Topic

This article describes how dial strings that include a phone number followed by commas and a conference ID with trailing characters (for example, a toll-free number followed by commas and a conference ID ending in ##) behave in Everbridge Suite notifications across email, SMS, and web views. It focuses on how these strings appear to recipients, how SMS length-related features can change what recipients see, and how organizational settings can affect SMS behavior.

Description

Notification authors can place a complete dial string into the message body of an Everbridge notification. A complete dial string can consist of:

• A phone number.

• One or more commas after the phone number.

• A conference bridge ID followed by ##.

When composing notifications, authors can place the entire sequence (phone number, commas, conference bridge ID, and trailing ##) directly into the message body so that recipients receive the dial string in a single line of text.

For SMS notifications, some environments apply a feature that manages long SMS content that exceeds the single-message length limit. When an SMS notification exceeds the single-message length limit, certain systems can convert the long text message into a short link using a feature often referred to as “Single SMS” or a similar term. In this configuration, instead of the original full-text SMS content, recipients may receive a shortened link in the SMS message.

When the SMS content is converted into a short link in this way, the original conference bridge ID and phone dial string in the SMS body can be replaced by the shortened link. In that situation, the conference bridge ID or phone dial string may no longer appear as a direct, clickable conference ID or phone number in the SMS content visible to the recipient.

Based on the documented behavior, disabling the organizational setting that converts over-the-limit SMS notifications into a short link (“Single SMS” or similar) permits the original message text to be delivered instead of a short link.

Changes to SMS behavior at the organizational level are controlled through Everbridge configuration and typically require coordination and approval from the appropriate organizational owners or account managers. After any change to the setting that governs the transformation of long SMS messages to short links, a test alert that includes a conference bridge dial string can be sent to confirm that the conference bridge ID appears in the SMS message body as expected.

When organizations need assistance evaluating how dial strings and conference bridge IDs appear to contacts, several pieces of information are useful for review. Administrators can confirm whether the phone number or formatting used in the notification has changed, and they can provide a copy of the notification template or a notification identifier so that the message content can be reviewed. It is also helpful to verify whether multiple recipients experience the same behavior or whether it is limited to specific users.

To learn more about how phone numbers are formatted for conference bridges in email notifications, including how local formats are applied based on contact settings, see EBS: Why Is the Number to Join a Conference Bridge in Everbridge Suite Formatted Differently for Contacts When Receiving Email Notifications?.