Danny Newman

I get calls and emails daily asking about short codes. I will attempt to answer all of the most common questions regarding common short codes in this post.

First, what is a shortcode?
When calling your friends, you dial a 10 digit number, in my case, 303-475-9204. You also use this 10 digit number when sending a text message (SMS). This 10 digit number can be thought of as a “long code”. Short codes were introduced to make sending SMS messages to an application easier. Short codes in the US are either 5 or 6 digits. If you are coming from the web world, you can think of a short code as a domain name. It is a unique identifier for your service.

How do I get a shortcode? How much do they cost?
Registering a short code is fairly simple. While not as easy as registering a domain, its the simplest piece of the shortcode game. You can search for and register US shortcodes at the Common Short Code Administration website. I have discovered that registering a numerically ‘fun’ and memorable sequences of numbers is far better than registering numbers that ’spell’ something. The first short code I registered was ‘66246′ which spells MOBIO. Cute, but not memorable. Short codes like 22022 and 40404 are much better and easier for end users to remember.

Ok, you’ve found a shortcode you love. You now have to fill out about 25 questions regarding your intended use for the short code. The easiest thing to do is to just base your answers on the examples they provide you. This step may seem a bit intimidating, but don’t sweat, just make sure your answers are fairly accurate and you are (obviously) staying within the law. After submitting your application, you will be hit with the big news, this dang short code is going to cost you $1000 PER MONTH!

A “vanity” short code, one that you choose, will cost $1000/month. You can choose to pay this quarterly, biyearly, or yearly… There is really no benefit to prepay more than the $3000 each quarter…

A “random” short code is one that is chosen by the CSCA. It will only set you back $500/month. This is a great choice if you have an application where the short code itself isn’t necessarily part of your campaign. Just an FYI, don’t think you will get lucky with a random and get something like 55555, the CSCA has gone thru and tagged any potentially good shortcodes and don’t include those in their random codes.

The CSCA will review your application and (most likely) approve your application within 24 hours.

I have a shortcode. I dropped $3k on it. Now what?!
Like I mentioned before, you can think of your short code is like a domain name. Now you need “hosting”. There are 2 components to short code “hosting”: aggregators, and mobile platforms.

Companies that connect directly to the mobile carriers (in the US, these include: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc) are called aggregators. They, like their name implies, aggregate and manage the sending and receiving of SMS messages to the carriers. The carriers don’t want to deal with the potentially thousands of end points, so have put these aggregators between them and the mobile platforms.

A mobile platform is the logic behind the text messages. Because SMS is stateless (there is no reference to any previous messages, etc) it requires some sort of intelligence to handle incoming and outgoing requests and to store a user’s session information.

Carrier approval
If you are coming from the web world, this step comes as the biggest surprise. You have your shortcode, you found a mobile platform, your application is ready to go- now you get to wait 30 to 60 days (or more!) for each carrier to test and approve your application before making your short code live on their system. This literally means that you had to pay your $3k to the CSCA and there is the possibility you won’t even be live on a single carrier before you have to pay your next $3k. Testing and approval on AT&T and Sprint is usually very quick. Verizon is a little tricky if you are sending “binary” content (ringtones, etc) because they deliver it all via MMS. T-Mobile is the toughest carrier to get approval on. They require $500 just to test your app, and at least my experience, will fail it for any reason. Don’t give up! They will approve it eventually.

Those are the basics. I will do another post soon with any follow up questions anyone has. Please email me or leave me a comment.