Support ⋟ SMS Forwarding Limitations
Tossable Digits uses SMS forwarding to forward SMS messages sent to Virtual Numbers. SMS Forwarding uses Chat Numbers to send these messages.
In 2020, carriers have increased filtering and blocking of SMS messages that are sent outside of CTIA Guidelines and their own Acceptable Use Policies.
As a result, some SMS messages that are sent to your Virtual Number and configured to be forwarded via SMS may not reach you if the carrier, such as AT&T, blocks the message.
As a result, some SMS messages that are sent to your Virtual Number and configured to be forwarded via SMS may not reach you if the carrier, such as AT&T, blocks the message.
History
January 2020: Verizon increased its filtering of A2P, or Application-to-Person (generally commercial or business), SMS messaging, silently dropping or blocking traffic that did not meet CTIA guidelines or their Acceptable Use Policy (AUP).
February 2020: Tossable Digits successfully negotiated with Verizon to treat all of its traffic as P2P, excluding forwarded SMS messages.
October 2020: AT&T increased its filtering of SMS Messages it deems as outside of their Acceptable Use Policy. This applies to ALL messaging types, including local numbers, Toll-Free numbers, and US Short Codes.
T-Mobile has not announced any new traffic limitations, but we expect that this may occur by the end of 2021.
Blocked Messages
These are the types of commercial, business, and political messages subject to blocking:
- Failure to use opt-out notices (e.g., "reply STOP 2 end") in all subscribed messages.
- Include public URL shorteners.
- Use spam filter evasion techniques, such as rapidly changing URLs or use of unnecessarily large pools of sending numbers.
Carriers do NOT notify you or Tossable Digits when SMS messages are blocked or dropped. If you expect to receive SMS messages and are not receiving them, contact the carrier who bills you for the phone that should have received the SMS message. Tossable Digits is unable to resolve this with any of the wireless carriers directly.
Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) carriers, such as Cricket, Metri, Mint Mobile, Google Fi, Walmart, and US Mobile, use the networks of the three major US carriers: AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. It is likely that any blocking or filtering done by those three companies will affect the MVNO in the same manner.
Advocacy
In February 2020, Tossable Digits already prevents customers using 10-digit US and Canadian numbers from sending SMS messages outside of the Terms of Service and generally follows the CTIA guidelines for person-to-person messaging.
