How do Carl.X text message notifications work and what's the SMS lookup tool?

Carl.X sends text message notifications using a feature called Email SMS Gateway. Unfortunately this is not 100% supported by all carriers, but most carriers do support this feature. The way it works with carriers in the U.S. is you send an email to the carrier’s specified domain using the mobile numbers 10 digits (area code + phone number). So if 405-599-1234 was an AT&T customer, the Email SMS Gateway address would be [email protected]. If the same number was on Verizon it would be [email protected].

Currently we are aware of two carriers who do not support the Email to SMS Gateway feature. TerraCom Wireless, a lifeline phone service provider and Google Voice. Google Voice is a great service that many people use, but it does not have an Email SMS Gateway address so our Google Voice customers cannot currently receive text messages to their Google Voice number.

There are some carriers known as MVNO’s, or Mobile Virtual Network Operators. These are carriers like Straight Talk, Cricket, Tracphone and other pre-paid services. They are classified as a carrier, but do not own the wireless network infrastructure over which the MVNO provides services. Instead they lease towers from the main carriers, sometimes a single MVNO might use more than one carrier to provide service to their customers. Straight Talk, Walmart’s MVNO, uses Verizon, AT&T, and T-mobile to provide service to their customers. This can be very problematic for us because if a customer turns in a library card application and lists “Straight Talk” as their wireless carrier, and they are using a phone that has an AT&T or T-mobile SIM card, they will not receive text messages from Carl.X if we select “Straight Talk” from the list. The Straight Talk selection in Carl.X only works for customers on the Verizon network, which is usually on their cheaper flip phones that are purchased in-store.

To help alleviate the problems caused by MVNO’s that use multiple carriers, IT has developed a tool to assist staff in ensuring the correct carrier is listed in Carl.X. This tool can be accessed at http://smslookup

There is a table listed on the right side of the page that lists some common MVNO’s and what carrier you should select in Carl.X. Please look at this table before doing a lookup on the Carrier Lookup Tool.

We have to pay a very small fee for every query transaction using the lookup tool, so we want to make sure this tool is used as a last resort. If after looking at the list of common MVNO carriers you still are unable to determine the correct carrier, then you can input the 10-digit phone number in the SMS Lookup tool and it will provide you with the Carrier that needs to be entered in Carl.X.

There are some instances where the Lookup Tool will return a carrier but it will tell you to use an alternate carrier in Carl.X. One example are Cricket Customers who are either new Cricket Customers since the Cricket/AIO Wireless merger in May 2014. All former AIO Wireless customers along with any new Cricket Wireless customers will have AIO Wireless listed as their carrier. All customers that were with Cricket before the merger and have not yet updated their phones to the new system will have Cricket Wireless listed as their carrier. The results page will have an extra line specifying to use “Cricket Wireless (AT&T)” as the carrier in Carl.X if they are AIO Wireless customers.

If a customer is on Google Voice or some other carriers that we have yet to discover that do not support Email SMS Gateway messaging, they will be listed as a Landline:

Some final notes:

• We pay a small fee for each individual transaction. This includes phone numbers previously searched. Please be sure and try to only use the Carrier Lookup Tool when necessary.
• We do log every instance that a lookup is performed and it is time stamped and the IP address of the computer doing the lookup is recorded. 
• If you come across new carriers that are not listed in Carl.X or on the table listed on the Carrier Lookup Tool, please send an email to [email protected] along with the Carrier name and the phone number (if available). I will contact the carrier to verify their Email SMS Gateway settings and update the table and the Lookup Tool to reflect my findings.
• The only Lifeline service carrier who has contacted me back has been BlueJay Wireless. They are confirmed to work with Email SMS Gateway messaging using T-mobile as the Carrier. If a customer who uses TerraCom or some other Lifeline service carrier expresses frustration about not being able to receive our notices, we might want to inform them that BlueJay Wireless does support Carl.X text notices.