Businesses use call forwarding all the time to route incoming calls to available agents, extensions, or departments that cater to the caller’s needs. Creating a call forwarding app is simple when you use Plivo’s Java SDK. This guide shows you how to receive incoming calls on Plivo numbers and manage the call flow once a call reaches the Plivo voice platform. To see how to do this, we’ll build a Java Spring Boot application to forward the call to a mobile number using the Dial XML element.

Prerequisites

Before you get started, you’ll need:

• A Plivo account — sign up for one for free if you don’t have one already.
• A voice-enabled Plivo phone number if you want to receive incoming calls. To search for and buy an available number, go to Phone Numbers > Buy Numbers on the Plivo console.

• Sprint Boot and Plivo Java packages — use the Spring Initializr to create a demo project with boilerplate code.
• ngrok — a utility that exposes your local development server to the internet over secure tunnels.

Create a spring boot application to forward incoming calls

Once you’ve created the Spring Boot application using Spring Initializr, you can add the Plivo Java SDK using Maven or Gradle, or Groovy as per the interface selected. Update the Java application in the created project to handle incoming calls on a Plivo number. To handle an incoming call, you need to return an XML document from the URL configured as the Answer URL in the application assigned to the Plivo number. The Java SDK can manage the XML document generation, and you can use the Dial XML element to forward the call to a mobile number. Use this code:

package com.example.CallForward;

    import com.plivo.api.exceptions.PlivoValidationException;
    import com.plivo.api.exceptions.PlivoXmlException;
    import com.plivo.api.xml.Dial;
    import com.plivo.api.xml.Response;
    import com.plivo.api.xml.Number;
    import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
    import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;
    import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
    import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMethod;
    import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestParam;
    import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;
    
    @SpringBootApplication
    @RestController
    
    public class CallForwardApplication {
    
        public static void main(String[] args) {
            SpringApplication.run(CallForwardApplication.class, args);
        }
    
        @RequestMapping(value = "/forward_call/", produces = {
            "application/xml"
        }, method = {
            RequestMethod.GET, RequestMethod.POST
        })
        public String ReceiveCall(@RequestParam("From") String from_number) throws 
        PlivoXmlException, PlivoValidationException {
            Response res = new Response()
                .children(
                    new Dial()
                    .callerId(from_number)
                    .children(new Number("14156667777"))
                );
            // Returns the XML
            return res.toXmlString();
        }
    
    }
    

Test the code locally

Save the file and run the application. You should see your basic server application in action on http://localhost:8080/forward_call/.

Expose the local server to the internet using ngrok

Once you see the application working locally, the next step is to connect the application to the internet to return the XML document to process the incoming call. For that, we recommend using ngrok, which exposes local servers behind NATs and firewalls to the public internet over secure tunnels. Install it and run ngrok on the command line, specifying the port that hosts the application on which you want to forward incoming calls (8080 in this case, as our local spring boot application is running there):

$ ./ngrok http 8080

Ngrok will display a forwarding link that you can use as a webhook to access your local server over the public network.

Test the link by opening the ngrok URL (https://7ec95b6fd810.ngrok.io/forward_call/) in a browser or use HTTPie to check the XML response from the ngrok URL.

Connect the spring boot application to a Plivo number

The final step is to configure the application as a Plivo voice application and assign it to a Plivo number on which you want to forward incoming calls.

Go to the Plivo console and navigate to Voice > Applications > XML, then click on the Add New Application button in the upper right.

Provide a friendly name for the application — we used “App-call-forward” — and configured the ngrok URL https://7ec95b6fd810.ngrok.io/forward_call/ as the Answer URL. Select the HTTP verb as POST, then click Create Application.

Now go to Phone Numbers > Your Numbers and click on the number to which you want to assign the application. From the Plivo Application drop-down, choose the voice application you just created. Finally, click Update Number.

Test the application

Make a phone call to the Plivo number you selected. You should see that the spring boot application automatically forwards the call to the phone number configured in the call forwarding app.

And that’s how simple it is to receive an incoming call on a Plivo number and forward it using XML documents using Plivo’s Java SDK and a spring boot application. You can implement other use cases on the Plivo Voice platform, such as phone system IVR, receive DTMF/Speech inputs, and number masking, as your business requires.

Haven’t tried Plivo yet? Getting started is easy and only takes five minutes. Sign up today.

A virtual assistant can help your business if you have clients who call your phone number. Interactive voice response (IVR) helps you to automate call reception by routing callers to the most appropriate department or the agent most qualified to meet their needs. Among its many advantages, IVR can provide increased operational efficiency, a stronger brand image, and better customer insights.

