Send an e-mail, receive an SMS

How does it work?
Use the recipient's mobile number and add "@sms.switch.ch". You can send your e-mail to this address.

Example: If the mobile number is 079 123 45 67 , then the address to mail to is 0791234567@sms.switch.ch .

Restrictions and hints

  1. Special characters: Note that special characters are not allowed in the address of the e-mail. But you can use the plus sign "+" as prefix for international area codes.
  2. Only plain text is accepted. In particular, HTML-formatted messages will be rejected. Umlauts (ä,ö,ü) may get converted into ae, oe, ue, respectively. If you want to send an e-mail with special characters, you may want to check proper reception with your own mobile phone first.
  3. The total number of characters is limited to approx. 160 characters. Be aware that the length of the sender address and subject are also taken into account. Messages with too many characters will be truncated or refused. In case of refusal, a nondelivery notification is sent back. If you need to send longer messages, you may want to have a look at the Websms application.
  4. Notification: You may want to get notified on success, failure or in any case. For this you may want to include one of the following lines in your message accordingly: 
    ##notify=success
##notify=failure
##notify=all
  5. Non-delivery: In case of non-delivery, the system tries to send a notification back to the sender specified in the "Reply-To" field of the e-mail. Reasons for non-delivery include:
    • the e-mail consisted of more than 160 characters, sender address and subject included,
    • The sender is not allowed to use the SMS service,
    • The message contains some unsupported text encoding like eg. HTML.
    • ...
  6. Flash SMS: A Flash SMS can be useful in cases such as emergencies (for example, a fire alarm) or in cases where confidentiality is important (for example, a one-time password). The Flash SMS appears directly on the main screen without user interaction and is usually not stored in the mobile phone. If you include 
    ##type=flash

    in the body of your e-mail to send, the arriving SMS will be of type Flash.

  7. Support may be given by your local postmaster. He will be able to find out quickly whether the problem is a local one. If not, he will also contact the SWITCH postmaster.

  8. Replies: This service does not include sending of a message from the mobile phone to some mail address.