Dedicated 5 digit Shortcode.
Dedicated 5 digit shortcodes
(also known as 5 digit text numbers) are
numbers that function like normal
telephone numbers but are designed
specifically for MMS and SMS.
Shortcodes are country specific and we
currently provide UK shortcodes only. |
What do we offer?
Textvertising can provide your company with a
dedicated 5 digit
shortcode to incorporate into your
marketing or to operate competitions, chat or
premium services.
Is a dedicated shortcode different than a
shared shortcode?
No
is the short answer, but the costs and how your
system functions with the code is.
All SMS traffic that comes in to that code is
received by your admin system or application.
With a shared shortcode you simply rent keywords
on one of our dedicated codes. With the
shared option, only SMS messages that begin with
your keyword are received by your admin system
or application. For 95% of businesses this is
the simplest route and prices start from £20 per
month per keyword. (Read more about
shared 5 digit shortcodes)
Leasing a dedicated code is the most expensive
option at around £750 per month and requires a
minimum 12 month commitment to the code.
Unless you plan to generate a large revenue
share, are a commercial entity that wishes to
provide large scale marketing, branding or
competitions, then a shared shortcode may be the
better option.
The
benefits of a dedicated 5 digit shortcode.
The
main reason companies choose a 5 digit shortcode
is because they are short and easy to remember.
The other primary reason is because they are
mandatory for premium rate services which allow
end users to be charged for content or services
provided using WAP, SMS or Multimedia.
There are 5 primary type of shortcode:
-
MO FREE/MT FREE
This costs the end user nothing to text this
code. The charge is billed to you.
-
MO BILLED/MT FREE:
The end users is charged a premium rate for
texting the code.
-
MO STANDARD/MT BILLED/MT FREE
The end user texts the shortcode at a cost
of standard network rate (appx 10p). You
have the option of sending back a premium or
free message to the user. This is the most
popular choice since it
offers flexibility across all our services (this is the same
service as offered on our
shared shortcode
package)
Unlike a
shared 5 digit shortcode
end users do not need to begin their message
with a keyword to enable the message to be
routed. If someone was to omit your keyword or
spell it incorrectly the SMS is lost.
With a dedicated code, any SMS received from the
end user is automatically directed at your
account with Textvertising for processing or
forwarded by HTTP post to your own application.
A dedicated code can also help brand your
service as people recognise that the number is
associated with your business.
What services can Textvertising offer?
We can provide a wide range of services hosted
on our platform. These are grouped as follows
and can be connected to your shortcode
seamlessly:
Alternatively we offer an SMS API which
allows you to easily integrate SMS services into
your own application. Our Gateway can forward
all received messages directly to your
application and can receive messages from your
application to send to handsets. Our API also
provides connectivity to our Premium and MMS
Platforms.
This solution gives businesses unlimited
opportunity to create SMS services of their own.
How do I choose my new dedicated
shortcode number?
You can visit
http://www.short-codes.com
and search for available codes using the search
box at the top.
What else do I need to know?
Once you have chosen your code simply get in
touch with us. Dedicated codes take between 4-8
weeks to set up with the networks.
Having your own dedicated code is subject to a
minimum 12 month contract, completion of an end
user SLA and the cost is typically £750 per
month. The cost is typically high since there is
only a small number of shortcodes available in
the shortcode pool.
Where can a shortcode be used?
5 digit shortcodes are country specific. This means that
UK 5 digit shortcodes can only receive content
from a mobile handset on the UK network.
The main parent
networks are T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange, O2 and
Three. (Networks such as Virgin and Tesco for
example
utilise the service provided by one or more of
these networks and are not networks themselves).
Not all shortcodes are 5 digits in length. This
depends on the network and the country. O2 offer
4 digit numbers here in the UK but these are
restricted to the O2 network for their own
customers.
Elsewhere in the world, shortcodes are normally
4 or 5 digits in length, but some countries such
as Lithuania offer shortcodes of between 1 and 5
digits.
Currently Textvertising do not offer shortcodes
outside of the UK but will from later in 2010.
Our expansion will start with Spain and shortly
after offer our services on the networks in
France, Germany and Australia. If you are
interested in these zones, do not hesitate to
contact us.
Related Pages
We also offer a shared 5 digit shortcode.
Click here for more
information
 |