A voice-controlled virtual assistant is one step ahead of the legacy Touch-Tone/DTMF controlled one because of the flexibility it allows end users. They can just speak into their phone’s microphone to provide input to control the call.

Building a voice-controlled virtual assistant using Plivo’s automatic speech recognition (ASR) feature in .NET using ASP.NET MVC is simple. This guide shows you how to set up a voice-controlled IVR phone tree to a Plivo number and manage the call flow when the call reaches the Plivo voice platform. To see how to do this, we’ll build an ASP.NET MVC application to receive an incoming call and use the GetInput XML element to capture speech input and implement a simple IVR phone system.

Prerequisites

Before you get started, you’ll need:

• A Plivo account — sign up for one for free if you don’t have one already.
• A voice-enabled Plivo phone number if you want to receive incoming calls. To search for and buy a number, go to Phone Numbers > Buy Numbers on the Plivo console.
• ASP.NET MVC application and Plivo NuGet package.
• ngrok — a utility that exposes your local development server to the internet over secure tunnels.

How it works

Create an ASP.NET MVC application to create a voice-controlled virtual assistant

Once you’ve created the ASP.NET MVC application using this tutorial, you can add the Plivo .NET SDK using the NuGet package manager. Create a Controller, name it VirtualassistantController.cs to handle incoming calls on a Plivo number. To handle an incoming call, you need to return an XML document from the URL configured as the Answer URL in the application assigned to the Plivo number. The .NET SDK can manage the XML document generation, and you can use the GetInput XML element to capture speech inputs and implement a simple IVR phone system. Use this code:

        
using System ;
    using System.Collections.Generic ;
    using System.Diagnostics ;
    using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc ;
    using Plivo.XML ;
    
    namespace VirtualAssistant.Controllers
     {
        public class VirtualassistantController :Controller
         {
            //  Welcome message - firstbranch
            StringWelcomeMessage = "Welcome to the demo app, Say Sales to talk to our Sales representative. Say Support to talk to our Support representative" ;
            // This is the message that Plivo reads when the caller does nothing at all
            StringNoInput = "Sorry, I didn't catch that. Please hangup and try again later." ;
            // This is the message that Plivo reads when the caller inputs a wrong digit.
            StringWrongInput = "Sorry, it's a wrong input." ;
    
            publicIActionResult Index ()
             {
                arresp =new Response ();
                // This will dynamically assign the ngrok http_host to the action URL and interimSpeechResultsCallback URL.
                 varhostName =Request .HttpContext .Request .Host .Value ;
                Console . WriteLine (hostName );
                GetInputget_input =new GetInput ( "" ,newDictionary < string , string >() {
             {
               "action" ,
               "https://" +hostName + "/virtualassistant/firstbranch/"
             }, {
               "method" ,
               "POST"
             }, {
               "interimSpeechResultsCallback" ,
               "https://" +hostName + "/virtualassistant/firstbranch/"
             }, {
               "interimSpeechResultsCallbackMethod" ,
               "POST"
             }, {
               "inputType" ,
               "speech"
             }, {
               "redirect" ,
               "true"
             },
           });
                resp . Add (get_input );
                get_input . AddSpeak (WelcomeMessage ,newDictionary < string , string >() { });
                resp . AddSpeak (NoInput ,newDictionary < string , string >() { });
    
                 varoutput =resp . ToString ();
                returnthis . Content (output , "text/xml" );
             }
            // First branch of IVR phone tree
            publicIActionResult FirstBranch ()
             {
                Stringspeech =Request .Form [ "Speech" ];
                StringFromNumber =Request .Form [ "From" ];
                Debug . WriteLine ( "Speech Input is :" +speech );
                Dialdial =new Dial (newDictionary < string , string >() {
             {
               "callerId" ,
              FromNumber
             }
           });
    
                 varresp =new Response ();
    
                if (speech == "sales" )
                 {
                    dial . AddNumber ( "14156667777" ,newDictionary < string , string >() { });
                    resp . Add (dial );
                 }
                elseif (speech == "support" )
                 {
                    dial . AddNumber ( "14156667778" ,newDictionary < string , string >() { });
                    resp . Add (dial );
                 }
                else
                 {
                    // Add Speak XML Tag
                    resp . AddSpeak (WrongInput ,newDictionary < string , string >() { });
                 }
    
                Debug . WriteLine (resp . ToString ());
    
                 varoutput =resp . ToString ();
                returnthis . Content (output , "text/xml" );
             }
         }
     }
        

Note: Before starting the app, you have to update Properties/launchSettings.json by setting the applicationUrl asTest the code locally

"applicationUrl": "http://localhost:5000/"

Save the file and run the application. You should see your basic server app in action on http://localhost:5000/virtualassistant/

Expose the local server to the internet using ngrok

Once you see the application working locally, the next step is to connect the application to the internet to return the XML document to process the incoming call. For that, we recommend using ngrok, which exposes local servers behind NATs and firewalls to the public internet over secure tunnels.

