SIP Trunking and Fax - SMS Campaign Registry Requirements for Sangoma UCaaS and SIPStation SIP Trunking Customers FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Who needs to register the campaign? An end customer or their reselling partner?
A: The campaign can be registered by either, provided all of the information is correct. Sangoma will bill the credit card of the person/company that creates the campaign registration request in our TCR portal at https://smscampaigns.sangoma.com
Note that users of Sangoma's CPaaS must register CPaaS DIDs differently following the procedure outlined here:
https://knowledge.star2star.com/kb/3384
Q: Can more than one customer, each sending messaging using their own campaign, be registered under a single umbrella campaign? Or, can I register other customers who aren’t me, under my own name?
A: No. More than one company cannot be registered under the same campaign. Each company that has employees that are sending messages must be registered under its own distinct registration - registration must be done per-brand (company).
Q: If I improperly register multiple companies under the same brand, or use a campaign for use cases other than what I specified, what will happen?
A: The Campaign Registry will suspend outbound SMS messages for your DIDs and will remove your campaign privileges.
Q: Can a single login to Sangoma’s TCR Portal register multiple brands? Multiple campaigns?
A: A single login can register multiple brands and multiple campaigns.
Q: If I register a campaign and the content of the messaging does not line up with the stated purpose of the campaign, will this cause any problems? Should I register a new campaign?
A: If the purpose of your campaign changes and the content of the messaging changes, you will need to register a new campaign. Sangoma cannot provide specific guidance on the TCR consequences of creating a campaign with one stated purpose and sending messaging of a different purpose.
Q: Can Sangoma register the campaign for me so that I don’t have to?
A: No, Sangoma cannot do this. Specific knowledge about the campaign that is only held by the customer sending the messages is required. Further, the charges imposed by TCR are specific to the type of campaign being run, which creates variability that Sangoma’s normal UCaaS and SIPStation billing does not account for.
Q: How long does TCR take to register a company and approve a brand?
A: The process can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks.
Q: Are other UCaaS and SIP Trunking providers subject to the same TCR rules (registration, fees, etc.) as Sangoma?
A: Yes. This is not unique to Sangoma. All companies that provide a platform allowing the sending/receiving of SMS are subject to approval from The Campaign Registry if they want to be able to reliably deliver messages to any of the participating mobile providers. Currently, the three largest US-based providers AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, as well as others, all participate. More are being added.
Q: What if I have an issue when trying to use Sangoma’s TCR portal at https://smscampaigns.sangoma.com, who do I contact for Support?
A: If you have an issue with Sangoma’s TCR portal, please use the contact details located at the bottom of the TCR portal page.
Q: What if I have a question that’s not otherwise answered in this article, this FAQ, on Sangoma’s TCR portal at https://smscampaigns.sangoma.com, or by the help contact contained on that page?
A: First, please read this article carefully. Then, please visit Sangoma’s TCR portal at https://smscampaigns.sangoma.com. If you still have questions that we have not otherwise answered, you may contact Sangoma’s Support department or your Account Manager.
Q: If Sangoma is not providing me SMS/MMS service, and perhaps I am a non-SIPStation FreePBX, PBXact, or Asterisk user who is using someone else for SMS, can I use Sangoma’s TCR portal?
A: No. Sangoma’s TCR portal at https://smscampaigns.sangoma.com is only for our customers, for whom Sangoma is handling SMS/MMS messaging today. If you attempt to register campaigns against non-Sangoma DIDs, you may create problems with your non-Sangoma messaging provider.
Q: What will happen to my messages if I fail to register my campaign?
A: If you fail to register your campaign, beginning on March 31st, your messages may fail to be delivered. And, if you fail to register your campaign, beginning on June 1st, 2023, your messages will not be delivered. Your users sending messages will not know that the delivery has failed due to an unregistered campaign. Because of additional changes after the original March guidelines, Sangoma will be forced to block outbound messaging on unregistered campaigns.
Q: Is an extension, delaying the deadline beyond the March 31st (may not be delivered) and June 1st (will not be delivered), 2023 dates available?
A: No. These deadlines are imposed by our interconnecting partners and are applicable across the industry. They are not subject to movement by Sangoma.
Q: If I only receive messages, but never send, do I have to register a campaign?
A: If you only receive messages and never send, you do not have to register a campaign. If you send any messages, even something short like “OK” as a response to a message you get from an end user, then you should register a campaign.
Q: Are there any non-use fees charged by any of the mobile network operators?
A: T-Mobile announced that, effective February 1st, 2023, that they would charge a $250 monthly, recurring non-use fee for a campaign that has no traffic during a rolling 60-day period. So far, Sangoma has not seen this fee be actively applied. Sangoma recommends sending a message once/month to a T-Mobile recipient for each campaign to avoid the potential of this fee.
Q: Are SMS messages sent to short codes affected by The Campaign Registry?
