What is SIMDroid?
SIMDroid takes your regular Android device to a new level allowing you to install a small third-party APK to your android device – enabling you to sync your tangible phone to SMSGatez’s Cloud.
To get started sign up for an account. Once your account has been created on our Cloud platorm then you can install the APK on your android device. For step-by-step instructions you can go to Getting Started (https://smsgatez.com/simdroid-tutorial/) Download the latest APK https://app.smsgatez.com/index.php/Updater/downloadGatezApp
How many devices can I add to my subscription?
With each SIMDroid monthly subscription, you can add up to 5 android SIM phones to your account. You can add multiple subscriptions to your Unlimited Account. Each phone has a cap of 250 messages per hour. If you wish to connect more devices for higher volume, please contact our customer support for assistance.
What is the limit of a single text message
A text message is limited to 160 characters (including spaces). A message over this limit, may be divided into messages of 153 characters each.
Special characters may count as 4 normal characters each.
Do you allow auto responders?
Yes You can set up Auto Responders to answer the most common questions with Unlimited Keywords.
How do I contact SMSGATEZ?
If you are in need of assistance with your account you can fill out the form to be contacted and one of our representatives will reach out to you via phone/email/text. You can also chat with us via the chat button in the lower right corner of your screen.
What are Extension Add Ons?
Installing Extension Add Ons will allow you to send faster, by bypassing carrier limitations the provider has set on their service. There are 36 Add Ons available so the maximum speed you could send will be 3600/hr You may find that messages do not send properly at higher speeds. We have capped the limit per device to 1000/hr
Currently you would need only to install 10 Add Ons to send up to 1000 messages per hour.
Do you have API Integration?
We have API Integration. If you need specific PARAM please contact us.
Send API url is: https://api.smsgatez.com/index.php/SendApi
We support both POST and GET
Params are: apiKey, from, to, message, showInbox=true or false (default is false)
Post back delivery receipt URL is optional if you want receive message callback status, support both POST/GET, transfer back to URL these PARAMs: from, to and status={DELIVERED, SENT, FAILED, DELIVERABLE, UNDELIVERED, REJECTED, QUEUED}
Are you offering Managed Routes?
We do not offer routes for messaging. If you are looking for a managed route you may find what you are looking for if you qualify for an invite to our leased SIM option. We will host an Android SIM device for $100 per device. This device is then synced to your SMSGatez Cloud Account. You can check with our support desk if you qualify.
What happens when I run out of credits?
If your account runs out of credits your account will no longer be able to send messages, or respond to keywords automatically.
How many contacts can I add per group?
We recommend not over 100K contacts per campaign group. Smaller groups are easier to manage in case there are issues with your send and you cannot resume the campaign, then it is easier to determine who may not have received the campaign message.
I cannot find my contacts, where did they go?
We unfortunately are not a storage resource to store your data. We have a limitation of 25 MB per account. If your account is dormant for 90 days we reserve the right to delete contacts, groups and responses from our servers. We will never share your account information or your data with others.
Can we have multiple user access on one account?
Multiple computers and browser tabs may be open on the same account. Users will use the same account credentials. If you are using a Virtual Assistant to manage your Gatez account, we need to have authorization to speak with the Virtual Assistant regarding your account. Please let us know in advance if someone is approved to speak on your behalf.
How can I get started with SIMDroid Leased??
The easiest way to get started with Leased SIMDroid is to initiate a chat with our SMS Gatez Support Team. They will ask you a variety of pre qualifying questions to find out if your campaigns are a good fit for our leased option. We will also request that you fill out a brief contract that requires you to sign up for a term of at least 3 months. SMS Gatez will also require that your contacts have been scrubbed on our DNC Scrub Tools or you can show verified Opt-In data.
What is SIMDroid Leased Phone?
Leased SIMDroid Phones are dedicated mobile devices assigned to your account and managed by our staff. They will have the latest SMSGATEZ APK and will be synced to your Cloud Account. The charge per phone lease is $100 each which covers the monthly phone provider subscription and maintainance of the phone. You will have complete control of your account without the headache of maintaining a block of mobile phones.
Why do I need a SIM Droid Leased Phone?
