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Once a campaign has been carrier approved and provisioned, live testing is required before a campaign is certified. Sinch will test your short code in addition to AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.
Sinch will start testing once the client confirms the message responses have been configured on their end. You can let us know the short code is ready on your end by updating the status of carriers in the Sinch Customer Dashboard.
Your Sinch Account Manager can assist you to request testing if required.
- When the short code is ready on our end, we will update the status of carriers to “Provisioned by Sinch.”
- Once you have fully tested the short code at your end, update the status to: “Client Certification Requested.”
Doing this will place the short code in a queue for testing with our certification experts. Please allow 24 hours after requesting for testing to start.
The testing process involves testing the initial opt-in method, as well as HELP and STOP keywords, on each of our carrier handsets. You may set up a test keyword or we can provide our list of device phone numbers for you to manually trigger the message too. This ensures that all carriers are provisioned correctly and that the carrier-approved messages are being sent correctly.
If we run into any issues while KEYWORD testing, we will first look at the issue on our end. Our internal will check to see if our testing MOs are reaching your account. If our team confirms the MOs are reaching your platform but they are not responding to the keywords, we will then leave a rejection note in the customer dashboard.
T-Mobile Testing Process
T-Mobile requires an extra step of testing on their end to ensure everything is working and compliant: (opt-in method + HELP/STOP).
T-Mobile can take between 1-3 days to complete testing. Until it is completed, T-Mobile will be listed as “Carrier Certification requested” in the Sinch Customer Dashboard.
Note: If you decide to push the initial opt-in message to our devices, it will have to be pushed again to the T-Mobile team once they are ready. They will provide an MDN giving until the end of day for the initial opt-in to be pushed to their device. They will also test HELP/STOP*.
When testing prior to a campaign being fully certified by T-Mobile, the tests will only work on whitelisted devices. Our internal test devices are whitelisted for this purpose. Sinch can whitelist a T-Mobile number for you upon request.
Certification Checklist
Before you campaign can be certified you will need to confirm that you have:
- Carefully read the information in this article and have understood the process.
- Checked to ensure your campaign matches what you have implemented on the dashboard
- Reviewed the opt-in message submitted and it matches what has been implemented in production
- Confirmed that HELP and STOP keywords are compliant and match what has been submitted in the dashboard
- Confirmed that there is an opt-in method in place for certification testing (keyword or push test).
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to your Sinch Account Manager.
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Featured Article
Hoyee_Cheng
Employee
Effective October 15, 2024, CTIA and the US Short Code Registry introduced a new requirement for leasing new short codes or when manually renewing short code leases, necessitating all brands to undergo vetting. Aegis Mobile has partnered with CTIA to authenticate the identities of brands utilizing US short codes. This vetting process provides additional transparency for brands involved with each short code campaign, benefiting all stakeholders. It also offers greater protection for consumers and upholds the short code's reputation as a trusted messaging channel.
Brands will only need to be vetted once and short code leasing will be available only after a successful vetting result. In the event of a lease transfer, the brand will need to submit a new vetting request with the new lease holder. There is no additional charge to this new feature and it will not impact short code throughput.
The following Brand Client information will be required:
- Legal Company Name
- Legal Entity Type
- Doing Business As
- Country of Registration
- Stock Market Symbol
- Company Website URL
- Federal Tax ID
- DUNS, GIIN, LEI (if applicable)
- Brand Client Address
- Country
- Street Address
- City
- State/Province
- Zip/Postal Code
- Brand Client Point of Contact
- First Name
- Last Name
- Phone Number
How about existing short codes?
Brand client details for existing short codes that is on auto-renewal will be required to undergo the new vetting process by Q1 2025. Brands will have sixty (60) days after the auto-renewal date of the short code to complete the required fields. Short codes that are not updated within that timeframe will be subject to non-compliance audit and may be suspended or terminated.
Sinch has started collecting this information. Please contact your account manager if you have any questions.
Vetting Process Overview
Upon submission of the Brand Client information, the vetting party will review the following triage criteria:
- Legal name matches FEIN
- Brand POC contact email is valid
- Brand POC email domain relate to the company’s published URL
- If triage criteria are not met, an incomplete status will be issued without further processing
Once triaged criteria are met, the Brand’s Point of Contact (POC) will receive an email from CTIA’s vetting partner, Aegis Mobile (certify@aegismobile.com). This email will contain a PIN and instructions on how to complete the registration. Be sure to check your junk mail folder.
The PIN is valid for 7 days. A reminder email will be sent 48 hours before the PIN expires. If the initial PIN expires, Aegis Mobile will issue a second and final PIN.
While the Brand POC completes the PIN verification, the vetting party will continue to review the remaining brand client details at the same time.
Vetting Statuses:
- Successful Status – Indicates that the vetting activities were completed with acceptable results. A Successful vet status is retained for up to a year, after which renewal vetting is required to continue participating in short code messaging.
- Incomplete Status – Indicates that certain critical information does not meet the minimum requirements for completing the vetting activity. If we are unable to provide the correct information within 10 days/2 additional resubmission attempts following the Incomplete status, the status will update to Unsuccessful.
- Unsuccessful Status – Indicates that either an incomplete vet status was not resolved or that risk levels were unallowable based on discovered past behaviors.
Tips to a Successful Vetting Results
- Ensure that the Federal Tax ID matches the exact Legal Company Name registered with the IRS.
- Use FEIN and Legal Company Name shown on the first line of CP-575/EIN Confirmation Letter.
- The address entered should also match what is registered with the IRS. If the information does not exactly match the EIN Confirmation Letter, your brand will be in an Incomplete state and you will not be able to lease the short code until the issue is resolved.
- Ensure email address and website URLL provided matches the company being vetted.
For entities with international presence, please specify the Tax ID and the country of registration. For entities in Canada, please provide the first 9 numeric digits of the Business Number (BN-9) when providing brand client details.
US Tax ID, company name and address can be validated using the following resources:
- Public business entities: Public business lookup (EDGAR)
- Nonprofit entities: IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search
- Private business entities: If you are a private business in the US, here is a list of private business lookup by state:
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Canadian Tax ID, company name and address can be validated using the following resources:
Europe, Eastern Europe, North Atlantic, Middle East, South America, and APAC Tax ID, company name and address can be validated using the following resources:
- Europe: VIES VAT number validation - European Commission
- Australia: Australian Business Register (ABN) lookup Note: provide your ABN (Australian Business Number) not your ACN (Australian Company Number) as your Tax ID for brand registration purposes.
For more information, please check out CTIA and The Short Code Registry's FAQs page or their summary below: