Email to Voice.

The five ways ways are

1) In the “To” address. Multiple destinations can be sent to by separating them with a “#” (ie, 5551211234#5552211235#5553211236@tts.message-service.org – but remember that the TO field has a limit so probably not more than 3 to 5 destinations work using this method.

2) In the body of the message you can use the “numbers” tag. Refer to page 2 of

<numbers>
5551211234
5552211235
5553211236
</numbers>

3) If you want to send to a pre loaded list, go to the Customer Portal / Manage Personal Lists. Then you can send to the pre-loaded list by using the “lists” tag:

<Lists>
My First List Name
My Second List Name
</Lists>

4) Avoid adding a tag to the content of the email by using this method. The List name (created in the Customer Portal) can be designated in the TO field. This also supports ‘escalation lists’. For example, if a List has been created with the name nightshift, then the TO field would look like this:

list-nightshift@tts.message-service.org.

4) You can also use a product like Microsoft Power Automate or Zapier, etc

Is there authentication for the emails I send to the EmailToVoice.Net service.?

There are three authentication methods:

1. By default, before the message is sent on to the designated recipients, the sending email address is verified to be the email address that was specified during the subscription process.

2. A Challenge Response is available upon request. Merely contact us and request this to be added to your account. This Challenge Response authentication will be set for all emails sent from your email address in your account. The way it works is once you send the email, the job is saved on our servers until an Authentication email is sent to the subscribed sender user’s email address. You then reply from your subscribed email address to confirm that you initiated the request, and then the job is sent on to the recipients from our servers.

2. You also have the ability to insert an Embedded Password. In this case, the original job request should have the line “Password=xxyyzz” in the body of the email. If this password matches your account password, then the message is sent immediately.

To learn more about the strength and workings of each of these authentication methods, refer to the How Email to Voice works.

Can I trial the Email to Voice service?
Yes. When you subscribe to the service, you automatically get a 28 day trial and the ability to send up to 55 messages.

  • Text to Speech (TTS) and SMS from your Email
  • 28 Day no cost Trial with 55 free messages
  • No credit card required for trial
  • After trial period, a signup fee of $4.95 applied toward future usage
  • No monthly activity equals no monthly charges
Can I add an additional email address as the authorized email address to send messages through EmailToVoice.Net?

Yes. Contact us and provide us the email address you want as the authorized email address. We will set that up for you. You can also request the entire domain of your company to be authorized to send messages through EmailToVocie.Net.

Can I use Google Voice with the Email to Voice service?
We understand that Google Voice can be used successfully with Email to Voice.
The email signature is being included in my message, but, I want it excluded. How do I exclude the Email Signature text?

The customer can designate the beginning and end of all messages by logging into the Customer Portal and then going to My Details / Change My Details. The fields in the account details are

Email to Broadcast-Start of Message Text:

Email to Broadcast-End of Message Text:

The email signature is being included in my message, but, I want it excluded. How do I exclude the Email Signature text?
The text in the email that is before four empty lines will be considered the complete message to be converted to Text or sent as a SMS. So, four empty lines will identify the end of the message. Ensure there are four empty lines before the signature.

You can also ask our support staff to specify a special phrase to denote the end of the message, such as the characters at the beginning of the email signature. Just send us the request details through the Contact US page.

Another alternative is to insert the tag at the end of the message.

Can I have one of my own company phone numbers show up as the Caller ID on the recipient’s phone when I use TTS Email to Voice?oes Here
Yes. Send us the number through the Contact Us page and provide proof that your company owns the number you want to show up as the Caller ID. A phone bill would be appropriate proof. If you don’t have a phone bill, contact us and we will discuss alternative proof items. This is in reference to TTS (voice) messages. For SMS (Text) messages refer to another FAQ on the subject of SMS reply number.
Can I send to an International phone number if I am subscribed to the USA Email to Voice service? What is the cost to send to phone numbers outside of the United States?
Yes. The format would be something like +4155555555@tts.message-service.org. Precede the country code with a + sign, and then follow with the phone number. Alternatively, you can specify the number like this: 0011415555555555. The number can be anywhere in the world with the exception of certain regulatory restrictions. To determine cost and the availability, just send a test message to the number and see the cost of the message in the detailed email report. The number does not have to be preregistered.
Can I change the default voice from Female American English to another voice?
Yes. When your account is initially setup, your default voice is Female American English. But, you can change that in the Customer Portal.