Leasing an Android Mobile device from us means peace of mind that the device is being maintained on WIFI, charged and ready to send a campaign on your account. Perfect for customers outside the US Market that needs the high delivery option of the Android SIM synced to the SMSGATEZ Cloud. We do require that you meet certain qualifications, 3 Month contract and maintain scrubbed opt-in data.
How many leased phones can I have on an account?
Each SIM Droid subscription can have a maximum of 5 devices. If you need more devices, you will need to add additional subscriptions to your account.
How long does it take to set up a leased account?
Setting up a Leased SIM Droid account can take up to a week. We order fresh phones for for each new account.
Will you send me the phone to use on my account?
No. Leased phones are maintained by SMSGATEZ staff. If you would prefer to maintain the phones yourself then please look at the options of non-leased mobile devices.
Who has access to my leased phone?
Our staff will maintain your leased phones which will be dedicated only to your SMSGATEZ texting account.
How do I access a leased phone?
SIM Droid Leased Mobile Devices are synced to your SMSGATEZ texting account. You will be able to send and receive messages via the SMSGATEZ Cloud. The SIMDroid device will be active 24/7 on your account unless your subscription has lapsed.
Are there limitations to the hours that I can send with the leased phone?
Yes. Campaigns should only be sent within TCPA compliant hours. Autoresponders and/or communicators will be triggered with keyword response in real time. Communicators are set to only trigger within the Time Zone settings for compliancy.
What does it mean to Bring Your Own Route
If you send a high volume of texts (such as 100K to 1M) or drafting numerous text messaging campaigns, the wholesale routes are worth looking into. There are many SMS gateway providers in the industry that you may consider. However, you would need to find a developer to build an application to avail these wholesale messages. If you are handy with coding, you can build your own SMS gateway app but that would require a lot of time, effort, and resources. You have to ask yourself if that is worth the time or money to invest, compared to finding a viable SMS gateway solution that gives you access to a GUI without you reinventing the wheel. This is where SMSGatez comes in.
Where do I find SMS Routes
Google is a great place to start. There are many routes available. Some of the most popular services that we work with to facilitate SMS campaigns are Signal Wire, Telnyx, Twilio, Nexmo, Gorilla, and Thinq to name a few.
Can I have more than one route at a time
Yes! You can have as many provider routes as you want added to your account. Note: There is a one time integration fee of $399.99 per route. Each route may take up to 7 days to integrate into our SMS Gatez Cloud.
Do I need to hire a developer
No! We have a development team that will integrate each route at a cost of $399.99. This includes the testing and set up to make sure that the account is set up to send and receive messages. We will also trouble shoot with you to determine if there are issues with the provider that are preventing a smooth integration.
Why do I need to pay for account maintenance
Our staff works hard to make sure that your account is functioning correctly and that your messages are delivering properly. This also covers all updates and upgrades that you may need. Obviously we are not miracle workers but we are here for you to help with messaging, best practices, and working through the tough stuff. Monthly maintenance fee is valued at $199.99 per month.
Where did my credits go?
If your account falls into a failed or non pay status without cancellation the monthly maintenance charges will be deducted from current credit balance (credit conversion equivalent of $199.99 per month)
Premium scrubbing is scrubbing against the US Federal and twelve State DNC lists. This gives you a thin layer of protection against litigation depending on the choice of scrubbing that you choose to use. SMSGatez requires that you scrub data against the Federal Do Not Call Registry prior to running your campaign, We also request that you sign up for a SAN with telemarketing.donotcall.gov If you prefer, just click the link above and we will make sure your business or organizatuion is registered.
What to look for in a DNC scrubbing software before buying?
SMSGatez does not offer the sale of DNC Scrubbing Software. We are a Subscription Service giving you options of PAYG (Pay As You Go) or Monthly Scrubbing Subscriptions to scrub your opt-in data lists against the National Do Not Call list. There are 12 states that have opted to maintain their own Do Not Call lists rather than integrating with the the National list. The problem with this can be that people have only registered on either one or the other and often forget . Maintaining compliancy saves you money. We require that your data lists consist of opt-in contacts in .csv format.
