United States

Here, you can compare the various features of each number type and determine which number is the best fit for your use case.

	Short Code	Toll-Free Number	10DLC - FAQ
How to order	via Dashboard	via Dashboard	via Dashboard
Type of Number	Five/Six digit Short Code	Toll-Free Number	Geographical Number
Example	12345	18885555555	13458674329
SMS enabled	Yes	Yes	Yes
Voice-enabled	No	Yes	Yes
MMS enabled	Yes	Yes	Yes
2-Way Possible	Yes	Yes	Yes
Suggested Use Cases	High volumes, Marketing, 2FA, Alerts	Low - Medium volumes, 2FA, Non-Marketing & Marketing, Customer Service, Alert Notifications	Low - Medium volumes, All Use Cases
Mixed Use Cases	Yes	Yes	Not advised
Unicode	Yes	Yes	Yes
Concatenated	Yes	Yes	Yes
Service Restrictions	Content pre-approved by CTIA. Content must follow CTIA Guidelines* and local regulations	Content pre-approved via Use Case Verification form. Content must follow CTIA Guidelines* and local regulations	Content must follow CTIA Guidelines* and local regulations
Deliverability Status Reports	Fully Available: Tracked: Deliverability is monitored up to the recipient's handset for all major networks.	Fully Available: Tracked: Deliverability is monitored up to the recipient's handset for all major networks.	Partially Available: Tracked: Message deliverability is monitored up to the receiving carrier network. Not Tracked: No visibility is provided regarding final handset delivery status.
Daily Send Limit	N/A	N/A	Yes see 10dlc page. by operators on case by case basis after 10DLC registration
Throughput Limit	30 MMS per sec 400 SMS per sec	25 MMS per sec 200 SMS per sec	Yes see 10dlc page. by operators on case by case basis after 10DLC registration
Pass-through fee**	Yes, depending on the recipient's operators	Yes, depending on the recipient's operators	Yes, depending on the use case and recipient's operators
Inbound Charge	No	Yes	No. Only carrier pass-through fees
Setup Time	8-12 weeks	1 business day Use case verification can take up to 1 week	3-5 days
Minimum Subscription Period	3 months	1 month	3 months

*Find here the current CTIA Guidelines **Carrier pass-through fees are determined by the operators and are subject to change. This is out of MessageBird's control.

Additional Carrier Pass-through Fees

There are additional Carrier Pass-through fees per message on top of MessageBird message rates. These are determined by the operators and are subject to change.

*Note: These additional costs will be added to current MessageBird message rates. Message charges will continue to be: Base MessageBird message rate + Surcharge to destination carrier = Total message cost.

Find the current US Carrier Pass-through fees here.

Throttling & buffering

The traffic towards the USA and Canada may need to be throttled if you exceed the sending rate your number allows. Bird will buffer any message (SMS or MMS) above the applicable limits at no extra cost and send it only when possible. We will try our best to prevent your message from failing.

• T-Mobile daily cap is currently excluded from buffering, all messages exceeding the cap will fail (see here)
• Because throughput limits vary according to number type, carrier, and type of number, the bird throttling mechanism should be considered a best-effort feature; we advise our clients to enforce their own limiting. If a message were to fail to be buffered by bird it will fail at a carrier level and would be charged; that message will be recognizable with source sms-messagebird and code 107: EC_CAMPAIGN_THROUGHPUT_EXCEEDED

OPT-IN and OPT-OUT Compliance

MessageBird will monitor standard OPT-IN and OPT-OUT keywords (see list below) to ensure compliance with the applicable regulations. If an opt-out request is received, MessageBird will process it and block future communications between the Sender and the Recipient (opted-out number) until this same Recipient (the end-user) OPT-IN again by sending the appropriate keyword. Personalized opt-out acknowledgment, non-standard opt-out words - for example, in different languages - as well opted-out number tracking can be set up by customers using Flow Builder or, if you use Contacts, activating the Automatic SMS Subscriptions (Opt-in/Opt-out).

Standard OPT-OUT keywords used by MessageBird are (all case insensitive)

• stop *

* No personalized opt-out confirmation is allowed for Toll-Free Numbers. For those keywords, the carriers will send a standard opt-out message as acknowledgment and block traffic immediately. This restriction does not apply to Long codes and Shortcodes.

Standard OPT-IN keywords used by MessageBird are (all case insensitive) are

• unstop

• start

• yes

Support to HELP keyword for Opted-Out end-users

Each MessageBird customer must support the HELP keyword and send required HELP messages to end-users. HELP requests should be supported at all times, even when it is requested by opted-out end-users. To prevent abuse and unsolicited content delivery, Messagebird will allow only pre-approved HELP templates to be sent to OPTED-OUT end-users. Customized messages remain available for OPTED-IN end-users. To avoid blocking, please ensure your HELP answer to OPTED-OUT end-users matches the following template:

Manage your preferences. Reply STOP to opt-out or START to opt-in. Msg&Data rates may apply.