Install it and run ngrok on the command line, specifying the port that hosts the application on which you want to receive calls (5000 in this case, as our local ASP.NET MVC application is running there):

$ ./ngrok http 5000

Ngrok will display a forwarding link that you can use as a webhook to access your local server over the public network.

Test the link by opening the ngrok URL(https://b22604cbb5ff.ngrok.io/virtualassistant/) in a browser or HTTPie to check the XML response from the ngrok URL.

Connect the ASP.NET MVC application to a Plivo number

The final step is to configure the application as a Plivo voice application and assign it to a Plivo number on which you want to activate the voice-controlled virtual assistant.

Go to the Plivo console and navigate to Voice > Applications > XML, then click on the Add New Application button in the upper right.

Provide a friendly name for the application — we used “App-Virtual-Assistant” — and configure the ngrok URL https://b22604cbb5ff.ngrok.io/virtualassistant/ as the Answer URL. Select the HTTP verb as POST, then click Create Application.

Now go to Phone Numbers > Your Numbers and click on the number to which you want to assign the application. From the Plivo Application drop-down, choose the voice application you just created. Finally, click Update Number.

Test the application

Make a phone call to the Plivo number you selected. You should see that the VirtualAssistant ASP.NET MVC application automatically routes the call to the Sales and Support departments based on the speech inputs received on the call.

And that’s how simple it is to set up a voice-controlled virtual assistant on a Plivo number and handle it using XML documents using Plivo’s .NET SDK and an ASP.NET MVC application. You can implement other use cases on the Plivo Voice platform, such as phone system IVR, call forwarding, and number masking, as your business requires.

Haven’t tried Plivo yet? Getting started is easy and only takes five minutes. Sign up today.

Like the monarch butterflies and their annual flight to Mexico, the Twilio migration is one of nature’s miracles. Every year hundreds of organizations, seeking improvements in their cloud communications software, move from Twilio to greener pastures in places like Plivo. And while many butterflies die of exhaustion or are eaten by birds on their journeys, few business professionals meet the same fate when they migrate from Twilio to Plivo. That’s because Plivo makes the process simple, with feature parity and similar APIs between the two platforms.

One of the lessons we’ve learned in more than 10 years of business is that to be a top alternative to Twilio, we need to offer customers feature parity. Everything you can do in Twilio you can do in Plivo — but we offer more than that.

Twilio can’t match our reliability, call quality, and pricing. Plivo is easier to use, has a wider global reach, and offers better tech support. We’ve written a Twilio migration guide that looks at the common issues that arise when organizations begin to question whether they could improve on their Twilio service, and addresses worries some organizations have about migrating.

One of the biggest challenges with any platform migration is the question of compatibility. No one wants to shred developer-years of work for incremental improvements. Fortunately, Plivo makes things easy. We’ve written a technical guide to migrating from Twilio to Plivo. It shows how similar the two companies’ API structures, implementation mechanisms, XML structure, SMS message processing, and voice call processing are. Read it to see a side-by-side comparison of the two platforms’ specific features and APIs, and code snippets that show the exact code you’d use with each platform to send and receive SMS messages and make and receive voice calls.

Anything you use Twilio for, you can do in Plivo: two-factor authentication (2FA), appointment reminders, account alerts, order notifications, SMS campaigns, click to call, call forwarding, call tracking, IVRs, and call routing. Dare we say anything they can do, we can do better?

If you’re not completely satisfied with Twilio, you don’t have to rip it out and replace it. You can put Plivo in a pilot program for a single use case and see how it seems. If you’re satisfied, you can switch over, or you can use Plivo in parallel with Twilio, or as a backup alternative in case your primary provider experiences downtime.

Either way, you owe it to yourself to explore your alternative. Download the guide, then sign up for a free trial account today and get started.

By the way, we have more Lessons in CPaaS Leadership blog posts: Find out why reliability, a strong carrier network, and consultative customer support make Plivo stand out among cloud communications platforms.

Your company has settled on Plivo to handle its voice and messaging communications, and now it’s your job to start integrating Plivo into your company’s applications. Don’t worry — Plivo has an SDK to help you out. Let’s see how to send and receive MMS through Plivo in a PHP application.

