Free guide for shop owners
How to set up Twilio for your repair business
Twilio is the phone company behind your business texting: appointment confirmations, “tech is on the way”, estimates, review requests. This guide walks you through creating the account, buying a local number, and connecting it to MeraFix — about 20 minutes, every screen explained.
Before you start: have your EIN ready
U.S. carriers require every business that texts customers to register (A2P 10DLC). That registration needs your EIN and legal business name. No EIN yet? Get it first — it's free and takes 15 minutes:
Free step-by-step EIN guide →Setup, screen by screen
- 1
Create the account
Go to twilio.com and click “Start for free” (or “Sign up”). Enter your name, work email, and a strong password.
Verify your email (click the link they send) and your cell phone (they text you a code).
Twilio asks a few onboarding questions (“What do you want to build?”) — answers don't matter much; pick SMS / Alerts & notifications / No code and continue to the Console.
- 2
Upgrade the account (add a card)
A trial account can text only up to 5 verified numbers, holds a single phone number, and can't complete business-texting registration — so upgrade right away.
Click the “Upgrade” banner/button in the Console (or search “Upgrade” in the Console search bar), add your card and billing address.
Takes under a minute. Any leftover trial credit still applies after upgrading.
- 3
Buy a local phone number
In the Console: Phone Numbers → Manage → Buy a number.
Search by your area code (e.g. 704, 980…) — a local number gets answered far more often than a random or toll-free one.
Make sure the number has both Voice and SMS capabilities (checkmarks in the list), then click Buy. Cost is about $1.15/month.
💡 If the search comes back empty, try a neighboring area code or remove extra filters — inventory varies by region.
- 4
Create a Messaging Service
In the Console: Messaging → Services → Create Messaging Service. Name it after your business (e.g. “Smith Appliance Repair”).
When asked to add senders, add the phone number you just bought to the service's Sender Pool.
Copy the Messaging Service SID — it starts with “MG…”. You'll paste it into MeraFix in a moment.
- 5
Copy your credentials
Go back to the Console home page (Account Dashboard). In the “Account Info” box you'll see:
Account SID — starts with “AC…”. Auth Token — click “Show” to reveal it.
Treat the Auth Token like a bank password: paste it only into MeraFix, never into emails or chats.
- 6
Connect it to MeraFix
In your MeraFix admin: Settings → Integrations → SMS → “Bring your own Twilio”.
Paste the Account SID (AC…), the Auth Token, and the Messaging Service SID (MG…), then Save — MeraFix validates the credentials against Twilio immediately and shows exactly what's wrong if something doesn't match.
- 7
Business-texting registration (A2P 10DLC) — we handle it
U.S. carriers require every business texting from a local number to register its brand (EIN + legal name) and messaging use case. Unregistered traffic gets filtered.
MeraFix runs this registration for you using the business details in your account, and pre-checks everything against carrier rejection rules before anything is submitted — so it passes on the first try instead of burning the non-refundable submission fees.
Approval is often same-day, occasionally up to a couple of weeks. Once approved, your automated texts (booking confirmations, on-my-way, estimates, review requests) switch on.
If something goes wrong
“Trial accounts must verify a phone number before purchasing”
Verify your own cell first (Phone Numbers → Verified Caller IDs) or simply upgrade the account — upgrading removes all trial limits instantly.
My texts aren't delivering
Almost always A2P registration status (pending or missing) or a link in the message that carriers dislike. In MeraFix the SMS integration page shows your registration status; delivery receipts show per-message status.
I already have a Twilio number I use for calls
Great — you can keep using it. Add it to the Messaging Service sender pool and connect the same account to MeraFix; voice and texting can share one number.
This guide is general information. Twilio's screens, prices, and carrier rules are Twilio's and may change. Verified: July 2026.
Connected? Now put it to work
MeraFix turns that Twilio number into a full front office: automated booking confirmations, “tech on the way” texts with live tracking, estimates your customers approve by phone, review requests after the job — plus a 24/7 AI receptionist that answers calls and books jobs on the same number.