Choose the right sender : Availability and restrictions by country
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MessageBird offers you the option to send messages via different types of senders the most common worldwide being alphanumeric. However, due to local restrictions in certain countries, different types of originators may work best for different use cases, Below you can find additional information on a country-per-country basis.
Alphanumeric senders are words your user receives in the form field of SMS. They only work 1 way but are a great option for both branding (you can use your company name) and coverage (the same Alphanumeric can be used to send traffic to multiple countries).
In most countries of the world you can fulfill your OPT OUT obligation by including an OPT link in your messages, this allows to utilize Alphanumeric.
In few other countries (notably in both and ) you are mandated to accept user OPT OUT requests by SMS (for example recognize and act on your user texting you STOP) Because of this you must use 2 ways numbers even when sending 1 way or promotional traffic.
In certain countries, local operators will block URLs if they are not registered and ore are not clearly recognizable as belonging to a brand. Below you can find additional information on a country-by-country basis; if a country supports generic URL you can use any domain including shared shorteners (for example brd.to/xxxx if a country does not support Generic URL shortener you can only use branded shorteners.
In most countries, a quick check performed by bird will be enough to enable you to send traffic however in other countries in pre-registration of the sender ID is conducted externally by a carrier or regulatory-controlled entity. In such cases, registration may take longer and require to provide additional information.
in many countries, you are requested or mandated not to send promotional messages on certain days or during certain hours. You can however send transactional messages at any time needed.
Whenever possible MessageBird provides a dedicated error code and status reason to indicate the SMS failed to deliver due to lack of registration and/or forbidden content. You can find more information on Failed SMS Troubleshooting in , or you can directly check our detailed Status List on our