Frequently Asked Questions
You can send text messages to any mobile device hosted by any North American (U.S. and Canada) mobile provider.
Yes. You can receive texts using TextPort.
If you use a trial number, you can only receive replies to messages you have already sent. If you have a full account and have purchased a dedicated number, your contacts can message you without you having initiated a conversation.
The base message cost is $0.030 (3 cents) per message segment. On average, you can send approximately 30 text messages for $1.00.
Notes regarding SMS segments and how pricing is calculated.
- All SMS Messages, regardless of the source, are comprised of 160-character segments.
- Messages longer than 160 characters are split into multiple segments, then stitched back together to form the original message.
- A message with 160 characters or less creates one message segment, which would cost $0.03 to send.
- Between 161 and 320 characters = 2 segments, so would cost $0.060.
- 321 to 480 characters = 3 message segments, $0.09, etc.
Virtual phone number pricing is based upon the duration of the lease. In general, the longer the lease, the more cost-effective the number becomes.
| Duration | Cost |
|---|---|
| 1 Month | $10.00 |
| 2 Months | $12.00 |
| 3 Months | $15.00 |
| 4 Months | $20.00 |
| 5 Months | $20.00 |
| 6 Months | $25.00 |
| 9 Months | $50.00 |
| 1 Year | $60.00 |
| 2 Years | 100.00 |
Messages and numbers can be purchased using TextPort credit. Credit is purchased using any major credit card or PayPal. Credit can be purchased in any amount starting at $10.00. TextPort is completely pay-as-you-go and your credit will never expire.
Yes. We have thousands of virtual phone numbers available for all U.S. area codes. You can select an area code, then choose a number from our pool of available numbers.
When signing up for a trial, your choice of numbers is limited to our pool of shared numbers.
You can browse available numbers on our virtual numbers page.
Yes. You can send and receive picture messages (MMS) using TextPort.
To attach a picture to a text, you can choose any JPEG, GIF or PNG picture file on your computer, or choose from your photo album on your mobile device. Our chat interface provides an image selector.
Yes. Always. Your virtual number is simply a number and will not expose your name, location or other personal information.
When you delete a message or chain of messages from your account, deletion is permanent. Deleted messages cannot be recovered. We do this to protect and respect the privacy of our subscribers.
TextPort collects only email addresses from its subscribers. We never sell or distribute email addresses to third parties.
It depends. TextPort virtual phone numbers are capable of receiving validation, activation and confirmation codes from most sources, although we cannot guarantee that they can be received from all sources. Some companies will verify that the number is associated with an actual mobile provider. Since TextPort numbers are virtual, and not associated with a particular provider, validation codes cannot be sent.
Note: You cannot receive validation codes using trial numbers. You must use a dedicated phone number.
Yes. TextPort has a Bulk SMS service that allows you to broadcast text messages to multiple numbers at once.
You may manually enter a list of numbers and messages, or, for larger batches, upload numbers and messages from an Excel or CSV file. If you want to send the same message to all numbers, there's an option to do that. For more information regarding bulk texting uploads, refer to the Bulk SMS Upload Guidelines.
Bulk SMS messages are subject to mobile provider spam checks, so be thoughtful when sending messages that could be interpreted as spam.