At any time, you can override the default voice by inserting the “voice” tag in the email. Remember that this is in reference to the voice used for reading the content of the email as written. Our Email to Voice service does not translate the content of the email.

Do you retry the voice call if your service get a busy or no answer?
Yes. The Email to Voice service retries 2 times for a busy or no answer for a TTS or Voice call. The condition would be if there were a problem with the network or the phone itself. The recipient’s phone should always have voicemail and the voicemail should not be full.
Can I have a different message played if the call is answered by voice mail
Yes. This is very useful when used in conjuction with the “TwoWay” tag. When the message is sent, you can have the email message say “Your order has been shipped and should have arrived at your location. Hit 1 if you have not received the package and we will investigate”. Then, you can set an alternate message to be played for voice mail systems by adding it in the tags “VoiceMsg”. For example, you could add the following to the content of your email as the alternative voice mail message: “Sorry we missed you, but your order has been shipped and should have arrived at your location. Please call us if you have not received it.” For more information, refer to How Email to Voice works
Can I have a specific SMS Reply number to be used when I send a Two-Way SMS message
Yes. For Two-Way SMS messages, we use a pool of “long Codes” as the SMS Reply Number. We can assign a specific “Long Code” for your account that will be used as the SMS Reply Number for an additional monthly charge. A Long-code is required for USA customers to have the same SMS Sender ID display every time. International customers can specify the Send ID in My Details in the Customer Portal.

Just, contact us and we will discuss the alternatives further.

Can I have the SUBJECT field of the email read as part of the message
Yes. By default, the SUBJECT field of the email is used only for reporting uses. You will see it on the monthly Usage Statements. But, you can have the SUBJECT field concatenated with the content of the email and have the SUBJECT field and the content of the email converted to speech. Or, you can have the SUBJECT field be the only part of the email that is converted to speech. Contact Us and let us know how you want this feature set for your Account. We will change the default of your Account to meet your requirements.
Can I specify the Email to Voice message as a CC or BCC?
No. You cannot specify the nnnnnnnnnn@tts.message-service.org or msg@tts,message-service.org as a CC or BCC. It must be in the TO field.
How do I change the billing or credit card credentials on file
Use the Contact Us form to let us know you want to change the billing credential for Email To Voice. We do not store your credit card information. So, we will send you a link by which you can change the credit card information securely.
I did not receive the call but the email report said the call was successful
There are several possibilities:

  1. The message may have been too short for the telephone system the message was sent to. Create a longer message.
  2. The number may be involved in a ‘forward’. This can cause several undesirable results because of switching delays.
  3. Voice Mail is not setup properly on the receiving number.
  4. The number is a roll-over, like that used in a Call Center.

First determine if any of these conditions exist. If they can be changed, then make the change or correction. If a change is not possible, contact us and we will work with you on a solution.

Can EmailToVoice.Net send a prerecorded message to a phone

Yes. You can have the TO field look something like 5555555555@voice.message-service.org. The precorded message must be a single attachment of a WAV file. Contact us if you need more information regarding the creation of the WAV file.

The limit is 4 MB (4000 kb)

  • Download some free voice editing software such as http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/index.html
  • Open the large file
  • Then, Save As the file, and choose “PCM Uncompressed, 8000Hz, 8 Bits, Mono” when prompted for the settings (note this happens after the save as step).
What is the defalut monthly spend limit on my account

When a trial customer becomes a customer by using the secure link to enter their credit card or by providing a Purchase Order number, the monthly spend limit is generally set at $300 per month by default. However, we may change this amount based upon the customer’s activity and to protect our service. If the default is too high or too low for your requirements, please contact us. Also, contact us for the secure link to become a customer. 

What are the message limits of EmailToVoice.Net
The default limit for TTS (Text to Speech) is 1,000 characters. If this needs to be increased, contact us
The default limit for SMS messages is 6 SMS messages.
The default size for FAX is 5Mb. If this needs to be increased contact us
Can I remove the standard Header message read before my email message
Yes. The standard Header message that is read before your email text is removed when you become a customer by providing your credit card, as outlined in the Welcome email we sent you when you signed up for the free trial.
Can I specify an SMS Sender ID for my company account?
Yes. To have the same number show every time when sending an SMS text message through EmailtToVoice.Net, USA customers must rent an SMS Long-Code from EmailToVoice.Net. International customers can specify the Sender ID in MY Details in the Customer Portal or they can also rent a Long-Code to be the consistent SMS Sender ID. Contact us to get a Long Code specific for your account.
Can I have several people called sequentially
Yes. We call this feature Escalation Lists. Create a List in the Customer Portal. Click the Escalation List box. Then to send the message:

