Topic

Sending messages to pagers in Everbridge Suite.

Description

This document is not intended to provide technical information about pagers and pager networks, or on how to use a pager. The purpose of these guidelines is to describe how to send messages to pagers using the Everbridge solution since each customer will use the Everbridge solution in a manner that best addresses their business goals. We recommend customers work with their internal teams (for example, IT department) to achieve the desired outcome of messages sent to pagers from Everbridge.

See knowledge article EBS: Global Inbound Application Phone Numbers for Use in Everbridge Suite for additional information.

Pager Types

Everbridge Delivery Methods

The following delivery methods are optimized for sending messages to pagers from the Everbridge solution.

Everbridge Suite

Message Delivery to Pager Services

Everbridge leverages three major communication channels for delivering messages to pager services for routing to your pagers: IVR (telephone-to-telephone), email, and Wireless Communication Transfer Protocol (WCTP). The most efficient communication channel is WCTP, but not all pager services offer this channel.

Everbridge can send your message via WCTP to the following pager services:

• American Messaging - Skytel
• American Messaging - MyAirMail
• Critical Alert - North East
• Critical Alert - South Central
• USAMobility (Spok)
• Indiana Paging

If your pager service does not offer the WCTP communication channel, then we send your message using the pager service's IVR (for Numeric Pager or TAP Pager) or email service (for text pagers).

Using Plain Text Email - 1 Way delivery method to send messages to alphanumeric (text) pagers

You can use the Plain Text Email – 1 Way delivery method to send notifications from your Everbridge Organization to alphanumeric (or text) pagers.

Before adding information to a contact record, add the delivery method to the Organization. Log in to the Manager Portal and navigate to Settings > Organizations > Notifications > Delivery Methods. Select the “Plain Text Email – 1 Way” delivery method for your Organization. Enter a name for the delivery method. For this example, we will use PTE- 1Way.

To add an alphanumeric pager to a contact record in the Manager Portal:

1. Login to the Manager Portal and select the desired organization from the upper right-hand side of the page.
2. Choose the Contacts tab.
3. Choose next to the desired contact.
4. In the Delivery Methods section, select the delivery method PTE- 1Way.
5. Enter the pager address formatted as an email address.
   
6. Choose Save.

To add an alphanumeric pager to a Contact record via the Contact CSV file:

1. Either download the CSV Template from the Uploads page, or open the desired CSV file.
2. Navigate to the column titled "Plain Text Email - 1 way".
3. Enter the pager address as an email address.

Using Numeric Pager delivery method to send messages to numeric pagers

You can use the Numeric Pager delivery method to send notifications from your Everbridge Organization to numeric pager. Everbridge sends a call back phone number and a message ID, so the recipient can call to listen to the message.

Before adding information to a contact record, add the delivery method to the Organization. Log in to the Manager Portal and navigate to Settings > Organizations > Notifications > Delivery Methods. Select the “Numeric Pager” delivery method for your Organization.

To add a numeric pager to a contact record in the Manager Portal: Login to the Manager Portal and select the desired organization from the upper right-hand side of the page. Choose the Contacts tab. Choose next to the desired contact. In the Delivery Methods section, select the delivery method Numeric Pager. Enter the pager address formatted as a phone number Choose Save. To add a numeric pager to a Contact record via the Contact CSV file: Either download the CSV Template from the Uploads page, or open the desired CSV file Navigate to the column titled "Numeric Pager" Enter the pager address as a phone number Navigate to the column titled "Numeric Pager Country" Enter either the numeric international country code or the 2-character country alpha code

Using TAP Pager delivery method to send messages to alphanumeric pagers

You can use the TAP Pager delivery method to send notifications from your Everbridge Organization to alphanumeric pagers that are configured to function in a TAP network.

Before adding information to a contact record, add the delivery method to the Organization. Log into your Everbridge Suite account, and navigate to Settings > Organizations > Notifications > Delivery Methods. Select the “TAP Pager” delivery method for your Organization.

To add a numeric pager to a contact record in the Manager Portal: Login to the Manager Portal and select the desired organization from the upper right-hand side of the page. Choose the Contacts tab. Choose next to the desired contact. In the Delivery Methods section, select the delivery method TAP Pager. Enter the phone number for the TAP terminal. Enter the PIN for the pager. Choose Save. To add a TAP pager to a Contact record via the Contact CSV file: Either download the CSV Template from the Uploads page, or open the desired CSV file Navigate to the column titled "TAP Pager" Enter the pager address as a phone number Navigate to the column titled "TAP Pager Country" Enter either the numeric international country code or the 2-character country alpha code Navigate to the column titled "TAP Pager Pin" Enter the PIN or numeric identifier for the individual pager

Using the WCTP channel to send messages to your pagers

If your pagers are provided by one of the pager companies listed earlier in this document, then you can leverage the WCTP communication channel by assigning a Pager Service value to the desired delivery method in a contact record.

Before adding information to a contact record, add the desired delivery methods to the Organization. Log into your Everbridge Suite account, and navigate to Settings > Organizations > Notifications > Delivery Methods. Select the desired Delivery Methods for your Organization.

To assign a WCTP channel to a contact record via the Manager Portal: Login to the Manager Portal and select the desired organization from the upper right-hand side of the page. Choose the Contacts tab. Choose next to the desired contact. In the Delivery Methods section, select either delivery method: Numeric Pager. Plain Text Email 1 - Way. Enter the pager address. Choose Advanced and select the company from which your pager is leased. To assign a WCTP channel to a contact record via the Contact CSV file: Either download the CSV template from the Uploads page, or open the desired CSV file Navigate to the column titled "Plain Text - 1 way Pager Service" or "Numeric Pager Service" Enter the name of the pager company exactly as provided earlier in this document.

Cap Codes or Group Codes

Most pager services offer a cap code or group code for sending the same message to many pagers at the same time. You can use this code in your Everbridge notifications if tracking individual confirmations is not a requirement.

To use a cap/group code, add a contact to your Everbridge database and add the cap/group code formatted as an email address to the desired delivery method. For example, if the alpha pagers for your EOC team are configured with cap/group code "9999", then enter "9999@pagerservice.com" in the contact profile, where "pagerservice.com" is replaced with your pager service's email domain. Everbridge will send the message for this one contact/member to the pager service; the pager service, in turn, will simultaneously broadcast the message to your EOC team's pagers.