Toll-Free US numbers are designated for business messaging use by all major carriers in the United States, and by most major mobile carriers in Canada. This makes Toll-Free numbers a popular alternative to long code or short code numbers in the US and Canada.
Toll-Free Verification is currently required in the US and Canada for best delivery. Please complete the Verification process as soon as possible to avoid traffic being blocked (Canada) or traffic subject to increased filtering and daily limits on sending (US). For more information see What happens if I don't complete Verification. This is part of the process to verify all Toll-Free numbers and align sender visibility with the Short Code and 10DLC messaging channels. If you’ve already verified your Toll-Free numbers, no further action is needed.
Effective October 1, 2022, Twilio will apply a daily limit of 2,000 messages a day for messaging sent over unverified Toll-Free numbers in the US. For more information about these daily thresholds, see What are the new Industry-wide thresholds for sending traffic over Toll-Free numbers.
Important Note: Unverified traffic that exceeds the daily limit or is filtered for spam will see a 30032 error code returned for both scenarios. To avoid this, we recommend submitting your number(s) for verification as soon as possible. Submitting your completed verification form to the carrier places the Toll-Free number(s) in a Pending Verification status, which allows for a higher daily volume and greatly reduces the chances of filtering while waiting for final carrier approval. The unverified Toll-Free daily cap is a daily maximum limit, (not a guaranteed daily minimum), so unverified traffic can still experience message filtering even when well below the daily limits.
Article contents:
- I already have Toll-Free numbers. Am I affected by this change?
- What is Toll-Free Message Verification?
- Toll-Free Verification Process
- What is a "Pending Verification"?
- What are the new Industry-wide thresholds for sending traffic over Toll-Free numbers?
- What happens if I don't complete Verification?
- What happens if it takes longer to register my Toll-Free Number than the 10/1/2022 deadline?
- How can I check if my Toll-Free Number exceeds the new sending limits?
- How can I request a verification?
- I use many Toll-Free numbers. How can I verify in bulk?
- Is an API available?
- A note about High-Throughput Toll-Free (includes Verification)
I already have Toll-Free numbers. Am I affected by this change?
Toll-Free Verification is currently conducted via a support ticket (see below). If in doubt, check your ticket history or email communications with Twilio, or contact us and we can check whether your number(s) are already verified.
In addition, if you have purchased High-Throughput Toll-Free capabilities for increased MPS sending rate on one or more of your Toll-Free numbers, those numbers are already verified.
What is Toll-Free Message Verification?
Verified Toll-Free Messaging simply means that your business and use case has been reviewed in advance of sending traffic via Toll-Free, and you have received carrier approval for messaging via Toll-Free numbers to the US/Canada. This verification process is free of cost.
Verification greatly reduces the risk of message filtering on Toll-Free traffic toward all major networks in the US and some in Canada, as long as you adhere to your stated use case and all applicable rules, such as Twilio's Messaging Policy.
This verification affects messaging to mobile users in the United States as well as the Fido, Rogers, Telus, and Videotron networks in Canada.
Other (non-US/Canada) countries do not treat Toll-Free SMS any differently than other international SMS, and you should consult that country’s SMS Guidelines page to learn more about compliance considerations for messaging.
Toll-Free Verification Process
Upon Twilio's submission of your completed Toll-Free verification request, the numbers associated with that request will automatically move into "Pending Verification".
Submission of up to 5 numbers can be approved for a single entity in a verification submission with no additional information required for traffic intended for US subscribers. For businesses requesting 6 or more numbers approved for verification, please include a detailed explanation in the “Additional Supporting Documentation” field as to the reason for additional numbers.
Please note that Campaigns sending to Canadian handsets qualify for 1 Toll-Free number per business, as outlined in the Canadian Code of Conduct guide.
What is a "Pending Verification"?
Pending verification status will open up sending with less filtering applied to your traffic while the verification process is completed. Upon a successful completion of the Verification request, the numbers will be moved to "Verified" and have full access to A2P sending as well as the least amount of filtering applied to the traffic.
Please note: As of October, 2022 due to the high number of verification request, we are experiencing some delays on the update of the pending status associated with the Toll-Free number after submission. Twilio is working with our partner to improve processing times.
What are the new Industry-wide thresholds for sending traffic over Toll-Free numbers?
