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Person to Application SMS (P2A SMS) are MO messages flowing from an end user to an application.

Person to Person SMS, or Peer to Peer SMS (P2P SMS) are a type of SMS that flow between two end users via their individual home networks. It is distinctly different from A2P SMS in that it can easily be replaced by OTT messaging like WhatsApp.

A project becomes a parent project when there are subprojects organized under it. See projects for more details on functionality.

Protocol Description Unit (PDU) - There are two ways of sending and receiving SMS messages: by text mode and by PDU mode. The text mode (unavailable on some phones) is just an encoding of the bit stream represented by the PDU mode. Alphabets may differ and there are several encoding alternatives when displaying an SMS message. If you read the message on your phone, the phone will choose a proper encoding. An application capable of reading incoming SMS messages, can thus use text mode or PDU mode. If text mode is used, the application is limited by the set of preset encoding options. However, if PDU mode is used, any encoding can be implemented.

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. Also known as PCI DSS.   In our Fax API documentation, you’ll see “PCI” for short. These are security standards for merchants and service providers that process, store and transmit credit card holder data. Phaxio by Sinch is a PCI DSS-certified Level 1 Service provider. Learn how to make your faxes PCI compliant.

Protected Health Information.   When it comes to HIPAA compliance in the US, PHI is the criteria for what is protected in regard to personal health data. 

Personally Identifiable Information - any data that could potentially identify a specific individual.

Personal Messaging (P2P). See P2P SMS.

Proof of Receipt - This defines if the customer requested a handset acknowledgement for the MT and that the SMSC supports it.

Every subscriber has a mobile telephone number, and in many countries (not all), mobile number ranges are different from fixed line (land line) number ranges. In countries where the mobile number range is separate from the range for fixed line numbers, the country’s telecommunications regulator may issue numbers to mobile operators in blocks. These blocks can be used to identify the mobile operator to which the number belongs.   In countries where Mobile Number Portability (MNP) is not allowed, these prefixes can be used to determine the home operator, as the home operator equals the prefix operator. In countries where MNP is allowed, another source of porting information is required to determine the home operator, so the prefix operator is relatively meaningless and only indicates to which operator the number was originally allocated. In the world of SMS, the prefix operator can be important for routing, as some routes only support certain prefix/home operator combinations. Be careful of aggregators who only support prefix routing, as this implies, they do not support MNP routing, which is required in many countries to deliver a message effectively.

Premium MO and MT messages are similar to Premium MO, however it is a two-way process. An example of a Premium MO & MT message campaign could be a ringtone request. The user sends a message requesting for a ringtone and the ringtone is delivered to the user's mobile handset.

Premium Mobile Originated message. An example of a Premium MO message campaign is voting. Users can vote by sending a specific text message to a short code. A response is not required. The end user will be charged the end user tariff level for every singled MO sent to a specific short code.

Premium Mobile Terminated message. An example of a Premium MT message campaign is a subscription service, where a user subscribes to traffic or stock alerts and the user receives daily message alerts. The end user will be billed for every single MT they receive from a short code and for which they have agreed to receive Premium messages.

Premium rate SMS (PSMS) are analogous to '900 numbers'. Wireless subscribers pay an additional fee for sending a message.

Price elasticity of supply and demand is believed to be a factor in the SMS ecosystem. Put simply, when the volume of SMS sent increases, the price decreases. Adversely, the lower the volume, the higher the price. This factor is important to consider when mobile operators set the price for an SMS.

A term used in US mobile messaging, which refers to clear the end user experience that meets the CTIA’s guidelines as well as operator-specific regulations and requirements. The program must include interaction that allow an end user to opt-in, opt-out, and access help.

Sinch projects are the primary way to group resources together to simplify management, access to, and billing of your resources. To create a resource associated with one of Sinch's products, a project is required to hold it. 

Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is the world’s collection of interconnected public telephone networks.

A mobile service wherein an end-user must first send a request before receiving messages.

A mobile service wherein messages are sent to a mobile subscriber without a specific request from the subscriber at the time the message is delivered. PUSH messages may be person-to-person, application-to-person or even application-to-application. Some examples include alert messages for news, stock quotes, or daily horoscopes. Subscribers opt-in to these services and receive alerts according to their preferences.