10dlc Rates by US Mobile Carrier
Each carrier has different through-put levels.
AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon are the only carriers that have additional surcharges, though there are several other carriers using the 10dlc registration system for verification of brand and campaigns.
These fees are charged on top of every SMS.
What’s through-put?
In terms of through-put in application-person (A2P) text messaging, it is referring to how many SMS messages are sent within a specified amount of time or other constraints.
With 10dlc/local numbers, SMS throughput is determined by different criteria depending on the carrier.
AT&T
Determined by campaign type/category.
| Campaign Class | Use Case | Campaign Type | SMS Fee | SMS Messages Per Minute (MPM) | Rate Limit Settings |
| A & B | Russell 3000 | Standard | .002 | 4,500 | Per Campaign |
| C & D | Large Business (Vetting required to move from E & F to a higher class) | Standard | .002 | 2,400 | Per Campaign |
| E & F | Medium Business | Standard | .002 | 240 | Per Campaign |
| T | Small Business | Standard | .002 | 75 | Per Campaign |
| W* | Very Small Business/ Sole Proprietor | Standard | .002 | 15 | Per Campaign |
| Not Tagged/ No Class | Untagged traffic after grace period | .004 | Treated at P2P throughput rates and SPAM filters | Per Number | |
| G | Group Messaging | Special | .002 | 60 | Per Number |
| K | Political Messaging | Special | .002 | 4500 | Per Campaign |
| N** | Insurance Agents, Franchises, Banks | Special | .003 | 60 | Per Number |
| P | Charity (Nonprofit 501(c)(3)) | Special | N/A | 2400 | Per Campaign |
| S*** | Social Media Platform | Special | .002 | 60,000 | Per Campaign |
| X | Govt Emergency/ Public Safety | Special | N/A | 4500 | Per Campaign |
| Y | K-12 Schools | Special | N/A | 720 | Per Number |
| Z | Platform Free Trial | Special | .002 | 6 | Per Number |
*Class S: Platform must obtain “double opt-in” consent from customers and Carrier Approval is required
**Class N requires a minimum of 10 Agents/Branches for a campaign with a maximum of 5,000 Agents/Branches per campaign.
***Class W is limited to 1 TN per campaign.
T-Mobile
Determined by brand score.
| Brand Tier | Vetting Type | Score | Bucket Range Maximum |
| High-Performance | Default | 75 | 200,000 |
| Low-Performance | Default | 0-24 | 2,000 |
| High 3rd Party | 3rd Party | 75-100 | 200,000 |
| Upper Mid | 3rd Party | 50-74 | 40,000 |
| Lower Mid | 3rd Party | 25-49 | 10,000 |
| Low | 3rd Party | 0-24 | 2,000 |
| Special | N/A | Discretionary | Discretionary |
Maximum is shared between all campaigns under a brand (per EIN).
Verizon
All SMS are limited to 6,000 TPM (transactions per minute) per 10dlc.
Carrier Through-Put vs. Carrier Surcharge
Through-Put
- Quantity of messages a mobile carrier will allow through their network from each customer
- Each carrier had different quantities allowed per message type, customer or campaign
- Each carrier has different criteria for limit duration, could be daily, could be by the minute
- Brought upon the U.S. customers when 10dlc regulations were introduced
Surcharge
- Fee charged by a mobile carrier per message sent (inbound or outbound), even if the message fails to deliver to its intended recipient
- Fees are determined by registration status
- Fees are also determined by mobile carrier
- Carrier surcharges are common in other countries, but just picking up steam in the U.S. mainly due to the 10dlc regulation changes