diff --git a/src/Service/RisingTideGateway.php b/src/Service/RisingTideGateway.php
index acd7d4d5..0681edd4 100644
--- a/src/Service/RisingTideGateway.php
+++ b/src/Service/RisingTideGateway.php
@@ -32,6 +32,16 @@ class RisingTideGateway
 
     public function sendSMS($mobile_num, $mask, $message)
     {
+        // make sure number is acceptable to RT
+        // at this point, assume that mobile is numeric and valid mobile number
+        $clean_num = $this->cleanPhoneNumber($mobile_num);
+
+        if ($clean_num === false)
+        {
+            error_log('Invalid mobile number provided. Cannot send SMS message to ' . $mobile_num);
+            return;
+        }
+
         $headers = [
             'Content-Type: application/vnd.net.wyrls.Document-v3+json'
         ];
@@ -39,7 +49,7 @@ class RisingTideGateway
         $sms = new SMSMessage();
         $sms->setFrom($this->shortcode)
             ->setFromAlias($mask)
-            ->setTo($mobile_num)
+            ->setTo($clean_num)
             ->setMessage($message)
             ->setStatus('sent');
 
@@ -54,7 +64,7 @@ class RisingTideGateway
             'id' => $sms->getID(),
             'from' => $this->shortcode,
             'from_alias' => $mask,
-            'to' => $mobile_num,
+            'to' => $clean_num,
             'content_type' => 'text/plain',
             'body' => $message,
             'date' => $date_string,
@@ -67,21 +77,21 @@ class RisingTideGateway
 
         $userpwd = $this->user . ':' . $this->pass;
 
-         $curl = curl_init();
-         curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, self::SERVER_URL);
-         curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $headers);
-         curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_VERBOSE, true);
-         curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data_json);
-         curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, 'POST');
-         curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH, CURLAUTH_BASIC);
-         curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_USERPWD, $userpwd);
-         $result = curl_exec($curl);
-         error_log('error_no - ' . curl_errno($curl));
-         $http_code = curl_getinfo($curl, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
-         error_log($http_code);
-         curl_close($curl);
+        $curl = curl_init();
+        curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, self::SERVER_URL);
+        curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $headers);
+        curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_VERBOSE, true);
+        curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data_json);
+        curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, 'POST');
+        curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH, CURLAUTH_BASIC);
+        curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_USERPWD, $userpwd);
+        $result = curl_exec($curl);
+        error_log('error_no - ' . curl_errno($curl));
+        $http_code = curl_getinfo($curl, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
+        error_log($http_code);
+        curl_close($curl);
 
-         error_log($result);
+        error_log($result);
     }
 
     public function validatePhoneNumber($mobile)
@@ -107,4 +117,41 @@ class RisingTideGateway
 
         return true;
     }
+
+    protected function cleanPhoneNumber($mobile)
+    {
+        // remove any non digit character from string
+        $clean_number = preg_replace('~\D~', '', $mobile);
+        error_log('cleaned ' . $clean_number);
+
+        // does it fit our 09XXXXXXXXX pattern?
+        if (preg_match('/^09[0-9]{9}$/', $clean_number))
+        {
+            // remove first '0'
+            $clean_number = substr($clean_number, 1);
+            
+            // prepend 63
+            $clean_number = '63' . $clean_number;
+
+            error_log("CONVERTED TO $clean_number");
+            return $clean_number;
+        }
+        // does it fit our 63XXXXXXXXXX pattern?
+        else if (preg_match('/^63[0-9]{10}$/', $clean_number))
+        {
+            // leave alone
+            return $clean_number;
+        }
+        // does it fit our 9XXXXXXXXX pattern?
+        else if (preg_match('/^9[0-9]{9}$/', $clean_number))
+        {
+            // prepend 63
+            $clean_number = '63' . $clean_number;
+
+            error_log("CONVERT TO $clean_number");
+            return $clean_number;
+        }
+
+        return false;
+    }
 }