Facilities departments have long relied on free email-to-text and email-to-SMS services, such as Verizon’s vText, to receive critical notifications about potential issues that threaten to disrupt building systems and operations as well as occupant safety and comfort. And it’s true, the idea behind email-to-text seems simple enough.
Major carriers like Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile enable messages sent from email clients or automated building systems to be routed through carrier gateways, then delivered as text message alerts on a facility personnel’s phone. For example, a building’s boiler system might detect an ignition failure that causes a downward trend in hot water temperature. This event triggers an alert to the facilities staff in the form of a text message or SMS, ensuring that the recipient sees and addresses the alarm in a timely fashion, ideally before it impacts system performance and occupant comfort.
Carriers Discontinue SMS Gateway Services. Now What?
For years, many facilities departments have depended on email-to-text services for incident management like this. But recent changes enacted by carriers are causing significant headaches—and potential costs—for facilities teams. Over the past few years, major carriers have either discontinued or de-prioritized the gateways that enable free email to text, in large part due to security risks, spam overload, and compliance requirements. AT&T ended its SMS gateway service in 2025, for instance, and both T-Mobile and Verizon terminated their SMS gateway domains in 2024.
So, what does this mean for facilities departments?
For starters, text messages and SMS that convey critical alerts may be delayed, if they get through at all, impeding facilities departments’ ability to respond to and remediate issues before they impact operations. Some carriers are offering to continue supporting the email-to-text services, but for an added cost. This leaves facilities departments having to choose between paying a premium to continue receiving texts, or possibly missing critical alerts that may lead to costly damage.
The decision by major carriers to discontinue these gateways only adds the downsides that already come with relying on email-to-text. Facilities departments using these free services have long complained about lost messages, throttling and rerouting, and the time and effort it takes to cobble together manual workarounds for Gmail and Outlook. When alerts don’t get to the right phone or recipient at the right time, resolution is delayed and disruptions become more expensive.
Transitioning from Email-to-Text to Cloud-Based Alarm Notification
With the sunsetting of carrier gateway services and domains, now is the ideal time for facilities departments to reevaluate their reliance on email-to-text and email-to-SMS services for incident management and seek out a more effective and reliable alternative. One such alternative worth exploring is a cloud-based software system designed specifically for alarm messages and management. Let’s explore that a bit further.
Operating independently of carriers, cloud-based alarm messenger software offers key advantages over slower and less reliable email-to-text and email-to-SMS systems, including:
- Faster, on-time delivery of critical alerts without throttling and delays.
- Access to delivery status and message logs to aid with troubleshooting and post-incident reviews.
- Two-way incident handling, with the ability to confirm, close, escalate, and comment on specific alarms, versus one-way email-to-text.
- Audit trails that provide documentation, transparency, and support for after-action reviews.
- Centralized identity and access control that aligns better with IT standards.
- Better scalability, with the capacity to integrate with existing BASs and aggregate alarms from many building systems.
- The ability to prioritize critical alarms to avoid alarm fatigue, rather than lighting up personnel’s phones with every event via text.
- Simplified addition of endpoints as you add more systems and sites.
Your Cloud-Based Alarm Messenger Checklist
To reap the full benefits of cloud-based alarm notification, you’ll want to make sure the system you select meets the checklist of key features.
Beyond texting: Choose a cloud-based alarm messenger solution that notifies the appropriate personnel by phone, email, and text to ensure the alert is received in a timely fashion via the preferred communication method. The alert should convey what’s wrong, what needs to be done, and who should fix it.
Notification tree: The system should establish a notification tree that requires staff to acknowledge receipt of the alarm. If no confirmation is given, the alert should be escalated to the next person on the list.
Dashboard and reporting: Make sure the system archives alarm history and notification tracking, making this data easily available through a cloud-based website and dashboard for analysis and reporting.
Continuous support: Along with the software, look for a cloud-based solution that is supported and managed by an expert team who’s available for quarterly reviews to continue prioritizing alarms and addressing chronic issues, and who can address any problems as they arise.
Cybersecurity standards: Ensure the cloud-based system you select employs robust security protocols.
If your facilities department is still relying on email-to-text or email-to-SMS, it’s important to be aware of the potential pitfalls that come with using these services, including delays, lost messages, and increased costs. The good news is: you have other options that go beyond simple text alerts to support a more effective and proactive alarm management strategy.
Albireo Energy’s Critical Alarm Messenger (CALM) meets the complete checklist of features and benefits for a cloud-based system. Read more about CALM here. And reach out today to see if CALM may be the right solution for you.
