United States
Restricted country The United States has SMS restrictions in place. Before you can send messages to this country, you must request approval from MessageBird. More info: Requesting Access for Restricted Countries.
In order to send SMS to the United States, customers are required to: 1) Order a local US number from the Options below. Ordering and registration procedures vary. 2) Request access to be able to send SMS to this Restricted Country. 3) Use your local US number as the originator. MessageBird offers 3 types of numbers for sending SMS messages to the 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.
How to order
via Account Manager
via Support or Account Manager
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
No
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
Carrier DLR's
Yes
Yes
No
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
Daily Send Limit
N/A
N/A
Yes. TBC by operators on case by case basis after 10DLC registration
Throughput Limit
High. TBC by operators on case by case basis
Medium/High (increase after Use Case Verification)
TBC 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
Yes
Yes
No. Only carrier pass-through fees
Setup Time
8-12 weeks
1 business day Use case verification can take up to 1 week
1 week
Minimum Subscription Period
3 months
N/A
12 months
*Find here the current CTIA Guidelines **Passthrough 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 Fees here.
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.
Last updated