Connecting a Kannel Channel
Kannel is an open source SMS gateway you host yourself, connecting directly to mobile operators' SMS centers. If you run Kannel with your own SMSC connections, connect it to send and receive SMS through them.
Before you start
You'll need a Kannel server with a working connection to your operator's SMSC, and its send URL reachable from the internet. Kannel's user guide explains how to set it up.
Adding the channel
Go to Settings > Channels and click New Channel. Kannel is under SMS & Voice, or you can type its name in the search box.
Then fill in the form:
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Number | The number or short code your SMSC sends from |
| Country | The country your number is in |
| Send URL | Kannel's sendsms URL, e.g. https://kannel.example.com/cgi-bin/sendsms |
| Username and Password | Optional. If you leave them blank, they're generated for you |
| Encoding | How messages are encoded when sent |
| Use National Numbers | Check this only if your SMSC needs numbers without their country code |
Click Add Channel.
Finishing setup
Once the channel is added, its configuration page shows a configuration stanza to add to your Kannel configuration file. It sets up a sendsms-user with the channel's username and password, and an sms-service that forwards incoming messages to your workspace. Change the forced-smsc, default-smsc and accepted-smsc values to the name of your SMSC before you restart Kannel.
You can come back to the stanza at any time from the channel's page.
Considerations
Messages are sent as text, and any attachments are sent as links.
To learn more about channels in general, see Introduction to Channels.