Quickstart — send your first SMS

Copy page

This guide takes you from zero to a delivered SMS in about five minutes.

Prerequisites: an active 23 Telecom account with SMS sending enabled. Your account manager provides your login credentials.

Get your API key.

Log in to the customer portal, go to Settings → API Keys, and create a key with the sms.send and sms.read permissions.

Copy the key immediately — for security it is displayed a single time. If you lose it, create a new key.

Send your first SMS.

Replace the recipient with your own phone number in E.164 format (for example +447911123456):

curl -X POST https://restlink23telecom.com/api/v1/sms/send \
  -H "X-API-Key: $API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "to": [
    "+14155551234"
  ],
  "message": "Hello from 23 Telecom!",
  "sender_id": "MyCompany"
}'

const res = await fetch('https://restlink23telecom.com/api/v1/sms/send', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'X-API-Key': process.env.API_KEY, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "to": [
      "+14155551234"
    ],
    "message": "Hello from 23 Telecom!",
    "sender_id": "MyCompany"
  }),
});

if (!res.ok) {
  const err = await res.json();
  throw new Error(`${err.error_code}: ${err.description}`);
}
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);

import os
import requests

res = requests.post(
    "https://restlink23telecom.com/api/v1/sms/send",
    headers={"X-API-Key": os.environ["API_KEY"]},
    json={
        "to": ["+14155551234"],
        "message": "Hello from 23 Telecom!",
        "sender_id": "MyCompany"
    },
)
res.raise_for_status()
print(res.json())

<?php
$ch = curl_init('https://restlink23telecom.com/api/v1/sms/send');
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST  => 'POST',
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER     => ['X-API-Key: ' . getenv('API_KEY'), 'Content-Type: application/json'],
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS     => json_encode([
        'to' => ['+14155551234'],
        'message' => 'Hello from 23 Telecom!',
        'sender_id' => 'MyCompany'
    ]),
]);

$response = curl_exec($ch);
$status   = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
curl_close($ch);

if ($status !== 200) {
    throw new Exception("HTTP $status: $response");
}
$data = json_decode($response, true);
print_r($data);

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://restlink23telecom.com/api/v1/sms/send")
req = Net::HTTP::Post.new(uri)
req["X-API-Key"] = ENV.fetch("API_KEY")
req["Content-Type"] = "application/json"
req.body = {
  to: ["+14155551234"],
  message: "Hello from 23 Telecom!",
  sender_id: "MyCompany"
}.to_json

res = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true) { |http| http.request(req) }
raise "HTTP #{res.code}: #{res.body}" unless res.is_a?(Net::HTTPSuccess)

puts JSON.parse(res.body)

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse;

HttpClient client = HttpClient.newHttpClient();

HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
    .uri(URI.create("https://restlink23telecom.com/api/v1/sms/send"))
    .header("X-API-Key", System.getenv("API_KEY"))
    .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
    .POST(HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString("""
        {
          "to": [
            "+14155551234"
          ],
          "message": "Hello from 23 Telecom!",
          "sender_id": "MyCompany"
        }"""))
    .build();

HttpResponse<String> response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
System.out.println(response.body());

package main

import (
  "fmt"
  "io"
  "net/http"
  "os"
  "strings"
)

func main() {
  payload := strings.NewReader(`{
  "to": [
    "+14155551234"
  ],
  "message": "Hello from 23 Telecom!",
  "sender_id": "MyCompany"
}`)

  req, err := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://restlink23telecom.com/api/v1/sms/send", payload)
  if err != nil {
    panic(err)
  }
  req.Header.Set("X-API-Key", os.Getenv("API_KEY"))
  req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")

  res, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
  if err != nil {
    panic(err)
  }
  defer res.Body.Close()

  data, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
  fmt.Println(string(data))
}

using System.Text;

using var client = new HttpClient();
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("X-API-Key",
    Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("API_KEY"));

var json = """
{
  "to": [
    "+14155551234"
  ],
  "message": "Hello from 23 Telecom!",
  "sender_id": "MyCompany"
}
""";
var content = new StringContent(json, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
var response = await client.PostAsync("https://restlink23telecom.com/api/v1/sms/send", content);

response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
Console.WriteLine(await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync());

A successful response confirms acceptance and tells you the cost, encoding and a message_id for each recipient:

{
  "status": true,
  "messages": [
    {
      "dnis": "+14155551234",
      "message_id": "api_42_1743667200123456789_a3f8b2c1d9e45f67",
      "segment_num": 1
    }
  ],
  "results": [
    {
      "dnis": "+14155551234",
      "message_id": "api_42_1743667200123456789_a3f8b2c1d9e45f67",
      "segments": 1,
      "status": "accepted"
    }
  ],
  "summary": {
    "total_recipients": 1,
    "total_segments": 1,
    "total_cost": 0.01,
    "encoding": "GSM-7",
    "accepted_count": 1,
    "blocked_count": 0
  }
}

Check the delivery status.