Install the Plivo PHP SDK

We’ll presume you already have PHP and Composer installed. Change to the directory into which you want to install the Plivo PHP release and run

$ composer require plivo/plivo-php

or you can download the source from our GitHub repository, then run

Find your Auth ID and Auth Token

You have to have proper credentials before you can use the Plivo API. We provide an Auth ID and Auth Token in the Account section at the top of the overview page of the Plivo console.

Choose a phone number

You need an MMS-enabled Plivo phone number to send MMS to the US and Canada, the two countries where Plivo supports sending MMS. Check the Phone Numbers screen of your Plivo console to see what numbers you have available and which of them support MMS capabilities. You can also buy numbers from this screen.

Send an MMS message

Now you’re ready to start. Create a file called SendMMS.php and paste in this code:

<?php
    require 'vendor/autoload.php';
    use Plivo\RestClient;
    
    $client = new RestClient("<auth_id>","<auth_token>");
    $client->client->setTimeout(40);
    
    $mediaURLs = ['https://media.giphy.com/media/26gscSULUcfKU7dHq/source.gif'];
    $mediaIDs = ['801c2056-33ab-499c-80ef-58b574a462a2'];
    $response = $client->messages->create(
      [  
           "src" => "+14152345678",
            "dst" => "+14165552222",
            "text"  =>"This is a test message",
            "url"=>"https://<yourdomain>.com/sms_status/",
            "type" => "mms", 
            "media_urls" => $mediaURLs, 
            "media_ids" => $mediaIDs
         ]
    );
    print_r($response);
    ?>
    

Replace the placeholders auth_id and auth_token with actual values from your Plivo Console. Save the file and run it with the command

$ php SendMMS.php

Note: If you’re using a Plivo trial account, you can send messages only to phone numbers that have been verified with Plivo. You can verify a phone number using the Sandbox Numbers page of the console. Also, if you want to upload your media files to Plivo and use them, you can upload the file on the Messaging > MMS Media Upload page of the console.

Receive an MMS message

Of course, sending messages is only half of the equation. When someone sends an MMS message to your US or Canada Plivo phone number, you can receive it on your server by setting a Message URL in your Plivo application. Plivo will send the message along with other parameters, including the Media_URL(s), to your Message URL.

Use this code to start a local server:

<?php
    require 'vendor/autoload.php';
    
    $from_number = $_REQUEST["From"];
    $to_number = $_REQUEST["To"];
    $text = $_REQUEST["Text"];
    $media_url = $_REQUEST["Media0"];
    
    echo("Message received - From $from_number, To: $to_number, Text: $text, Media: 
    $media_url" );
    

Save this code in any file — we’ll call ours receiveMMS.php. To run this file on the server, go to the folder where this file resides and issue the command

$ php -S localhost:8000

That’s fine for testing, but it’s not much good if you can’t connect to the internet to receive incoming messages and handle callbacks. For that, we recommend using ngrok, which exposes local servers behind NATs and firewalls to the public internet over secure tunnels. Install it and run ngrok on the command line, specifying the port that hosts the application on which you want to receive messages:

$ ./ngrok http [portnum]

Ngrok will display a forwarding link that you can use as a webhook to access your local server using the public network.

Now you can create an application to receive MMS messages (follow our Quickstart guide for details).

Conclusion

And that’s all there is to sending and receiving MMS messages using Plivo’s PHP SDK. Don’t use PHP? Don’t worry — we have SDKs for Java, Python, Node.js, Ruby, .NET Core, .NET Framework, and Go.

Haven’t tried Plivo yet? Getting started is easy and only takes five minutes. Sign up today.

Businesses use call forwarding all the time to route incoming calls to available agents, extensions, or departments that cater to the caller’s needs. Creating a call forwarding app is simple when you use Plivo’s Python SDK. This guide shows you how to receive incoming calls on Plivo numbers and manage the call flow once a call reaches the Plivo voice platform. To see how to do this, we’ll build a Flask application to forward the call to a mobile number using the Dial XML element.

Prerequisites

Before you get started, you’ll need:

• A Plivo account — sign up for one for free if you don’t have one already.
• A voice-enabled Plivo phone number if you want to receive incoming calls. To search for and buy a number, go to Phone Numbers > Buy Numbers on the Plivo console.

• Flask and Plivo Python packages — run pip install plivo flask to install them.
• ngrok — a utility that exposes your local development server to the internet over secure tunnels.