  1. send the email message TO dmy@tts.message-service.org
  2. in the body of your message, include:
    <Lists>*My New Escalation List Name*</Lists> (* * replace with your list name)
Can I be assured the recipient of the SMS message is the correct recipient?
YES, The SMS message can optionally be secured with the use of an authentication question. This helps assure that the recipient of the message is the intended recipient. The question must be answered correctly by the recipient to be able to open the URL link in the SMS message. The question and answer are set by tags put in to the Email or the List. This feature is available if you send the message to 5555555555@linkinsms.message-service-org.
Can I send a Secure Authenticated SMS from EmailTovoice.net

Yes. You can authenticate the recipient of the SMS by asking a security question. The question must be answered by the recipient correctly before the SMS can be opened. To use this service, the TO field of the email must be 5551231234@linkinsms.message-service.org

How do I reorder an escalation List

To reorder an escalation list, create or upload the list in the order that you want the calls to occur. This can be done manually by adding new entries to your list in the Customer Portal and deleting existing lines. Alternatively, you can import or re-import a list after it has been sorted in a different order. We find it will help to sort the list by using the reference field and placing an alphabetical indicator in that field. For instance, call 1, call 2, call 3, etc. Then upload the list and the sequence of escalation calls will be in the order of the list.

What is meant in List Management by the option 'Allow all users from my company access to this list'

We allow for multiple user accounts to be connected to one company for reporting. The function to “allow all users from my company to access the list”, is a feature where multiple user accounts connected to the same company account can send to the same list name, held by only one of the users. Note that the list’s creator/owner is the only user that can manage any list. This option is for companies that utilize multiple user accounts and permit all of their users access to a list.

My TTS Escalation List does not call the next number

Please make sure that the message was sent to dmy@message-service.org.

Also, make sure that the list has unique references and recipients. The phone number can be duplicated more than once, but the names of each list item must differ.

Ensure that the Escalation List box was ticked when you created the List.

For more information:

Escalation Lists Support Sequential Calling for Alerts in EmailToVoice.Net

 

Can a TTS Escalation List have the same number more than once in the list?

Yes.

Can I set a limit for the number of phone calls sent

Yes. Go to the Customer Portal / My Details / EtoB – Send Limit cutoff and enter the number of messages that are acceptable within a selected timeframe.

Can I control the number of times the message repeats in a TTS call?

Yes, You can set the number of repeats in the Customer Portal / My DETAILS. The default is 2. You can set it to none or 3 or 4.

Do i get free messages when I subscribe?

Yes. A new subscription to our service receives a free $5.00 USD of usage. For customers subscribed after November 1, 2022, TTS (email to a voice phone call) messages may be limited to 10 per hour until a form of payment is provided and your account is verified as an enterprise business.

A message is getting a NOLN error. Why is this occurring?
Possible reasons for a NOLN error are:
  • The caller ID that shows up when our service makes the phone call is being blocked by the recipient.
  • The recipient needs to put our Caller ID in their Contacts List of the cell phone so that the carrier knows our Caller ID is White-Listed.
  • The recipient’s phone number is invalid.
  • The recipient’s voicemail is full.
  • The recipient does not have voicemail setup on their cell phone or landline.

EmailToVoice.Net

by
OLinks Corporation
Texas, USA

Escalation Lists Support Sequential Calling for Alerts in EmailToVoice.Net

Escalation Lists Support Sequential Calling for Alerts in EmailToVoice.Net

This article was update 06/30/2023 to reflect the List feature eliminating the need to have a tag in the body of the the email text. (ie TO: list-nightshift@tts.message-service.org)

Escalation Lists in EmailToVoice.Net are used to sequentially send a text-to-speech (TTS) message to a list of phone recipients from any business application. An alert notification needs action immediately. This may require the alert to be sent to more than one person to assure action is taken on the critical issue. EmailToVoice.Net provides the ability to send to a sequential list of people until one is reached. The feature of EmailToVoice.Net is called an Escalation List.