How to scrub leads against the DNC or Do Not Call lists?
Your data needs to be scrubbed to save you headache and loss of income. We offer three products, Premium DNC Scrubbing which consists of Federal, State, Serial Litigators, and Landlines. Economy DNC which covers only Federal DNC lists without the 12 State Individual DNC lists (Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missiappi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming). Our Economy DNC Scrubbing which ‘does not’ include the 12 Individual State DNC contacts or Serial Litigators. If you are targetting contacts that exclude these 12 states then you can safely use Economy Scrubbing with no worries. Third Scrubbing option is Carrier Scrubbing which can save you time and money on lost delivery when carriers filter and block your marketing message.
How often should I scrub my contact list against DNC?
This greatly depends on your marketing plan. If you are a business that uses opt-in data from your customer base and marketing to the same contact list with weekly or daily messages then we suggest that you would not need to scrub your data but make sure that you have proof of opt-in. If you are unsure of opt-in status then a good scrub of your data monthly or to err on the side of caution before you would run your campaign. It should also be a monthly practice to add the opt-out option to your messaging. There are many variables to consider and we would be happy to help you determine what is best for you.
Do I need to scrub against the DNC list for cellphone numbers?
Yes. Mobile numbers are also regulated by the TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) and prohibits telemarketing calls to mobile phone numbers without prior written consent. This also includes SMS Marketing.
How does SMSGatez help me comply with the DNC regulations?
DNC Scrubbing protects against sending marketing messages to people who have signed up on the Federal or State DNC list.
UNLIMITED KEYWORDS
SMS Gatez offers Unlimited Keywords. Keywords are used in the campaign to create conversational messaging. We can create multiple responder/keywords which allows you to free up the time you spend on the phone answering common questions about your business,
UNLIMITED RESPONDERS
Responders are the responses that are triggered when a contact replies back to your message with an assigned keyword. You can have as many Responders as needed.
UNLIMITED TEMPLATES
Templates can be created to keep your campaign messages organized and available on the Cloud when needed.
UNLIMITED IMPORT/EXPORT
Unlimited Import/Export makes it convenient when you might be working on multiple computers at different locations. As long as your account has an active subscription or credit on the account your data is safe. Data groups should be no more than 100K contacts per CSV file.
DOUBLE OPT IN
Double Opt In adds the additional step to messaging opt
CONVERSATIONAL MESSAGING
Conversational messaging means creating a dialogue with the customer which in turn builds the business relationship. This is a great strategy to engage your customer bringing you closer to the sale.
SPINTAX/CREATIVES
Spintax comes from the word “spinning syntax.” This is just one of several features that keep your campaign compliant and off the mobile carriers spam filters. The more creative you can be the more variation.
An example we use often is “Hi How are you?”
When we select Spin, we are offered an output of syntax:
{Hi|Hello|Hi there} How {are you|are you currently|have you been}?
Select Preview and we will see the variations.
1. Hi there How are you currently? (31)
2. Hello How are you currently? (28)
3. Hi there How have you been? (27)
4. Hi How are you currently? (25)
5. Hello How have you been? (24)
6. Hi there How are you? (21)
7. Hi How have you been? (21)
8. Hello How are you? (18)
9. Hi How are you? (15)
API INTEGRATION
Accordion Content
AUTORESPONDERS
Setup autoresponders to automatically send SMS back to the subscribed individuals/opt ins after they have replied with a keyword response.
When keyword is implemented then the subscriber/contact is moved to another group for further messaging.
CONTACT SCRUBBING
Contact Scrubbing on the platform is to keep compliancy on the platform. Scrubbing available for Landline, Do Not Call (Federal, State & Litigator) and Carrier Scrub. This saves time and wasted credits on messages that cannot be delivered.
SCHEDULED MESSAGES
If you know you are not going to be available on a certain date, but want to send a campaign, just set up your campaign as a scheduled message at least 15 minutes into the future.
NOTIFICATIONS
Notifications can be set to alert you when there is a response to your campaign, just add your mobile number to be notified.
DEVICE DETECTION
We have the ability to prevent bots from giving pseudo CTR clicks by sending the desktop clicks to a specified url, while mobile clicks can be sent to your anticipated target.