Create a Flask application to forward incoming calls

Once you’ve installed Flask and the Plivo Python SDK, create a simple Flask application to handle incoming calls on a Plivo number. To handle an incoming call, you need to return an XML document from the URL configured as the Answer URL in the application assigned to the Plivo number. The Python SDK can manage the XML document generation, and you can use the Dial XML element to forward the call to a mobile number. Use this code:

from flask import Flask, request, make_response, Response
    from plivo import plivoxml
    
    app = Flask(__name__)
    
    @app.route('/forward_call/', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
    def forwardcall():
    
       response = plivoxml.ResponseElement()
       response.add(
           plivoxml.DialElement().add_number('14156667777'))
 #call will be forwarded to this number
       return Response(response.to_string(), mimetype="text/xml")
    
    if __name__ == '__main__':
       app.run(host='0.0.0.0', debug=True)
    

Test the code locally

Save the code in any file — we named the file forward_call.py. To run the code on the server, go to the folder where the file resides and use the command

$ python forward_call.py

You should see your basic server application in action on http://localhost:5000/forward_call/.

Expose the local server to the internet using ngrok

Once you see the application working locally, the next step is to connect the application to the internet to return the XML document to process the incoming call. For that, we recommend using ngrok, which exposes local servers behind NATs and firewalls to the public internet over secure tunnels. Install it and run ngrok on the command line, specifying the port that hosts the application on which you want to forward incoming calls (5000 in this case, as our local Flask application is running there):

$ ./ngrok http 5000

Ngrok will display a forwarding link that you can use as a webhook to access your local server over the public network.

Test the link by opening the ngrok URL (https://e4cadf93d5f0.ngrok.io/forward_call/) in a browser or use HTTPie to check the XML response from the ngrok URL.

Connect the Flask application to a Plivo number

The final step is to configure the application as a Plivo voice application and assign it to a Plivo number on which you want to forward incoming calls.

Go to the Plivo console and navigate to Voice > Applications > XML, then click on the Add New Application button in the upper right.

Provide a friendly name for the application — we used “App-call-forward” — and configured the ngrok URL https://e4cadf93d5f0.ngrok.io/forward_call/ as the Answer URL. Select the HTTP verb as POST, then click Create Application.

Now go to Phone Numbers > Your Numbers and click on the number to which you want to assign the application. From the Plivo Application drop-down, choose the voice application you just created. Finally, click Update Number.

Test the application

Make a phone call to the Plivo number you selected. You should see that the Flask application automatically forwards the call to the phone number configured in the call forwarding app.

And that’s how simple it is to receive an incoming call on a Plivo number and forward it using XML documents using Plivo’s Python SDK and a Flask application. You can implement other use cases on the Plivo Voice platform, such as phone system IVR, receive DTMF/Speech inputs, and number masking, as your business requires.

Haven’t tried Plivo yet? Getting started is easy and only takes five minutes. Sign up today.

A virtual assistant can help your business if you have clients who call your phone number. Interactive voice response (IVR) helps you to automate call reception by routing callers to the most appropriate department or the agent most qualified to meet their needs. Among its many advantages, IVR can provide increased operational efficiency, a stronger brand image, and better customer insights.

A voice-controlled virtual assistant is one step ahead of the legacy Touch-Tone/DTMF controlled one because of the flexibility it allows end users. They can just speak into their phone’s microphone to provide input to control the call.

Building a voice-controlled virtual assistant using Plivo’s automatic speech recognition (ASR) feature in Node.js using Express.js is simple. This guide shows you how to set up a voice-controlled IVR phone tree to a Plivo number and manage the call flow when the call reaches the Plivo voice platform. To see how to do this, we’ll build an Express.js application to receive an incoming call and use the GetInput XML element to capture speech input and implement a simple IVR phone system.

Prerequisites

Before you get started, you’ll need:

• A Plivo account — sign up for one for free if you don’t have one already.
• A voice-enabled Plivo phone number if you want to receive incoming calls. To search for and buy a number, go to Phone Numbers > Buy Numbers on the Plivo console.
• Expressjs and Plivo npm packages — run npm i -S plivo express body-parser to install them.
• ngrok — a utility that exposes your local development server to the internet over secure tunnels.

How it works

Create an Express.js application to create a voice-controlled virtual assistant

Once you’ve installed Express.js and the Plivo Node.js SDK, create a simple Express.js application to handle incoming calls on a Plivo number. To handle an incoming call, you need to return an XML document from the URL configured as the Answer URL in the application assigned to the Plivo number. The Node.js SDK can manage the XML document generation, and you can use the GetInput XML element to capture speech inputs and implement a simple IVR phone system. Use this code:

        
var plivo = require('plivo');

var express = require('express');

var app = express();

app.set('port', (process.env.PORT || 5000));

app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));

//  Welcome message - firstbranch

var WelcomeMessage = "Welcome to the demo app, Say Sales to talk to our Sales representative. Say Support to talk to our Support representative"

// This is the message that Plivo reads when the caller does nothing at all

var NoInput = "Sorry, I didn't catch that. Please hangup and try again later."