Escalation List Based Upon Proven List Management

EmailToVoice.Net has long provided List Management so that a customer can send a message to multiple recipients, such as an email to a voice phone call. This is done in the Customer Portal under the menu item Manage Personal Lists.

 

Recipeint Lists in Email to Phone and SMS

In the Customer Portal, you can create and maintain lists of recipients. Then in the Email, you use the tag called Lists to identify the List you want to use for the message.

Feature Addition to List Management

A feature of the List Management capability in EmailToVoice.Net is Escalation Lists.

Escalation Lists are used to sequentially send a text-to-speech (TTS) message to a list of phone recipients. The messages are sent one at a time until a person answers or takes an action to accept the call. The acceptance of the call is based upon specific criteria set by the administrator that created the list. This is unlike the standard list type, where the message is sent to all the recipients at one time.

The purpose of an escalation list is to find a recipient who can act on the message. Examples of such a message might be:

  • Perform an urgent maintenance job for a piece of equipment that has failed
  • Fill a shift vacancy for someone who has called in sick
  • Get a courier to urgently pick up a package and deliver it

How the Escalation List works

The Escalation List feature would call the first contact in the list. If they do not listen to the message for at least 10 seconds, or do not reply in a positive fashion by pressing 1 in the phone’s Dialpad, then the second contact is called. And that continues until someone listens to the message, replies to accept the offer, or the List is exhausted.

In all instances, a status report of the message is logged on the Customer Portal under View All Jobs and an email status report is returned to the main email address on the account. Further Workflow processes can be executed using the email status report with a product such as Microsoft Power Automate.

To use this feature, you set up a new list (or edit an old one) in the Customer Portal and tick the box “This list is an escalation list”.

 

Set the Escalation List identifier

When you name the List, click on the box that says this is an Escalation List

Send a Message to an Escalation List

 

There are two ways to send a message using an Escalation List:

ONE:

The List name can be designated in the TO field. For example, if a List has been created with the name nightshift, then the TO field would look like this:

list-nightshift@tts.message-service.org.

When the email is sent to our service, we will look for the List name nightshift in the Customer Portal profile of My Personal Lists. Our service will then use that List of recipients. This article has more details on this feature.

TWO:

You send your TTS message using this list in EmailToVoice.Net. For example,

  1. send the email message TO dmy@tts.message-service.org or by using the lists word in the TO field as described in this post about sending to a list without a tag. (remember to create the name of the list with all small letters.)
  2. in the body of your message, include:
    <Lists>*My New Escalation List Name*</Lists> (* * replace with your list name)

The message must be picked up (not by voice mail) and listened to for at least 10 seconds, otherwise, the next recipient in the list is called. Once someone listens to the message for the required length of time, the job stops there.

If you send a two-way TTS, the recipient must press 1 on the phone’s Dialpad to accept the message. Otherwise, the next recipient in the list is called. In this case, it doesn’t matter how long the person has listened to the message. Making a TTS message a Two Way is done by merely adding the tag <TwoWay> on a separate line in the content of the email.

Some Special Considerations for Lists

  • Make sure that the list has unique references and recipients. The phone number can be duplicated more than once, but the names of each list item must differ.
  • The reference field is sorted alphabetically when you designate the list as an ‘escalation’ list, so name the references something like ‘reference1, reference2, etc.’.
  • Ensure that the Escalation List box was ticked when you created the List.
  • Please make sure that the message was sent to dmy@message-service.org. Or by using the lists word in the TO field as described in this post about sending to a list without a tag. (remember to create the name of the list with all small letters.)
  • The name of the list cannot have spaces or any special characters, like a dash or a plus sign or anything other than alphanumeric characters. Keep the name of the list short.

Phone Calls are Loud and Rare

Phone calls get people’s attention when you need them to act on a critical event. When you send an email, it just does not get the necessary level of attention for important information.

Implementation of industrial-strength solution for communication-enabling business processes such as critical alerts is a major effort. Sending a message from monitoring software or directly from an IoT device to a phone requires a specialized hardware and software solution to be installed in the client’s central data center. Connections to smart devices, CRM, PCS or ERP systems need to go through complex API’s or propriety software gateways

However, a cloud-based communications solution such as EmailToVoice.Net makes this all as easy as sending an email. The EmailToVoice.Net service does the hard stuff. It converts the text of the email message into a genuine-sounding voice (Text to Speech), then dials the phone, handles voice mail, and much more. All of this is done without the need to install hardware or use APIs. There are not even any monthly fees.

