Key Takeaways
- Support for an Android SMS API is radio triage first: pairing, battery, SIM credit, permissions — then JSON.
- Split handset denial from API 403 from DLR pending. Those are three owners.
- Never collect full OTP bodies in tickets or Slack. Template id + timestamp is enough.
- Staff should know we meter devices and send volume; operator airtime is the customer’s carrier bill.
- Priced by devices and SMS send volume. You use your own phone and operator SMS credit. Free is 300 SMS lifetime for canaries.
What support must be able to say
Customers will file “API is down” when a Xiaomi killed the app. Training is a triage order, not a second OpenAPI dump. Device setup, Developer Center, SMS API documentation.
If the intern’s first question is “paste the OTP,” the runbook is already a data incident.
Ticket class table
| Class | L1 does | Escalates when |
|---|---|---|
| Unpaired / OEM | Setup | Still red after exemptions |
| Permission denied | Permission denied | Work profile / MDM |
| DLR pending | DLR timeout policy | All destinations unknown |
| Webhook 5xx | Webhook troubleshooting | Signature + TLS still fail |
| WhatsApp mash-up | We are SIM SMS/MMS | They need Meta’s stack |
Never paste the code
OTP verification and GDPR-minded data handling. Hash in the product. Tickets: user id, time, template id, last DLR state.
A one-week training loop
- Give L1 a decision tree, not a dump. Paired? Charging? SIM balance? SMS grant? Then API key/plan. Then DLR unknown timeout.
- Shadow five real tickets. One permission, one prepaid empty, one pending DLR, one webhook 500, one “is this WhatsApp?”
- Ban OTP paste in the helpdesk. Macros that say so. Audit a week of tickets.
- Drill pricing in one paragraph. Devices + platform volume. BYO phone and operator credit. No unlimited carrier SMS.
- Name on-call for the radio. Who notices a red pairing light before the CEO tweets “SMS is down.”
- Re-train after OEM season. Android updates reset grants. The tree must include “what changed on the phone last night.”
Inbound: two-way inbox setup. Runbooks sibling: document runbooks.
Pricing answers that do not lie
Service pricing is based on device count and total SMS sent through the gateway. You need a working Android phone with a SIM and SMS credit from your mobile operator. Operator message costs are yours—we do not sell carrier SMS balance. Paid from $19/month. Device and SMS volume pricing. Starter/Pro/Business uncap platform volume vs Developer — still not unlimited operator SMS. Macros must say that.
Why this is cheaper than another phone
A trained L1 saves a device seat you would have bought because nobody checked the charger. Priced by devices and SMS send volume. You use your own phone and operator SMS credit.
Next steps
Print the four-step tree, ban OTP paste, shadow mixed tickets, re-train after the next OEM drop.
Related product pages
Jump to the live product docs for this topic—not another long-form article.
- SMS API documentationLive endpoint reference
- device and SMS volume pricingPlans and allowances
- Android SMS gateway product guideDefinition, product, and how to buy
- download the Android gateway appGet the APK