Effective October 1, 2022, Twilio will apply the following industry-wide thresholds for messaging sent over unverified Toll-Free numbers:
- Daily limit: 2,000 messages
- Weekly limit: 12,000 messages
- Monthly limit: 25,000 messages
These thresholds are subject to change; we’ll let you know at least 30 days in advance before we make threshold changes. These limits aren’t applicable when a Toll-Free number has been submitted for verification and is in a ‘pending’ state or already verified.
Please complete the Verification process as soon as possible to avoid these daily limits. For more information see What happens if I don't complete Verification.
What happens if I don't complete Verification?
Effective October 1, 2022, unverified traffic will be fully blocked in Canada and subject to increased filtering and daily limits in the US. All unverified traffic filtered for these reasons will be blocked with this error code 30032. Using additional Toll-Free numbers to exceed these limits or circumvent filtering isn’t allowed and will result in the same block and error code. Verification is recommended for all customers regardless of volume.
What happens if it takes longer to register my Toll-Free Number than the 10/1/2022 deadline?
Once your Toll-Free numbers are submitted to Twilio, the verification process can take up to 2-3 weeks to complete. During this time, your Phone Numbers are moved to the "Pending Verification" state that removes the messaging limits while we review your submission.
How can I check if my Toll-Free Number exceeds the new sending limits?
To check your Toll-Free Number's message activity, please visit the Messaging Insights tool in your Console here.
How can I request a verification?
To begin the process, download this form and complete it. Be sure to include all required information. Omitting information will result in delays in processing your verification.
Once you have completed the form, you may submit it via a support ticket. Please include “Toll-Free Verification for (your business name or number)” in the ticket subject line. When submitted with required information, the verification process can take approximately 2-3 weeks for completion after the request is submitted by Twilio. We are working diligently to minimize the number of request that are delayed. We kindly ask for your patience as we work through the high number of requests.
All of this information is required to verify traffic for your Toll-Free number. It is not necessary to include samples of every different variation on your messaging, but it is strongly recommended that your message samples are representative of the majority of the messaging you plan to send.
I use many Toll-Free numbers. How can I verify in bulk?
If you need to complete verification for a large amount of numbers, for example as an ISV with clients using different Toll-Free numbers, please download this template to fill out the required information for multiple numbers.
To download this template, open the above link, then use the in-page menu option for File -> Download -> Comma Separated Values (.csv). Then, send the completed file to us via a support ticket. For details/examples on formatting, please see the sample data located in the first two rows of the verification template.
Bulk File Instructions:
- Fill in the CSV template with your verification information
- Do not modify the column headers and save the file only as a .csv file.
- The CSV file may contain up to 100 total phone numbers entered within the 'Phone_Number' column.
- There is a 500 character limit for each column entry. This does not apply to the 'Phone_Number' column.
- If you would like to include a comma within a field value, surround the value with double quotes.
- Each row should be unique to an individual business. Multiple numbers associated with a business should be included on the 'Phone_Numbers' column.
- Each column is required to have data within it (Excludes: BusinessAddr2, State, Zip, AdditionalDocumentation, ISV/Reseller and InternalTicket).
- Use_Case_Category must contain a use case. You can use one of the below or create your own that best fits your use case.
|
2FA |
Conversational / Alerts |
Insurance Services |
Rewards Program |
|
App Notifications |
Courier Services & Deliveries |
Job Dispatch |
Surveys |
|
Appointments |
Emergency Alerts |
Legal Services |
System Alerts |
|
Auctions |
Events & Planning |
Mixed |
Voting Reminders |
|
Auto Repair Services |
Financial Services |
Motivational Reminders |
Waitlist Alerts |
|
Bank Transfers |
Fraud Alerts |
Notary Notifications |
Webinar Reminders |
|
Billing |
Fundraising |
Order Notifications |
Workshop Alerts |
|
Booking Confirmations |
General Marketing |
Political |
|
|
Business Updates |
General School Updates |
Public Works |
|
|
COVID-19 Alerts |
HR / Staffing |
Real Estate Services |
|
|
Career Training |
Healthcare Alerts |
Religious Services |
|
|
Chatbot |
Housing Community Updates |
Repair and Diagnostics Alerts |
|
Is an API available?
As of April 2022, no API is available for submitting Toll-Free verification requests.
A note about High-Throughput Toll-Free (includes Verification)
If you need higher throughput than the standard 3 messages per second (MPS) on a Toll-Free number, Twilio offers High-Throughput Toll-Free messaging. Traffic verification is included as part of the High-Throughput setup process.
For further information, see Toll-Free SMS and MMS messaging throughput (MPS).
If you are interested in High-Throughput Toll-Free messaging, please talk to our Sales team.