How does sender id work

Custom Words are often used for transactional SMS when replies are not needed and most popular amongst airlines, banks, and insurance agencies. A Dedicated Virtual Number consists of up to 16 digits and can only be used by your business. Short code numbers are easy to remember making them perfect for conversations that begin from the customer end.

Many businesses implement short codes for text-to-win competitions, customer feedback, and customer requests. However, you can only receive replies within 48 hours of sending your SMS.

It really depends on the limitations set by different countries on Customer IDs finding usage in customer interactions, mobile banking, and other integrations. The goal is to make sure that the Sender IDs are being used lawfully and so that no-one could misuse them. Another reason for this process is the ever-changing operator and country regulations which affect the registered phone and mobile numbers. A simple registration is relatively easy and after the verification, all should be set. But unfortunately, that is not the case everywhere.

The sender registration process in the background is more complicated than that. Some countries have a very complex registration process in place to send your messages to their subscribers, whereas some operators do not allow alphanumeric Sender IDs at all, so it can become a real hassle to make use of Customer IDs in cases like this.

The nature of the SMS Sender ID brings about various possibilities in terms of appearance and use cases, one of which is two-way messaging. Although, the availability of such a feature depends whether the Sender ID is a numerical one or an alpha sender. For two-way messaging to work, a numerical number is needed.

In order to enable two-way messaging, a number needs to be registered by the partner beforehand. You have two options to choose from:. A Shortcode Sender ID — this Sender ID is like the previous long-code option, only that there is a little more variety in the short-code types:. A single company is the owner of the specific shortcode. This is almost always covered with two-way messaging, with no keywords required for the communication.

Due to the global nature, there are a variety of different measures taken by the mobile network operators to regulate the messaging on phone numbers.

A lot of the operators have incorporated their own business processes, restrictions and regulations in every aspect of the text message from the Sender ID and content restrictions to the process of how messages can be submitted to their networks. In the USA, the sending limit permitted by carriers for long codes is only one message per second which equals only 60 messages per minute.

There is also often a maximum limit in the form of a monthly quota in some countries. Short codes are another option for sender identification. As the name implies, these are short, usually four- to six-digit numbers for commercial SMS communication.

Short codes are first choice for sophisticated SMS dispatch when there is a large volume of messages to send in a limited amount of time. This type of ID allows for many more messages, up to 30 per second, to be sent 1, messages per minute. The format is short, making it significantly easier for customers to memorize the number. However, short codes cannot be used across country borders, and when compared to the number of available long codes, there are by nature only a limited number.

That is why it is possible for companies to share short codes with other users. Even in these scenarios, companies do not have to go without a feedback channel. By entering key words in the body of the message, thanks to our alphanumeric sender ID system, the incoming SMS can be automatically matched to the correct recipient.

In some countries, such as France, companies are often also required to use an alphanumeric sender ID when dispatching SMS messages. However, replies cannot be sent directly to these types of sender IDs. That is why the SMS text should always contain an additional long code or short code as the contact number.