What products does SMSGATEZ offer?
We offer two options for messaging and several options to fit your budget for scrubbing your data. We offer SIM Droid which syncs your Android mobile device to our SMSGatez cloud application. SIM Droid gives the best delivery options with blocks of 50K or 100K being popular. Power Users take advantage of Unlimited plans for just $500 a month. We also offer BYOR (Bring Your Own Device) which gives you the advantage of bringing your own route to integrate to our SMS Gatez Cloud. If you are sending large campaigns daily this can save you a bundle in texting costs. We also offer scrubbing plans that are Premium (includes Federal & State DNC, Serial Litigator and Landline scrubbing), Economy (Federal DNC & Landline scrubbing) and Carrier (scrubbing for carriers). We have both PAYG and Subscription for the the Scrubbing Plans.
What industries are prohibited on SMSGATEZ?
SHAFT sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, tobacco content is strictly prohibited on all US number originators. Support of Programs that provide prohibited content is subject to permanent expiration of the entire Long Virtual Number or Toll-Free Number or the specific Program.
Vaping or marijuana/cannabis or content relating to dispensaries falls under this prohibited content. Programs must operate according to all applicable federal and state laws and regulations to use SMSGatez’s SMS software for business practices.
High-Risk Verticals that may lower the conversion of your campaign due to messages flagged by carriers (Verizon, T-Mobile, AT &T, Sprint, etc).
Furthermore, financial offerings, loan origination, and matching services are prohibited to use SMSGatez for their text message campaigns, such as:
- Payday loans
- Short-term loans
- Auto loans
- Mortgage loans
- Student loans
- Debt consolidation and reduction
- Debt forgiveness
- Investment opportunities
- Affiliate lead and/or commission generation
- Credit repair programs
- Tax relief programs
- Work from home programs
- Get rich quick programs
If we suspect your account is being used for unlawful purposes such as the following, we reserve the right to terminate your service of accessing our software.
- Solicitation to others to perform or participate in any unlawful acts.
- Violation of international, federal, provincial, or state regulations, rules, laws, or local ordinances.
- Infringement upon or to violate our intellectual property rights or the intellectual property rights of others.
- Harassment, abuse, insult, harm, defame, slander, disparage, intimidate, or discriminate based on gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, race, age, national origin, or disability.
- Submission of false or misleading information via mass SMS campaigns.
- Transmission of viruses or any other type of malicious code that will or may be used in any way that will affect the functionality or operation of the Service or of any related website, other websites, or the Internet.
- Collect or track the personal information of others via SMS blast campaigns.
- Spamming, phishing, pharming, pretext, spiders, crawling or scraping.
- Obscene or immoral purposes of using our SMS software.
- Interfere with or circumvent the security features of the Service or any related website, other websites, or the Internet.
We reserve the right to terminate your use of the service or any related website for violating any of the prohibited uses.
My Industry is in your list of 'prohibited industries'. Does this mean I cannot send text campaigns?
Not exactly. Although we strictly enforce SHAFT messaging, we will try our best to work with you to create messaging that is less aggressive and can allow you to send out neutral messaging in the form of surveys. This will give you better conversion with less flags to the carriers. We have also implemented a new feature of Device Detection which will limit the number of bots clicking through your messages.
How can I prevent my numbers from being blocked?
This is a million dollar question. We are JUST the MESSENGER! We are consistently evolving our products to get better deliverability to your customers for the best response rate. Are you having trouble with your deliverability? We would love to help. Over the past year, we have added safety features such as SIM Droid, Speed Limitations, Speed Bar, Spin Tax, URL Shorteners and more. These are all in the hopes that we can help you get the message out to your customers without blocks.
The most common reason that numbers are blocked on your account comes from the carriers flagging your messages as Spam. Keep a close eye on the messaging. If it sounds spammy to you then it probably does to the carriers too. What makes your message appear as spam can be URLs and phone numbers in the messages.
Where to find contacts to send marketing messages to?
