Please see
SMS Service on how to use send Text Messages using this service.
Pricing
Our pricing is Usage Based so that you only pay for what you use and phone numbers you own.
- Campaign Monthly Fee: $3.00
- Text Sending. $0.03 per segment (160 characters).
For example, if you are sending 100 text messages, your cost will be $3.00 for the batch.
If your text message is 200 characters (needs to be sent in 2 segments), you'll be paying $6.00 for the batch.
Before a batch of SMS is sent, a single SMS is sent as a test to ensure that the number of segments you are being billed for is correct. This SMS is added to your total cost of the batch. See Segments below for details.
- Text Receiving. $0.03 per segment. This is optional. You are able to turn off Incoming SMS on your account.
For example. if someone replies to your text you are billed for the incoming SMS.
- Text Forwarding. When forwarding an incoming SMS to another phone number, you are billed $0.03 per segment for the forwarding. Take note that if you are adding the FROM number to the body of the message, it might be considered as 2 SMS Segments depending on the number of characters in the SMS.
There is no cost to forward the SMS to and email address.
- Purchase Phone Number: $2.00
You need to purchase at least one phone number in order to be able to send text messages. Each time you purchase a phone number, the cost is $2.00 for the transaction.
- Monthly Phone Number Fee: $1.00
On or around the first of each month, you are billed $1.00 for each phone number you own. For example, if you own 3 phone numbers, your monthly fee will be $3.00.
- Brand and Campaign one-time Setup Fee: $75.
Payments
Because the relatively low transaction amount involved, we require that you have a balance on your account starting with a minimum of $50. The above fees are deducted from your balance whenever you use the service, or for the monthly fee for phone numbers. Please see
Terms of Service for more details
History
You can view billing history for SMS Batches, Phone Numbers Purchases and Monthly, as well as Payments to your Account Balance.
In CMS, click Program Setup > Options > SMS.
Click Billing and then click History
(Amounts in screenshot may not reflect actual costs)
You can click the Batch Details... button to see details on any SMS Batch that you sent. This will give you a list of Names and Numbers the message was delivered to, including the Status (Error or Delivered).
Segments
The cost for sending and receiving text messages are calculated by Message Segments. For plain text and standard characters (GSM Encoding) you can expect that a single single segment will be 160 characters. As you type the message, you'll see an estimate on the cost based on the number of characters typed and the total number of recipients.
There are exceptions to this rule: If you use Unicode characters (Hebrew for example), symbols and Emojis your message will not be able to be sent with GSM Encoding (at 160 characters per segment) but with UCS-2 Encoding at just 70 characters per segment.
In addition, when it becomes necessary to send your message in more than one segment, the system will add some invisible data to each message header so that modern recipients' devices know how to reassemble the message and show them as one. Data headers take up 7 characters in GSM encoded messages (leaving you with 153 characters for your message) and 3 characters from UCS-2 encoded messages (leaving you with 67 characters for your message.
Because of these and other complexities, often you cannot know 100% how many segments an SMS will take until it's sent. To avoid unanticipated fees, CMS will first send a single test SMS in order to get real time information about the actual number of segments and cost incurred. This will be automatically added to your total messages of the batch. If the actual number of segments of this test exceeds the estimated number of segments shown when typing your message, CMS will alert you to this discrepancy and give you the option of cancelling the send. Regardless of your choice, the cost of the test SMS is deducted from your account.
*Picture messages and attachments are not yet available.