Commercial Long Code SMS Product and Fee Structure Changes on Verizon

On August 1, 2019, PastorsLine will be moving all existing and new long code SMS terminating with Verizon to their new 10 digit long code (10DLC) A2P service. Unlike today’s long code SMS product, this new service has been designed specifically for commercial long code messaging. We believe this service will offer our church partners the best possible stability and deliverability available on long codes. Many of you have been asking for the best possible quality, and we believe this new service will offer our church partners just that.

For this new commercial long code SMS service, Verizon is adding a termination surcharge per mobile terminated SMS message. All commercial long code Verizon traffic, regardless of provider, is being directed to this product and will be subject to this fee, starting August 3, 2019. We will NOT pass this fee through to our church partners. You would not see an increase in costs as long as the fee doesn’t increase. This fee is equal to the fee that short code SMS church partners pay for the termination of messages to the Verizon network today. 

PastorsLine believes that a similar fee may be imposed for terminating long code traffic on other carrier networks in 2020. If and when that happens, we will update you and, as always, act in a manner consistent with our promise of quality, trust, and transparency.

Are providers other than PastorsLine subject to this fee?

All providers–not just PastorsLine–are impacted equally by this fee that Verizon is instituting. PastorsLine has made the decision to NOT pass along the fee.

Will this change my PastorsLine phone numbers?

No, this new service does not cause any changes to your PastorsLine phone numbers. This change only affects the cost and the delivery quality for long code SMS to the Verizon network. At this time, we would absorb the cost. 

The term “10 digit long code” (10DLC) refers to standard US/Canadian local phone numbers, such as those PastorsLine offers, which are 10 digits long including area code.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is Verizon 10DLC?

This refers to Verizon’s new “10 digit long code (10DLC)” service. This is an industry-first solution to explicitly allow Application-to-Peer (A2P) SMS traffic over long code phone numbers in the US.

What exactly will change when this service goes live on August 1, 2019? Does 10DLC still have carrier filtering?

You should expect to see the improved delivery quality of SMS to the Verizon mobile network. The new Verizon 10DLC service does have filtering, but it is designed to target spam and abusive traffic, it is not geared toward blocking all forms of A2P messaging as is the case with the filters currently in place with many US and Canada mobile carriers.

Do I need to do anything, like change my PastorsLine numbers or account configuration?

No, you do not need to make any changes to your PastorsLine account or phone numbers. After the service goes live on August 1, 2019, all your long code SMS traffic to Verizon Wireless will automatically begin sending via the new 10DLC service.

What is the cost of this new service?

For this new commercial long code SMS service, Verizon is adding a termination fee per message segment sent from a PastorsLine long code number to Verizon. We will NOT pass this fee through to our church partners.  

Notice: This fee does not apply to incoming messages from Verizon users to your PastorsLine number(s). The new fee only applies to outbound messages sent to Verizon users over long code phone numbers.

What about other mobile networks (AT&T, T-Mobile etc.)?

This new service is only for SMS to Verizon. PastorsLine expects that the other major US and Canada mobile carriers will eventually follow with their own solutions for allowing A2P traffic over long codes, however, there are no ETAs available at this time. As always, we will keep our church partners updated with information about such changes whenever we have news to share.

What about shortcodes?

The fact is short codes are spammy-looking; expensive so the costs are shared by dozens of organizations; and don’t support the ideology of personalized, bulk communication. And for companies that offer shared shortcodes to hundreds of churches, there is a discussion that mobile carriers are going to begin filtering those this year (2019). In fact, AT&T announced recently they are not going to sell Shared Short Codes and would stop supporting them some time towards the end of 2019.

The solution is the new 10DLC service to have the power of shortcodes but the personalization of local numbers. In other words, a local P2P number that is provisioned to send bulk messages for commercial purposes by default. We expect to see more providers offering this option in 2020. 

 What if I have additional questions?

We value your continued business with PastorsLine. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our Support Team.