ZW was / is at the core of TFN messaging. Going by their lore, they developed carrier relationships for TFN messaging outside of what Synniverse and other large aggregators already had in place. And they did it by policing the medium to ensure it didn't turn into a cesspool that local number SMS turned into. Anyone you go to will ultimately just be using Twilio (who acquired ZW). There is a clear anti-competitive angle in Twilio's acquisition of ZW... but it didn't register anywhere. oh well. [image: Star Telecom - Cloud Communications and Customer Experience Solutions] <https://www.startelecom.ca/> *Ivan Kovacevic* *Co-Founder and VP Client Services* On Tue, Feb 8, 2022 at 2:49 PM Peter Beckman <beckman at angryox.com> wrote:
Toll Free SMS used to be not a problem, turn it on and you're done. Slightly higher per-SMS Rates, no free inbound. Businesses could use them and have no issues with A2P vs P2P and registering a 10DLC campaign, etc.
Lately random non-direct carriers are turning off SMS without notification, leading to our customers complaining, and then we're told that they need to fill out a "Know Your Customer" (KYC) form with company name, contact, use case, domains, etc.
It's a terrible customer experience for us and our end users.
I have a bunch of small business customers using Toll Free SMS.
- 25% use automation, sending out in-house notifications and Two-Factor Auth to their contractors, 200-500 outgoing messages per month.
- 50% are sent/received by a human, 10-100 outbound per month. Followups to Voicemails, website leads on their own site, or existing client/customer communication
- 25% just use it to receive SMS messages from their vendors, and occasionally use it for business related, like 0-20 outbound per month.
What organization(s) is/are requiring this informal, seemingly non-standard process of registration for Toll Free SMS?
Why does it take 2-5 business days to read it and turn it on, either initially or after a shutoff?
Why are messaging carriers shutting down existing Toll Free SMS without notifying the direct carrier, underlying carrier, or even end user of the action???
RANT
The per-message carrier fees are frustrating. Worse on 10DLC than Toll Free. I know they are trying to dissuade bad actors, but it also hurts small business.
But what is really insane is the cost of 10DLC, and increasingly the time and silent disconnection until "KYC'd" of SMS on Toll Free.
Toll Free SMS is still better than 10DLC, but 72-hours to get a previously-approved-on-one-carrier campaign re-approved on a new carrier hurts small businesses. The whole "use case" document for a few hundred outbound SMS messages a month, sending to existing customers and new website generated leads and calls is overkill.
Don't get me started on 10DLC via TCR (The Campaign Registry).
$200.00 NRC Carrier Registration just to register campaigns on behalf of customers $4.00 NRC Brand Registration Fee $10.00 MRC 2FA $10.00 MRC Account Notifications $10.00 MRC Conversational Messaging (WTF?!?) $10.00 MRC Low Volume Mixed (WTF?!?)
+ Random fees (e.g. $40+ to Aegis + 7 day wait) to increase your "Trust Score" so you can send more messages
+ What if I switch to another provider in the future, will I need to re-register?
Yes! As mentioned, each messaging provider is its own unique CSP (Campaign Service Provider). Therefore, you would need to go through the same process with the new provider when switching over.
So, switch carriers? Re-pay to re-register all your campaigns.
SUMMARY
What carriers are you using for Toll Free SMS, and what hoops are you finding that are increasing your time and energy to get working?
Beckman
PS -- If you use ZipWhip, they are shutting down -- where are you going instead?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Beckman Internet Guy beckman at angryox.com https://www.angryox.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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