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What Are SMS and MMS Carrier Fees?
Some wireless carriers apply surcharges to messages sent on their networks. Here’s how we handle these fees.
Some wireless carriers apply surcharges to messages sent on their networks. Here’s how we handle these fees.
SMS and MMS carrier fees are additional costs charged by wireless carriers, which are providers like Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T (to name a few). These fees vary per message and number type. For example, some carriers only charge fees for messages sent on toll-free numbers. Others charge for both sent and received messages on short codes.
Confusing, I know.
Fortunately, I can help. I’ll explain how carrier fees work and how much you can expect to pay. Plus, I’ll walk you through how it works for SimpleTexting customers and what other charges you should expect to pay for SMS marketing.
The carrier fee you’ll pay per message depends on whether you’re sending a Short Message Service (SMS) or Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) text. Let’s break each type down:
So, it’s a matter of balancing complexity versus cost. Since SMS texts also tend to cost fewer credits in text messaging services, they can be the more economical choice. But, looking at our own tests, MMS messages with pictures can perform better than SMS, so consider how your strategy fits into your budget.
The differences in carrier fees don’t stop at message type. Two more factors determine how much you’ll pay carriers to send a text:
Most texting services track all of the fees for you, so you don’t have to do the math yourself. But it is helpful to know what goes into the charges you get every billing cycle.
Now that you know everything that goes into carrier fees, you can find the exact carrier fees you can expect in the charts below. Find your number type and country to see what you would pay as a SimpleTexting user. All these rates are subject to change.
(Note: Canadian fees are listed in CAD, but SimpleTexting bills these fees in USD based on a trailing-average exchange rate.)
United States (USD)
The current U.S. fees for SMS and MMS are below. All rates are subject to change.
| Carrier | SMS | MMS |
|---|---|---|
| AT&T | $0.0030 | $0.0050 |
| T-Mobile, Metro and Sprint | $0.0030 | $0.0100 |
| Verizon Wireless | $0.0030 | $0.0052 |
| US Cellular | $0.0050 | $0.0100 |
| Bluegrass Cellular | $0.0025 | $0.0025 |
| C-Spire Wireless | $0.0025 | $0.0100 |
| ATNI dba Commnet | $0.0025 | $0.0025 |
| TextNow/Enflick | $0.0020 | $0.0020 |
| Claro (Puerto Rico) | $0.00875 | $0.0150 |
| Liberty Latin America | $0.0052 | $0.0180 |
| Viya | $0.0025 | |
| DISH Wireless | $0.0035 | |
| Carolina West Wireless | $0.0035 | |
| Cellcom | $0.0035 | |
| Cooper Valley Wireless | $0.0035 | |
| Inland Cellular Telephone Co. | $0.0035 | |
| James Valley Wireless | $0.0035 | |
| Pine Telephone | $0.0035 | |
| Thumb Cellular Limited | $0.0035 | |
| Union Telephone Company | $0.0035 |
Canada (CAD)
The current Canadian fees for SMS and MMS are listed below. The fees below are listed in CAD, but will be charged in US Dollars (based on a trailing-average CAD to USD exchange rate). All rates are subject to change.
| Carrier | SMS | MMS |
|---|---|---|
| Bell & Virgin Mobile | $0.0110 | $0.0410 |
| Rogers & Fido | $0.0110 | $0.0220 |
| Telus | $0.0080 | $0.0130 |
| Freedom Mobile/Wind | $0.0090 | $0.0120 |
| SaskTel | $0.0080 | $0.0080 |
| Eastlink | $0.0080 | $0.0100 |
| Videotron | $0.0090 | $0.0120 |
| Fibernetics | $0.0050 | $0.0080 |
| Cogeco Connexion Inc. (in USD) | $0.0543 |
United States (USD)
In July 1, 2021, several mobile carriers= introduced additional fees for toll-free numbers. This is an industry-wide change that affects all SMS service providers. We posted these surcharges here early to be as transparent as possible.
| Carrier | SMS | MMS |
|---|---|---|
| Verizon | $0.0030 | $0.0050 |
| T-Mobile / MetroPCS | $0.0030 | $0.0100 |
| AT&T (including Cricket Wireless) | $0.0030 | $0.0050 |
| Sprint | $0.0030 | $0.0100 |
| U.S. Cellular | $0.0025 | $0.0050 |
| C-Spire Wireless | $0.0025 | $0.0100 |
| TextNow/Enflick | $0.0015 | $0.0020 |
| Liberty Latin America | $0.0060 | |
| Claro (Puerto Rico) | $0.0045 |
Canada (CAD)
In early 2021, Canadian carriers also applied surcharges on outgoing messages to Canadian phone numbers from toll-free numbers. Canadian carriers charge the below rates for SMS messages and twice the rate for MMS.
