Toll-free SMS messaging
What is toll-free SMS?
Toll-Free SMS is a messaging channel that lets businesses send and receive text messages from a toll-free phone number.
Toll-Free texting gives you the same MMS and SMS capabilities that short codes do, but you can also use voice-enabled numbers. That’s great for customer service use cases because you can text your opted-in users and then they can just call back to complete their issue resolution.
| Feature | Toll-free |
|---|---|
| Geographic availability | US/CAN |
| Voice Capable | Yes |
| SMS 2-Way | Yes |
| Multimedia Capable | Yes |
| Expected Time to Market | 3-4 Weeks |
| Expense | $$ |
Pros & cons of toll-free SMS
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Your provider may have an API to help with number verification, like Bandwidth’s Verification API | Required verification means a longer time to market |
| Consumers know and trust toll-free numbers | Usually more expensive than 10DLC |
An overview of toll-free SMS verification
Toll-free verification is the approval process for toll-free SMS sending. The aggregator verifies that the number is indeed owned by the business that applied, reviews the content that will be sent on the number, and makes sure there is a clear opt-in, opt-out, and privacy policy in place. Once the number is verified, it is then tied to that brand.
Effective Jan 31st, 2024, the industry’s toll-free aggregator disallows any sending on non-verified toll-free numbers.