This is a common question and SMSGatez requires that you only use data that is opt-in (people you are sending SMS messages to have given you permission to contact them). We would be happy to discuss the best methods to build organic leads. We partner with Business Development companies that can assist with setting up lead generation, web development and more.
One suggestion is to export data from your Gmail account to a CSV sheet that can be imported to either your SMS Gatez Cloud Platform.
How do I contact SMSGATEZ?
If you are in need of assistance with your account you can fill out the form to be contacted and one of our representatives will reach out to you via phone/email/text. You can also chat with us via the chat button in the lower right corner of your screen.
What are credits?
Credits are the static conversion used to represent units to send or receive messages or to purchase Virtual Numbers on managed accounts.
How do I know how many credits I have remaining on my account?
You can find you how many credits are remaining by logging into your SMS Gatez Cloud Account located @ www.app.smsgatez.com Go to Settings>Stats
Here you will see Statistics for all of your product usage and what remains.
I am out of credits?????
If your text message was over 160 characters, it may have been broken into multiple texts. Each message of 160 characters counts as 1 credit.
If your account runs out of credits your account will no longer be able to send messages, or respond to keywords automatically. If your account remains in an ‘out of credit’ status, your account will be changed to an ‘inactive’ status and your devices/virtual numbers will be removed from your account and unable to be retrieved. In the event that your numbers are devices that you are in possession of then you will have to register them once more when your account is brought into good standing.
How many credits do I need per month?
Choose the best package based on the following:
○ How many contacts do you have?
○ How many times per month do you send to them?
○ How many replies do you expect back?
If you are sending out a call to action that takes your contact to a web link or a pre-recorded message, you may not be using as many auto-replies and responses. The easiest way to estimate your needs is to take the number of contacts you have and multiply by the number of times per month that you will be sending out a text. For example, say you have 5,000 contacts and plan to send them a message 2 times per month. This would equal 10,000 messages each month. We then multiply that number by 4 (to account for the responses they will likely send back to you) and suggest approximately 40,000 credits. The best option for you would be our monthly SIMDroid subscription package of 50,000 credits. SMSGatez uses a credit based system. Each outgoing message of 160 chanracters is valued at 1 credit with FREE INCOMING MESSAGES.
How many characters can I have in my text?
A text message is limited to 160 characters (including spaces). A message over this limit, may be divided into messages of 153 characters each. Special characters may count as 4 normal characters each.
How many contacts can I add per group?
We recommend not over 100K contacts per campaign group. Smaller groups are easier to manage in case there are issues with your send and you cannot resume the campaign, then it is easier to determine who may not have received the campaign message.
What discounts do you offer?
We offer 500 FREE CREDITS for SIMDroid New Accounts. We encourage you to shop around as we have the lowest pricing in the industry.
Unused Monthly Subscription Credits
Monthly subscription credits rollover to the next month providing your account is in good standing. If your account subscription lapses credits will drop off after 90 days of dormancy.
Unused PAYG Scrubbing Credits
PAYG Scrubbing credits are valid for 90 days. If credits are not used within 90 days from purchase, unused credits will drop off.
Can I have multiple BYOR accounts?
Yes you can. Currently we do not provide ‘agency’ accounts. We do, however, understand the need for multiple accounts to make sure that you are not overlapping keywords.
BYOR Accounts of 1M or higher. Credits can be manually assigned via our SMS Gatez Support staff.
Can I have multiple SIMDroid accounts?
Yes. If you need more mobile devices added to your account for higher campaign sends, we can add additional monthly unlimited subscriptions to your account ($499.99 per block of 5 Android devices). We can also add additional subscription accounts if you have multiple businesses.
I cannot log into my account.
Please make sure that you are accessing your account at app.smsgatez.com. If you are unable to access your account you can click on Forgot Password and you will receive a link via email with a temporary password to reset.
If this is a new account that you have not logged into previously please use the chat widget on the bottom right side of your screen. Once you fill out the short form, you will be immediately connected to your support team. If you have reached us out of operating hours, we will reach out via phone/email/text the following business day. We can also be reached via email: support@smsgatez.com or by phone : (951) 777-0754
What phone number will be seen by my contacts?
No matter if you are using SIMDroid or BYOR, the number that the message was sent from will be the number shown on the contacts mobile display.