A: No. The Campaign Registry is only for A2P messaging to 10DLC (regular mobile numbers, e.g. 205-555-1234) and not messaging to short codes.
Q: Which CommUnity users are impacted?
A: CommUnity users using the old, deprecated ZipWhip platform are not presently impacted. CommUnity users who are currently on the newer “Native SMS” capability of CommUnity are impacted now. In the future, Sangoma will be forced to transition our ZipWhip users to Native SMS. When this transition happens, Sangoma will provide advance notice to our customers
Q: If I send to international numbers, not US-based numbers, do I have to register a campaign?
A: No. The Campaign Registry presently concerns itself only with delivery of messages to US-based numbers for the participating mobile operators which today includes AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, ClearSky, Interop Technologies, and USCellular.
Q: Once accepted by The Campaign Registry, is my campaign subject to any message limits?
A: Yes. Each carrier has its own limits. For our UCaaS platforms and SIPStation, our customer usage of SMS doesn’t typically exceed the limits imposed by the carriers. Customers of our wholesale service offerings do occasionally run above the limits. At present, the default for T-Mobile is 2000 daily messages per brand, and the default for AT&T is 240 messages per minute. Verizon does not publicly define limits at this time. If customers wish to send messages above those limits, then The Campaign Registry imposes additional vetting requirements.
Q: Are users of StarMessenger subject to 10DLC requirements and must they register their brands and campaigns?
A: Yes. StarMessenger users are subject to 10DLC requirements and must register their brands and campaigns.
Q: When creating a brand using the tool, how long should I expect brand verification to take?
A: Brand verification should take less than 30 minutes. In general, we expect it to take 15 minutes.
Q: What is the pricing for registration, vetting, and of campaigns?
A: The pricing is available from within our Tool. Additionally, when not using the tool, we maintain a separate wiki page that includes the pricing that is seen when using the tool. That separate wiki page is produced from Sangoma’s wholesale carrier services division, which is also subject to The Campaign Registry for those customers of its services sending SMS/MMS to subscriber phones of participants in The Campaign Registry. The page is located here:
Q: When viewing charges in the tool, are monthly recurring charges prorated?
A: Yes. Monthly recurring charges, such as as $12 “General SMS Campaign” are prorated, so, depending on the day, you might see only a $4.26 charge for SMS-CPN-GENERAL for the current month. On the first of the subsequent, the monthly recurring charges are charged in full. Other charges, such as the new campaign charge for $15, which are not monthly recurring charges, are not prorated.
Q: Why are campaigns registered as sole proprietor campaigns failing to validate?
A: As of March 27th, 2023, the TCR is experiencing an issue and these campaign types are not validating. As such, customers should register as a “normal” brand and should choose a low-volume mixed used-case. The cost is identical.
Q: What are the most common brand vetting failures?
A: The most common failure is due to an improper name of the company.
For US companies, please make sure you have the official letter from the IRS (SS-4). Review the section that lists the name and address at the top of the letter. This is almost always two lines such as:
Name Line 1
Name Line 2
123 Main Street
Springfield, IL 55443
You should enter the legal name as the first list of the name field (Name Line 1), this should work the majority of the time. In some cases however, you will also need to enter the second line as well - Name Line 1 Name Line 2.
You should omit any special characters that are part of the business name with the exception of hyphens and ampersands.
If the EIN letter was issued in the last 90 days, there is a very good changes it is not yet available in the IRS database. In order to complete the ID verification, you will either need to wait until it becomes available.
If you have changed your business/legal name you may need to submit the appropriate IRS forms to ensure your company name and EIN are aligned.
Q: Is it permissible to use URL shorteners when sending SMS messages?
A: No. Per section 5.3.2 of the CTIA’s (the industry organization that wireless carriers are part of, that regulates much of their conduct) statement on Messaging Principles and Best Practices at:
The use of “shared” URL shorteners is not permitted.
Q: Are there other impermissible content types in messages that I might want to send?
A: Yes. Per the CTIA’s statement on Messaging Principles and Best Practices (https://api.ctia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/230523-CTIA-Messaging-Principles-and-Best-Practices-FINAL.pdf), among other content, impermissible topics include:
Sex, Harm, Alcohol and Drugs, Firearms, Tobacco.
Q: Is Sangoma responsible for this change?
A: No, we are not. We are subject to the same interoperability requirements as all other providers.
Q: Did Sangoma know about this in advance?
A: No. Sangoma discovered this at the same time as many others - when our customers began getting retroactive rejections. Sangoma is not manually pre-screening the information that our customers submit using our tool.
Q: Is Sangoma profiting from these forced re-submissions of campaigns?
A: No. Sangoma collects a small fee on top of the actual Campaign Registry fees that covers our credit card processing fees associated with the transactions. The money collected is remitted to The Campaign Registry.
Q: Is there an alternative to The Campaign Registry for delivering SMS messages to subscribers of the major mobile carriers in The United States?
A: No. There is not. All providers, including Sangoma, must go through The Campaign Registry.