// This is the message that Plivo reads when the caller inputs a wrong digit.

var WrongInput = "Sorry, it's a wrong input."

app.all('/response/ivr/', function (request, response) {

 if (request.method == "GET") {

  var r = new plivo.Response();

  const get_input = r.addGetInput(

   {

    'action': 'https://'+request.hostname+'/multilevelivr/firstbranch/',

    'method': 'POST',

    'interimSpeechResultsCallback': 'https://'+request.hostname+'/multilevelivr/firstbranch/',

    'interimSpeechResultsCallbackMethod': 'POST',

    'inputType': 'speech',

    'redirect': 'true',

   });

  get_input.addSpeak(WelcomeMessage);

  r.addSpeak(NoInput);

  console.log(r.toXML());

  response.set({ 'Content-Type': 'text/xml' });

  response.end(r.toXML());

 }

});

app.all('/multilevelivr/firstbranch/', function (request, response) {

 var from_number = request.query.From;

 var speech = request.query.Speech;

 console.log("Speech Input is:", speech)

 var r = new plivo.Response();

 var params = {

  'action': 'https://'+request.hostname+'/multilevelivr/action/',

  'method': 'POST',

  'redirect': 'false',

  'callerId': from_number

 };

 var dial = r.addDial(params);

 if (speech == "sales") {

  dial.addNumber("14156667777");

  console.log(r.toXML());

 }

 else if (speech == "support") {

  dial.addNumber("14156667778");

  console.log(r.toXML());

 }

 else {

  r.addSpeak(WrongInput);

 }

 response.set({ 'Content-Type': 'text/xml' });

 response.end(r.toXML());

});

app.listen(app.get('port'), function () {

 console.log('Node app is running on port', app.get('port'));

});


        

Test the code locally

Save this code in any file (name the file something like detect_speech.js). To run this file on the server, go to the folder where this file resides and use the following command:

$ node detect_speech.js

And you should see your basic server app in action on http://localhost:3000/response/ivr/

Expose the local server to the internet using ngrok

Once you see the application working locally, the next step is to connect the application to the internet to return the XML document to process the incoming call. For that, we recommend using ngrok, which exposes local servers behind NATs and firewalls to the public internet over secure tunnels.

Install it and run ngrok on the command line, specifying the port that hosts the application on which you want to receive calls (5000 in this case, as our local Express.js application is running there):

$ ./ngrok http 5000

Ngrok will display a forwarding link that you can use as a webhook to access your local server over the public network.

Test the link by opening the ngrok URL(https://02a9fe62aabd.ngrok.io/detect_speech) in a browser or HTTPie to check the XML response from the ngrok URL.

Connect the Express.js application to a Plivo number

The final step is to configure the application as a Plivo voice application and assign it to a Plivo number on which you want to activate the voice-controlled virtual assistant.

Go to the Plivo console and navigate to Voice > Applications > XML, then click on the Add New Application button in the upper right.

Provide a friendly name for the application — we used “App-Virtual-Assistant” — and configured the ngrok URL https://02a9fe62aabd.ngrok.io/detect_speech as the Answer URL. Select the HTTP verb as POST, then click Create Application.

Now go to Phone Numbers > Your Numbers and click on the number to which you want to assign the application. From the Plivo Application drop-down, choose the voice application you just created. Finally, click Update Number.

Test the application

Make a phone call to the Plivo number you selected. You should see that the VirtualAssistant Express.js application automatically routes the call to the Sales and Support departments based on the speech inputs received on the call.

And that’s how simple it is to set up a voice-controlled virtual assistant on a Plivo number and handle it using XML documents using Plivo’s Node.js SDK and an Express.js application. You can implement other use cases on the Plivo Voice platform, such as phone system IVR, call forwarding, and number masking, as your business requires.

Haven’t tried Plivo yet? Getting started is easy and only takes five minutes. Sign up today.

Our customers use our cloud communications platform to send out billions of SMS messages every year. In keeping them happy and productive, we’ve learned a few things about best practices for sending SMS notifications. Whether you’re one of our customers or you haven’t tried Plivo yet (what are you waiting for?) here are some tips that can help your business use messaging more effectively.

Do you need convincing that SMS is the best communications channel for sending notifications to customers? According to Techjury, SMS messages have a 98% open rate, and 60% of people read text messages within 5 minutes after receiving them. And since almost 4 billion people worldwide own smartphones, you can send SMS messages to just about anyone — and do it cost-effectively. Alternatives like email, postal mail, and voice calling cost more and lack the reach, ease of use, and immediacy of SMS.