Use the message_id from the send response:

curl https://restlink23telecom.com/api/v1/sms/status/api_42_1743667200123456789_a3f8b2c1d9e45f67 \
  -H "X-API-Key: $API_KEY"

const res = await fetch('https://restlink23telecom.com/api/v1/sms/status/api_42_1743667200123456789_a3f8b2c1d9e45f67', {
  method: 'GET',
  headers: { 'X-API-Key': process.env.API_KEY },
});

if (!res.ok) {
  const err = await res.json();
  throw new Error(`${err.error_code}: ${err.description}`);
}
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);

import os
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://restlink23telecom.com/api/v1/sms/status/api_42_1743667200123456789_a3f8b2c1d9e45f67",
    headers={"X-API-Key": os.environ["API_KEY"]},
)
res.raise_for_status()
print(res.json())

<?php
$ch = curl_init('https://restlink23telecom.com/api/v1/sms/status/api_42_1743667200123456789_a3f8b2c1d9e45f67');
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER     => ['X-API-Key: ' . getenv('API_KEY')],
]);

$response = curl_exec($ch);
$status   = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
curl_close($ch);

if ($status !== 200) {
    throw new Exception("HTTP $status: $response");
}
$data = json_decode($response, true);
print_r($data);

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://restlink23telecom.com/api/v1/sms/status/api_42_1743667200123456789_a3f8b2c1d9e45f67")
req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
req["X-API-Key"] = ENV.fetch("API_KEY")

res = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true) { |http| http.request(req) }
raise "HTTP #{res.code}: #{res.body}" unless res.is_a?(Net::HTTPSuccess)

puts JSON.parse(res.body)

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse;

HttpClient client = HttpClient.newHttpClient();

HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
    .uri(URI.create("https://restlink23telecom.com/api/v1/sms/status/api_42_1743667200123456789_a3f8b2c1d9e45f67"))
    .header("X-API-Key", System.getenv("API_KEY"))
    .GET()
    .build();

HttpResponse<String> response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
System.out.println(response.body());

package main

import (
  "fmt"
  "io"
  "net/http"
  "os"
)

func main() {
  req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://restlink23telecom.com/api/v1/sms/status/api_42_1743667200123456789_a3f8b2c1d9e45f67", nil)
  if err != nil {
    panic(err)
  }
  req.Header.Set("X-API-Key", os.Getenv("API_KEY"))

  res, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
  if err != nil {
    panic(err)
  }
  defer res.Body.Close()

  data, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
  fmt.Println(string(data))
}

using System.Text;

using var client = new HttpClient();
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("X-API-Key",
    Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("API_KEY"));

var response = await client.GetAsync("https://restlink23telecom.com/api/v1/sms/status/api_42_1743667200123456789_a3f8b2c1d9e45f67");

response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
Console.WriteLine(await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync());

{
  "status": true,
  "message": {
    "message_id": "api_42_1743667200123456789_a3f8b2c1d9e45f67",
    "recipient": "+14155551234",
    "sender_id": "MyCompany",
    "message": "Hello from 23 Telecom!",
    "segments": 1,
    "status": "DELIVRD",
    "cost": 0.0085,
    "created_at": "2026-02-13T10:30:00Z",
    "delivered_at": "2026-02-13T10:30:04Z"
  }
}

DELIVRD means the message reached the recipient’s handset. See all possible values in delivery statuses.

Next steps

Stop polling, start listening — set up a delivery webhook to receive real-time delivery reports on your server.
Going to production? Read authentication for HMAC request signing and rate limits.
Sending campaigns? Check encoding & segments so long or Unicode messages don’t surprise you on cost.
Prefer clicking to coding? Import the Postman collection or open the API playground.