Toll-Free SMS and MMS messaging throughput (MPS) – Twilio Support

Overview

Toll-Free numbers in the United States (+1 country code) support SMS and MMS messaging to and from mobile users in the US and Canada. Toll-Free US numbers can also send one-way SMS to countries outside of the +1 region, just like any other Twilio SMS-capable number. For details, see our detailed article about Toll-Free messaging.

This article contains information about the message sending throughput (MPS) available via Toll-Free messaging.

Product

Programmable Messaging

What You Need To Know

Toll-Free SMS to the US and Canada

By default, any US Toll-Free number you purchase from Twilio offers an SMS sending throughput of 3 MPS (message segments per second) toward the US and Canada.

If you need higher than 3 MPS throughput on a Toll-Free messaging use case, it is very important not to use multiple Toll-Free numbers for the exact same use case just to achieve higher MPS. Carriers do not consider the use of multiple Toll-Free numbers for the same messaging to be acceptable, unless you have a business reason e.g. a restaurant with multiple locations. For details about this and other requirements, see Information and best practices for using Toll-Free SMS and MMS in the US and Canada.

Fortunately, the default 3 MPS throughput can be increased on a Toll-Free number. This is called High-Throughput Toll-Free SMS.

High-Throughput Toll-Free SMS

High-Throughput Toll-Free SMS simply refers to increasing the MPS sending rate of your Toll-Free SMS number. High-Throughput starts at 25 MPS, and Twilio can offer throughput as high as 150 MPS. For further information, please talk to our Sales team.

For messages sent to all other countries outside of the +1 dialing code (US, Canada, and outlying islands), Toll-Free US numbers will receive the standard throughput of 10 MPS, just like all other Twilio numbers sending outside of the +1 region.

For details about how Twilio MPS and queueing works, see Understanding Twilio Rate Limits and Message Queues.

Toll-Free MMS

Twilio added MMS support to all US Toll-Free numbers in our inventory in February 2021. Toll-Free MMS is considered a Generally Available (GA) offering as of March 15, 2021. Like long code MMS, Toll-Free numbers can send MMS to users in the United States and Canada only.

Each Toll-Free number has an MMS sending rate of 3 MPS, but can be increased for messages towards the larger US carriers. Canada is limited to 3 TPS per Toll-Free number. There is a default account-level limit of 25 MPS (messages per second) for Toll-Free MMS. This limit applies across your entire Twilio Account including any subaccounts, regardless of how many Toll-Free numbers you have on your accounts. This means that any subaccounts that you have will share this total capacity limit, with each other and with your parent account.

High-Throughput Toll-Free MMS

If you buy additional MPS throughput for your Toll-Free SMS (see High-Throughput SMS information above), you will also increase the throughput of your Toll-Free number for MMS at the same time. However, due to carrier capacity constraints, there is a maximum of 25 MMS per second for any Toll-Free number.

In addition, the 25 Toll-Free MMS per second per Twilio account limit described above will continue to apply.

Example

You have a single Toll-Free number on your Twilio account, and you enable High-Throughput Toll-Free to increase the SMS sending rate of that number to 25 MPS. You can now send Toll-Free MMS at a rate of 25 MPS as well.
If your business grows and you increase the throughput of that same Toll-Free number to 50 MPS for SMS, you will still be able to send MMS at a rate of 25 MPS.
If you later add a second Toll-Free number and give it the same message sending rate of 50 MPS for SMS, it will also be able to send up to 25 MMS per second.
However, if both your High-Throughput Toll-Free numbers are sending MMS at the same time, they will be limited to a shared 25 MPS total at the account level.