Maybe you already use SMS for some use cases — reminders or delivery alerts, maybe. You can leverage your investment in SMS messaging by doing more with it: offering event notifications or collecting customer feedback, for instance.

We’ve written a guide that talks about more possible use cases, and offers best practices for using SMS. You should download it to get all the details, but to stimulate your imagination, here’s a preview of what you’ll find.

Get permission

First, before you start sending messages willy-nilly, make sure you have permission to contact recipients. Thanks to privacy regulations such as the GDPR and CCPA, businesses need consumers to opt into being contacted. Organizations that fail to get permission may be subject to heavy fines.

Timing

Think about the optimal time to send your messages. Aim for times when your customers are likely to read them and take advantage of what you have to say. For example, if you’re a restaurant offering a lunchtime discount, think about scheduling your texts for the midmorning, so that your offers will be on your customers’ minds when they’re making lunch plans.

Personalization

Personalizing your messages lets you build deeper relationships with customers and treat them as unique individuals. Use your subscribers’ names, and keep the customer benefit at the front and center of the message.

Measure your results

Don’t just send out messages and hope for the best. You should have a plan to track and measure your efforts in place before you send your first message. Consider not only open and response rates, but also things like list growth rate, acquisition cost per recipient, and return on investment.

Infrastructure

Use a single platform to manage all your communication channels. A single platform takes less training, speeds up your time to market, and takes fewer resources and less time to maintain.

Prioritize deliverability

To be effective, SMS messaging should be timely — received as quickly as they’re sent —  and reliable — there’s no point in sending out messages that people can’t receive. But if your SMS messages can’t make it through, have a backup plan. Voice messaging offers an alternative to SMS for when your message absolutely, positively has to be there right away.

Get the guide

We go into more depth on these and other points in our best practices guide. Download it for free, or sign up for a free Plivo trial account and see how we let businesses take advantage of SMS messaging.

Global media company TMC just named Plivo a 2021 Communications Solutions Product of the Year for our SMS API.

“We’re grateful to be recognized for all the hard work we’ve put into Plivo over the last decade,” says Venky B, Plivo co-founder and CEO.

In its blog post announcing the award, TMC says, “Winners represent prominent players in the market who consistently demonstrate the advancement of technologies. Each recipient is a verifiable leader in the marketplace.”

“This list encompasses the true leaders within their market segments,” says Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. “Honorees truly represent the best-of-the-best communications products and solutions available today.” Tehrani called Plivo “amongst the best communications products and services available on the market today.”

To see for yourself what the excitement is about, sign up today for a free trial.

By automating SMS and voice communication and integrating those communication channels with your applications, your business can more easily communicate with customers and meet their needs. But choosing the right communications API provider is critical to delivering the best experience for your customers.

While you may have started out with Twilio or another API provider to connect with your customers via SMS and voice, your first partner may not be the best long-term solution.

For many companies, Twilio’s communications APIs aren’t the right fit for three reasons:

1. You notice inconsistent quality or deliverability in certain regions.
2. You feel frustrated by lackluster customer support and ongoing technical issues that you can’t get resolved.
3. Their pricing seemed great at the beginning, but costs have risen as your customer base has grown, and the expense doesn’t fit your ROI plan.

If your goal is to improve uptime and reliability, you need to diversify your provider mix so you don’t rely on one partner alone and expose your business to the risks of a single point of failure. To do that, figure out your use case, then evaluate new platforms.

Twilio alternative: primary provider or backup?

The first key question is whether to replace Twilio or add a second platform to provide high availability and more throughput.

Adding a backup provider to existing services ensures access to redundant infrastructure and diversifies your services in case one provider goes down.

Switching your primary provider away from Twilio might be the right move if your usage has grown and you’re finding your overall spend to be too high. But you don’t want to trade off cost savings for quality, so you need to find a new primary provider that has equivalent, if not better, delivery rates globally.

Whether you’re looking for a better price point, higher quality, wider reach, or infrastructure redundancy, it’s important to know what to look for when evaluating your new communications API provider.

Make sure your Twilio alternative has these essential features

Once you decide you need a Twilio alternative, either as your new primary provider or as a redundant provider for your failover strategy, you have to determine which cloud communications platform is the right partner for your business.

To evaluate each provider’s unique platform, network, and features, focus on these six key areas.

Key features and essentials

Look for a voice API with programmatic building blocks that let you implement call forwarding, call recording, multiparty conference calling, voicemail, customized audio alerts, voice survey functionality, interactive voice response (IVR), text to speech, call transcription, and call transfers.