Rich on Features

EmailToVoice.Net is rich in features while being simple and effective to use for business communications and alerts. We transform an email message into a phone call or enterprise Text Message with no need to program APIs or install any hardware or software. You can send a voice phone call (TTS), Enterprise Text SMS, FAX or prerecorded Voice Message from any email program interface through your monitoring software, CRM, or Dispatch System. Contact Us and let us assist you in meeting your mission-critical business communications needs.

NOTE: This post was updated on November 9, 2022, to reflect enhanced features.

Author

Director at EmailToVoice.Net: CISSP – Solutions Architect for Industrial IoT Alerts and Business Communications. LinkedIn

 

 

How to make a phone call using an email interface

How to make a phone call using an email interface

What alternative is available to make a phone call using email? This is especially useful for sending a voice message to a phone from an alert system or business application. A cloud-based messaging service called EmailToVoice.Net provides the ability to convert an email to a phone call with no need to install special APIs, hardware or software.

Why Send a Phone Alert

Email is the typical mode of communication for alerts from the monitoring software, CRM or other business applications. But, few of us immediately respond to email, especially after-hours and when we are sleeping. A phone call, however, will get our attention at all of hours of the day.

Immediate response to the message is not the only reason to use a phone message for communication. If recipients are driving a truck, or any vehicle, an email is unacceptable. The message should not be read by the driver of a moving vehicle. A message coming across a hands-free phone may be an accepted alternative.

How to send an Alert to a Phone

EmailToVoice.Net provides the ability to make a phone call using any email interface. This can be tested using a personal email mailbox. However, the production use of this capability is by utilizing the email capability within Alert Software, CRM, ERP or any enterprise application.

How to Use EmailToVoice.Net

First, a user should subscribe to EmailToVoice.net. A free trial is available with a value of $4.95 USD allowing about 55 message units to be sent within a 28 day trial period. The user will be able to immediately make a phone call using their email by following the simple instructions below:

FROM Field

The email must be sent from the same email address as was specified during the free trial subscription process.

TO Field

The TO field will specify the phone number to be dialed. The TO field would look something like 2145551783@tts.message-service.org. (if the number is not a USA or Canadian number, then the TO field would look something like +6155551243@tts.message-service.org) The number can be any phone number in the world, with some exceptions due to international regulations, and does not have to be preregistered.

SUBJECT Field

The SUBJECT field can be anything brief. It is used for reporting.

Content of Email

The content of the email is converted to a pleasant sounding American English voice. (Leave at least 4 lines after the content of the email and before the email signature, so the Email signature is not converted to voice.)

Send the Email

That’s it. The EmalToVoice.net service will dial the number, play the voice rendition of the email content, handle voicemail, etc.

Advanced Features

There are many advanced features of EmailToVoice.Net. Those features will be covered in future posts. So, subscribe to our blog and stay updated. We also provide some very useful information in our Blog regarding Industrial Internet of Things, Monitoring Software and much more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Phone That Receives IIoT Alerts Should Not Need to be Preregistered

The Phone That Receives IIoT Alerts Should Not Need to be Preregistered

An Industrial IoT device often needs the ability to send a voice alert to a person. That voice alert will need to go to a telephone that may be a call center, a support person, or a repair truck. In any case, the telephone number cannot always be pre-registered or verified to the messaging service. Pre-registering the number with a service has the potential of halting the process – just at a time that is most critical.

EmailToVoice.Net is a cloud messaging service that allows a simple email interface to make a voice call to any telephone number. Unlike other services, the number does not have to be pre-registered or verified with EmailToVoice.Net.

IIoT Needs to Communcate

Industrial IoT devices often must communicate with human agents throughout the process. Gateways and business applications communicating with edge devices may have an email capability built into them. But, there are situations that require an alert or event communication be sent over a phone line as a voice message. Making a phone call is much more complex than sending an email.

EmailToVoice.Net solves the problem by converting the content of an email to an easily understood voice message and making the phone call. The service also supports pre-recorded voice, SMS and FAX. EmailToVoice.Net does this as a cloud service, so there is no hardware or software to install.

IIoT Communcation Solution

EmailToVoice.Net converts email content to voice so the recipient of your choice receives an easy to understand voice message on their phone or voice mail. There is no requirement for the receiving phone number to be registered or verified before the call is made. This is one of many enterprise-strength features of EmailToVoice.Net