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.
Twilio has historically offered a traffic verification process for customers using Toll-Free numbers to send messages to the US and Canada. As of April 14, 2022, there are upcoming changes to Toll-Free verification that will make this process mandatory in order to send messages from Toll-Free numbers.
As of May 15, 2022, any newly-purchased Toll-Free number on Twilio will need to be verified or it may experience service interruptions. Customers with existing Toll-Free numbers already on their accounts have until September 30, 2022 to verify traffic for those numbers, however unverified numbers have always had a higher risk of being filtered. We highly recommend that Toll-Free numbers are verified as soon as possible to avoid filtering.
Article contents:
- I already have Toll-Free numbers. Am I affected by this change?
- What is Toll-Free Message Verification?
- Toll-Free Verification Process
- 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
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 on average can take approximately 5 business days for completion after the request is submitted by Twilio.
NOTE: Due to the high demand for Toll-Free verification, some requests can take longer than the average 5 business days. 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.
The form linked above includes the following fields. 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.
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2FA |
Conversational / Alerts |
Insurance Services |
Rewards Program |
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App Notifications |
Courier Services & Deliveries |
Job Dispatch |
Surveys |
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Appointments |
Emergency Alerts |
Legal Services |
System Alerts |
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Auctions |
Events & Planning |
Mixed |
Voting Reminders |
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Auto Repair Services |
Financial Services |
Motivational Reminders |
Waitlist Alerts |
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Bank Transfers |
Fraud Alerts |
Notary Notifications |
Webinar Reminders |
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Billing |
Fundraising |
Order Notifications |
Workshop Alerts |
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Booking Confirmations |
General Marketing |
Political |
|
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Business Updates |
General School Updates |
Public Works |
|
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COVID-19 Alerts |
HR / Staffing |
Real Estate Services |
|
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Career Training |
Healthcare Alerts |
Religious Services |
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Chatbot |
Housing Community Updates |
Repair and Diagnostics Alerts |
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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.