On the SMS API side, your team should be able to quickly and painlessly set up automated account alerts and SMS notifications throughout the user journey, send and receive messages, enable SMS autoresponders, send text message reminders, and implement common workflows such as two-factor authentication.

Additionally, look for advanced SMS API functionality like Plivo’s Powerpack, which, on top of ensuring high deliverability and better open rates, gives you the ability to connect and engage with your customers using local phone numbers and eliminates the need to worry about compliance regulations across the globe.

Compare your options to make sure your next provider meets — or exceeds — the bar set by Twilio.

Regional deliverability

If your business operates in multiple regions or countries, you know that not all providers perform equally well in every region. SMS and voice API providers all highlight great global reach on paper, but their SMS delivery rates and call quality vary across countries and regions.

If you decide to use two providers in tandem, then no matter whether Twilio is your primary or your backup API, your new provider should solve for Twilio’s coverage and quality gaps so you can improve your reach and reliability.

On the voice API side, your provider should let you easily integrate voice calling into your web and mobile apps to create a fully integrated user experience. For example, when making outbound calls to the public switched telephone network (PSTN), your provider should allow for specific caller IDs (domestic or international) as per your business requirements. The provider should have direct relationships with Tier 1 local carriers to efficiently connect calls over the PSTN.

For SMS services, your provider should support not only high SMS deliverability to in-country carriers, but also global coverage for businesses that cater to customers around the world. It should support customized sender IDs outside of North America to improve open rates.

Infrastructure reliability

Reliable, redundant infrastructure is critical in ensuring your messages and calls reach your customers every time.

Your API provider should offer at least 99.99% uptime. You can find Plivo’s 90-day uptime rate through our real-time and historical service status page.

Check to make sure that your communications API provider invests in its infrastructure to consistently deliver high quality globally. A strong provider should have:

• Globally distributed points of presence (PoP) across the regions where you do business
• Geographically distributed and monitored network operations centers (NOC) for 24/7 support
• Latency-free connectivity of less than 150 milliseconds to carriers and end phones
• Optimized routing and uptime through an intelligent routing system that routes based on quality

These infrastructure features ensure a robust, fault-tolerant, and reliable platform to support your communications needs.

Compliance and security measures

According to the 2019 CGS Customer Service Security and Compliance Survey, 69% of US consumers would not return to a business that exposed sensitive user information. Your new SMS and voice API provider must implement the compliance and security measures necessary to keep customer information safe.

Your new provider should guarantee GDPR and CCPA compliance and adhere to any other compliance standards your business requires. Additionally, your provider should support features like smart queuing that give you automatic compliance with local carrier requirements. To ensure access security, the provider should support two-factor authentication. These features ensure you meet data protection requirements when personal consumer data is transferred between regions.

In addition to these features, a modern communications API provider should guarantee:

• On-premises security for their networks
• Application security through at-rest and in-transit encryption
• PCI-compliant payment security
• Role-based access control
• Authentication for accessing recordings
• Regular third-party penetration testing

By working with an SMS and voice API provider that provides these features, you ensure your company keeps customers happy and their data secure.

Easy migration

You need APIs that are easy to customize and implement to streamline migration from Twilio to your new provider.

Your Twilio alternative SMS and voice API provider should make it painless to add communications services to your existing setup. That’s why Plivo offers:

• Familiar REST APIs and XML code
• Extensive reference documentation and how-to guides
• SDKs for browser and mobile apps to integrate native voice calling
• Call Insights and debug logs for easier troubleshooting
• The PHLO low-code visual workflow builder

These features make it easy for your team to understand, customize, and troubleshoot applications.

Pricing flexibility

Pricing is one of the major pain points for Twilio customers. As companies scale their usage, they often find that Twilio becomes cost-prohibitive.

Relative to Twilio, Plivo saves customers 40% on outbound SMS, provides free inbound SMS, and offers 20% cost savings on calls to toll-free and local phone numbers. Additionally, Plivo offers lower outbound and inbound SMS rates and lower phone number rental fees.

Better pay-as-you-go pricing and volume discounts as you scale help you lower your TCO. Contact our team to explore pricing scenarios for your business.

Choose the Twilio alternative that best fits your business needs

When choosing an API provider, you should evaluate every facet of their offering to ensure that it meets your needs. Thousands of innovative businesses rely on Plivo for SMS and voice API services. Every day, companies on our platform experience the benefit of our globally distributed, direct-to-carrier network with high SMS delivery and low call latency.

Our proven quality and scale, enterprise-grade platform, uptime of 99.99%, 24/7 customer support, and low cost of ownership make offering reliable SMS and voice services easy.