I cannot find my contacts, where did they go?
We, unfortunately, are not a storage resource to store your data. We have a limitation of 25 MB per account. If your account is dormant for 90 days we reserve the right to delete contacts, groups and responses from our servers. We will never share your account information or your data with others. If you inadvertantly delete your contacts or inbox responses you may be able to recover using ‘backup and restore’ if it has been activated in Advanced Settings on your SMS Gatez Cloud Account.
My contacts are not showing after importing.
The most common error that we see is the import of .CSV sheets lacking the headers. You must have Phone Number, First Name and Last Name present in the first row of your .CSV. Your numbers must be free of special characters. In other words, there cannot be any parenthese, dashes, spaces or periods.
Phone Number First Name Last Name
+19513487859 John Smith
Can I add more fields in my contact groups?
Yes. We have added many variable data columns. #First Name# #Last Name# #Email# #Short Link# #Phone# #Company# Address# #City# #State# #Zip# #Country# #Created Date# #Twitter# #Industry# #Lead Source# #Source# #Titles# #Status#
Create your New Group under Contacts. Import your .csv file. If there are data columns that are not listed in your contact data the system will ask you if you want to add the additional variable data columns.
Can we have multiple user access on one account?
Multiple computers and browser tabs may be open on the same account. Users will use the same account credentials. If you are using a Virtual Assistant to manage your Gatez account, we need to have authorization to speak with the Virtual Assistant regarding your account. Please let us know in advance if someone is approved to speak on your behalf.
Phone Recommendations?
We have had the best success with LG Rebel from Straight Talk using a Verizon SIM. Other phones that are easy to work with are SAMSUNG, HUAWEI, NOKIA to name a few. Here is a link to the Straight Talk LG Rebel Reconditioned phone. https://shop.straighttalk.com/shop/en/straighttalk/new-deals/st-lg-rebel-4-reconditioned
No response to my campaign, I want my money back
SMSGATEZ is provides a service to deliver your SMS messages to your contact list with no guarantee.
There are many reasons that campaigns fail to have good conversion (ROI). Top reasons would include the quality of the data you are sending, contacts have agreed to receive messaging from you, and the content of the message you are sending.
How do I know messages are being delivered?
Determining whether messages are being delivered is as simple as going to your Inbox and checking for response. If there is no response to messages check the last response to that phone making sure that the SIM is not blocked or the SIM subscription has not lapsed. Depending on your SMSGatez subscription you may want to check if you have credits remaining. Troubleshooting problems with the SIMDroid Phones with just a few tests. Go to Gatez Cloud (app.smsgatez.com) then Text>Settings>Pulse Check Android Phones You will either see a pop-up with ‘Congrats, there is no communication issue from SMSGatez to your phones!’ or you will see a list of the phones that have a connection error. For the phones listed you will need to first check if they are charged and connected to a WiFi connection, phone is charged and if all looks fine, then restart phone and check pulse once more.
Cannot register my SIM to the SMSGATEZ Cloud
The first thing to check is the email address you used to sign up for your account, make sure that you are using the correct password and that the phone is not already on your account.
Is the APK safe? My phone has a pop up warning.
Your Android device gives this message to any third party mobile application that you attempt to install on your device as a safeguard to prevent malware, trojans, and viruses. Our Application is free from viruses. You can go to your settings and choose to run once to install.
I have made a purchase on your site. When will credits be added?
Credits are added manually by our staff at the beginning of the day (with the exception of Sunday) Generally, credits are added immediately after payment. Please click the chat button to check the status of your order.
This is too complicated and I do not have time to learn Can you send my campaigns?
SMSGatez is a self serve platform, meaning that it is against our company policy to create, start or stop your campaign. We may at times need to pause your campaign if we see an an issue with delivery, messaging or server errors. We will provide free training and support for your account. We can refer you to a Virtual Assistant/Call Center Service. Please contact our support and we will be happy to point you in the right direction.
“ SMSGatez has increased my revenue overnight. The Gatez team has been very helpful and are always willing to help walk me through my issues. ”
Sarah Willson
Restaurant Owner
