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 Does Express support SMS to the company number

John Everett's profile image
John Everett 8x8 User posted 11-12-2021 12:19
Hi, new Express subscriber here.

I'm wondering if SMS is supported on an 8x8 Express company number.

As explained in this article, it seems like Express has a main company number and multiple (as many as licensed) user numbers.

Likewise, this article explains that "8x8 Express" is an account type that supports SMS, and that when porting in a number the "SMS feature is... provisioned for that user [once] the port-in process has completed".

However, this last sentence is technically only talking about a user number, and not elaborating upon any details for the company number. Is SMS also functional on the Express company number (and, if so, can SMS sent to the company number either be read in an admin console and/or forwarded to one/other user numbers)? Or does SMS only work on user numbers?

I've ported in a existing number to my Express company number, but SMS doesn't seem to work when sent to it. Meanwhile, SMS is working with my user number (a new assigned number, not the number I ported into.) Can I get SMS working on the company number, and if not, is it possible to port the number I ported into the main company number over to a user number (so it can get SMS)?

Thanks for any advice,
John
Tony Maeller's profile image
Tony Maeller posted 11-18-2021 08:52
Hi John,

The only phone numbers that SMS will work for with the 8x8 service (whether X Series or Express) are fully-ported-in local phone numbers that are assigned as the primary phone number to an 8x8 user (meaning that the user has a phone number and extension assigned).

Shared/Virtual Numbers and Toll Free numbers cannot be used for SMS, because only a user's primary assigned local inbound phone number is provisioned on our SMS service.

This means that even if a user sets a different/shared phone number than their assigned extension phone number as their outbound caller ID, the original assigned phone number will be displayed to the person being sent the SMS message.

So in short, yes, SMS only works on user numbers.

Assuming the phone number you ported in is a local DID (not toll free): to use that as your SMS number you would need to unassign ALL assigned phone numbers in your user profile, in Admin Console > Users > [Edit your user] > Voice basic settings > , and then assign the ported-in number, then click Save. You would then need to log out of Work for Desktop and log back in for the change to complete (assuming you're logged in at the time of change). This is because only the first number in the list is assigned as the primary number for a user.

Hope this helps! If you have any other questions, please let us know, and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks very much,

~Tony
John Everett's profile image
John Everett 8x8 User posted 11-19-2021 07:05

@Tony Maeller wrote:
...unassign ALL assigned phone numbers in your user profile, in
Admin Console | Users | [Edit your user] | Voice basic settings | 
...then assign the ported-in number, then click
Save


Are these commands that work with Express, or a different service tier? They don't seem to work with Express.

When I try to select "Admin Console" from the main application panel (at https://apps.8x8.com/):
The "Admin Console" option ( a link to https://admin.8x8.com/) redirects me to "8x8 Manager Express" (at https://express.8x8.com/home)

Once in "8x8 Manager Express" (https://express.8x8.com/users), there appears no options to "unassign" numbers. The options are:

Under "Business info", there is an option to "Change" the "business number" -- but no mention that it would be preserving/holding my ported in number (for later assignment to a user account). I wouldn't want to "change" this number without that guaranty, especially if "releasing" the ported in number would actually lose it (it has been my number for 50+ years).

Likewise, under "Users and phones", [Edit your user], there is no option for "Voice basic settings", just:
User Edit
  • Account Details (name & email)
  • Deskphone
  • Phone number
"Phone number" offers "select a phone number and extension number to be assigned to the user", which again allows a "Change​" option but this only offers a list of new assigned numbers to pick from, not an option to grab the ported in number from the "business number".

Again, I don't want to experiment in any way that would risk losing my ported in number. Having that number as the "business number" does allow me to use it for a voice mail switchboard, so that's an trade-off between gaining SMS functionality by moving the number to a User account.

If it were possible to safely move the number to a user account, I might consider it (if SMS to that number proves important), but the commands that you pointed to do not even seem to be applicable to the user interface I see in 8x8 Express.

Could you clarify what options are available?

Thanks for any help!
Adill Drai's profile image
Adill Drai posted 11-25-2021 08:03
Hi John,

I do apologize for the confusion. The previous steps mentioned for assigning the number are for X Series (Admin Console) and not Express. 

As you mentioned: In Express, Under "Business info", there is an option to "Change" the "business number" in Express.
Once you have changed this number, your previous number (which you had for 50+ years) will still be available for 90 days to be used for another user on your account and will show as an available number to select. 

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