I’m actually using Flowroute and 3CX but I want to begin offering telecom services to other small businesses like mine and it seems like FreePBX would be the better option to offer. However before I jump in and learn the platform, there is one glaring issue(not unique to my SIP/PBX) which may be a roadblock for myself and future customers - SMS. I thought I’d pop in here for your thoughts, as this is a large community and one I’ll likely be joining in the future. But for now, I’m having an issue with my business which is that apparently there is no outbound SMS without a 10DLC registration. Despite having registered, I’m told it can potentially take months to complete. In the mean time, every time a customer sends me a text, I have to call them, citing “technical SMS problems” on my end - which is a big problem, especially because I’m a computer/network repair shop. Anyhow, after completing my 10DLC registration, it was apparent to me that 10DLC has nothing to do with how I communicate with my customers via SMS. I have two DID’s and I advertise my numbers as “call or text”. There is no campaign, no short codes, no opt in or opt out. Matter of fact, nearly 100% of my text comms originate by my customers. For example, I’ll receive a text “I was wondering if you fix laptop screens”, to which I will respond - that’s it.
I’m in full support of regulating auto-generated SMS campaigns to reduce spam and abuse, but really, it seems like 10DLC doesn’t apply to me whatsoever. Is there some other form of registration I should be using for SMS?
We can all agree with you but under the regulations you are required to do 10DLC. The current requirements from mobile operators state that next you are using a API to communicate to your sip provider this may falls under A2P. We all disagree with this but he mobile operators have forced all SIP providers into this.
@tonyclewis I think we skipped over the bigger picture here.
This means so much more these days. It means the OP will need to register with the FCC, become a 499-A filer, get an OCN, become STIR/SHAKEN compliant (so Token, Cert, etc), file a Robocalling Mitigation plan with the FCC and any other steps required these days to become a Interconnected VoIP Provider…which is what the OP would fall under.
Who told you this? For a small business it takes less than 5 minutes for your Brand (business) to be approved and can take less than 24 hours to get a Campaign approved, if everything is filed right. The most time needed (at least for me) was getting the DCA to vet the campaign but that usually takes 72 hours.
But if you are offering SMS to businesses, it’s A2P/10DLC. You can’t even attempt to file for P2P exemptions because you will be servicing businesses. And once you’re offering SMS you will need to either become a CPS or work with a CPS to get you registered for 10DLC.
We are back to seeing Syniverse taking 5 plus days to approve campaigns and recently they are requiring alot more links to customers website for opt in, opt out and other policies.
Hey there! So, I actually asked a similar question on the 3CX forums and one of the members there said “10DLC registrations can take months”. However, I registered 10DLC with Flowroute last Monday and no matter how many times I inquire with them, I receive the same email response:
We can confirm we received your submission on ticket KRZ-VTLHD-779. Our 10 DLC team is working hard to address your tickets as quickly as possible. However, due to the large number of submissions, delays will be expected. We, unfortunately, do not have a timeframe on this as our 10 DLC team and multiple industry vendors need to review all applications manually.
A few years back when I first opened, I didn’t know anything about VOIP, so I got my phone service with a local company who did it all for me. I told them I wanted to be able to SMS using a phone app, so they had me download “Q5 Networks” which I think might have been a white-labeled Bria or something similar. Anyhow, it worked just fine. Then I decided to learn more about VOIP and ended up just grabbing 3CX and Voip.MS and boom - my phones were up and running at a fraction of the cost. I realized that while Voip.MS offered me SMS functionality, it was not able to do so through the 3CX app, which lead me to switch SIP trunks to Flowroute. However, that was right about the time the 10DLC mandate came through - which sucks. I’m explaining this because I’m wondering, if I went back(which I’m not doing, but for the sake of argument) to that telecom company I first used, and told them I want to be able to SMS, what would they tell me? And how long would it take before I could send text messages?
This is so frustrating, but since you mentioned how quickly a 10DLC registration typically goes through, I’m beginning to think maybe Flowroute is just an awful SIP provider?
Yeah, I’m seeing that too. I’ve had to link a few consent forms for review.
They are probably manually reviewing the submissions or perhaps making the submissions themselves. Personally, I’ve felt Flowroute has gone down hill since they were last bought out. I closed my account with them about a year ago because it just wasn’t worth it.