| Carrier | CAD Per SMS (2x for MMS) |
|---|---|
| Fido | $0.009 |
| Bell | $0.011 |
| Rogers | $0.009 |
| Telus | $0.006 |
| Freedom | $0.006 |
| Videotron | $0.0120 |
| SaskTel | $0.008 |
| Virgin Mobile | $0.0110 |
| Eastlink | $0.008 |
Canada (CAD)
Note: SimpleTexting users only have to pay short code carrier fees for some Canadian carriers.
| Carrier | Outbound (CAD) | Inbound (CAD) |
|---|---|---|
| Bell & Virgin Mobile | $0.0067 | $0.0067 |
| Rogers & Fido | $0.00358 | $0.0358 |
| Telus | $0.0065 | |
| Videotron & Fizz | $0.0050 | $0.0050 |
| Eastlink Mobile | $0.0050 | $0.0050 |
| ISP Telecom | $0.0035 | |
| Sasktel | $0.0050 | $0.0050 |
| Ice Wireless | $0.0050 |
SimpleTexting passes through the following carrier fees:
Each time SimpleTexting communicates with carriers to send out a message, they check what type of message it is and what kind of number it’s coming from—then charge us the applicable fees. SimpleTexting then passes on those fees with no extra markup.
In the United States, you don’t have to worry about carrier charges for shortcode numbers and incoming messages. Businesses that text Canadian numbers will have to deal with these charges for some carriers, though.
Most SimpleTexting users pay their carrier fees during their monthly or annual billing date. But if your charges add up to 500 USD before billing time, we’ll ask for payment once you reach that number.
Phone carriers and your text messaging service have a stake in your business texting, so you’ll have to pay additional fees to them. Here are the other costs involved in mass texting:
If you use an SMS marketing platform to send your mass texts, you’ll need to pay them a subscription to keep using it. This price covers the service the platform provides to you and operating costs like SMS aggregator fees.
Most services price these subscriptions based on the number of messaging credits you get per billing period. The credits you use per message depend on the message type. SimpleTexting, for example, charges one credit for SMS and three for MMS.
The exact price of your subscription will depend on how much you text per month and the service you choose. SimpleTexting charges $29.00/month for toll-free numbers, and local numbers pay $10 extra per month for the registration fee I mentioned before. Check out our Pricing page to estimate your monthly costs before SMS carrier fees are applied.
Certain texting services add platform fees to their subscription prices. SimpleTexting only charges you by the number of credits you need, but this isn’t always the case. Check a service’s pricing terms for a breakdown of its monthly fee before you sign up.
In recent years, carriers started requiring number registration or verification for businesses to prevent disruptions for you and protect consumers. Businesses and local numbers have to pay initial and ongoing fees for this registration. Toll-free numbers go through a free verification process and don’t pay an ongoing fee.
Let’s look at the costs for registering local numbers and shortcodes as a SimpleTexting user:
You may have to pay a higher subscription price or for additional software if you want advanced features in your texting.
For example, some texting services gate features like certain number types behind specific subscription plans. SimpleTexting only charges for credits and registration fees, meaning you’ll get all of its features on any plan.
But even with a service like SimpleTexting, you might need to pay extra costs for software that offers additional services, like Zapier and its automations. Zapier is free to use for up to 100 tasks per month. But if you use Zapier a lot, you’ll need to pay for one of its plans as well.
Here’s a charge you’ll hopefully never have to pay. Businesses that don’t follow texting laws and rules can face big fines.
In the United States, for instance, businesses that don’t follow the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) can pay $500-$1500 per text. So, if you send a lot of noncompliant texts, you could reach 5 digits quickly.
Fortunately, it’s free to be compliant – you just have to do your due diligence. Some of the main principles of compliant texting are getting your customers’ consent to text them and communicating what kinds of messages you’ll send. Our guide to text message compliance will help you get started.
Businesses don’t have to worry about customers passing on any costs to them. You may see the phrase “message and data rates may apply” in texting-related materials and wonder what role businesses play. Good news – that message simply tells customers to expect to pay their phone plan’s texting fees when they receive texts from you.
Long story short: There are quite a few charges involved in mass texting, including SMS and carrier fees. But a text messaging service with transparent pricing can make them easier to deal with.
SimpleTexting keeps its pricing straightforward so you can plan your texting budget clearly. It also has a two-week free trial for you to try all of its features before you buy. Start a free trial today – no credit card needed – and see it for yourself.
Melissa writes thoughtful content about marketing and productivity for B2B SaaS companies like CoSchedule, Zapier, and Databox. She has six years of professional writing experience. Outside of the content marketing world, she sometimes writes about video games.
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