What Are SMS and MMS Carrier Fees?

SMS and MMS carrier fees are additional costs charged by wireless carriers. 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, we know.

Below we pull back the curtain on some of the surcharges we incur and the carrier fees we pass through to our customers. The tables are broken down by:

• Number type: There are three. Toll-free and local numbers, which are both 10 digits long (these are long codes), and short codes, which are 5 or 6 digits long.
• Message type: Messages over 302 characters in length, or those with media attached, are MMS. SMS messages only contain text.

What Wireless Carrier Fees Does SimpleTexting Pass Through?

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. At SimpleTexting we pass through the following carrier fees:

1. Outgoing messages from local and toll-free phone numbers in the U.S.
2. Outgoing messages from local and toll-free numbers to Canadian cell phones

Note: Carriers have recently begun requiring local number users to register their local number (this helps prevent your messages from being disrupted). This process involves a $10 Monthly Number Registration fee and a $4 One-Time Activation Fee imposed by carriers. These fees are passed through to SimpleTexting customers at no added cost.

Toll-free number users should also verify their toll-free number to avoid messaging disruptions, but there is currently no cost associated with this process.

You can find all the applicable carrier fees through our easy breezy Help Center article.