Important: Changes to outbound texting
Below is the text of an important email we just sent to all customers regarding outbound text messaging:
We have an important announcement to share with you regarding NumberBarn and the future of outbound text messaging.
Over the past couple of years, US wireless carriers have been working to combat spam and improve the delivery of legitimate text messages. In order to send text messages using local phone numbers, businesses must first register with a 3rd-party reputation authority called The Campaign Registry. Registration includes an approved 10DLC (10-digit long code) brand and campaign in order to send text messages to customers.
Here at NumberBarn we have worked hard over the past couple of years to preserve our SMS service as you have come to expect it. As of December 1, 2024, however, wireless carriers will begin blocking outgoing SMS/MMS messages for unregistered customers.
This means that all businesses that send text messages to ten-digit US phone numbers must register with The Campaign Registry and pay the fees associated with registration.
Furthermore, these regulations affect everyone sending text messages (including person-to-person conversational messages) using any service other than a wireless telephone number associated with a mobile device. Note that this change only applies to outbound texting. You will continue to receive inbound text messages as expected.
Who is Implementing This Change?
These new requirements are not the result of a decision by NumberBarn. The major US mobile carriers, including AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, have introduced registration and fee requirements to reduce unwanted or fraudulent text messages and cover the costs associated with the increase in commercial text messaging across their networks.
What are the next steps?
While these changes impact businesses and individuals alike, the actions you may take moving forward differ. Here’s the current way forward:
If you are a business - We understand that SMS is an essential part of your customer communication and marketing strategy. To ensure that your messaging is not interrupted, you can move your messaging to our sister company, String and we’ll help you register your brand and campaign with The Campaign Registry. Please note that only businesses that have an EIN (Employer Identification Number) will be able to register.
To take advantage of a 30-day free trial of String, in your NumberBarn account go to “Numbers” then click “Messages” and “Activate with String” to integrate String’s intuitive SMS features with your phone numbers. Use promo code 10DLC to register.
As of December 1, NumberBarn will no longer support outbound business and marketing text messages.
If you’re a sole proprietor or individual - You will continue to receive inbound text messages without an issue. We understand that an interruption to outbound texting is less than optimal and are working with our carriers on a new solution for outbound person-to-person texting.
Finally, we want to make it clear that these changes are industry-wide. 10DLC brand and campaign registration requirements and fees are the same regardless of the service provider you choose. Non-compliant providers risk the loss of SMS functionality for all of their customers. More info about 10DLC changes
Thank you for your attention to this matter. We appreciate your continued business with NumberBarn and will notify you with updates as we have them.
FAQ
How does this impact Canadian numbers? If you are sending from a Canadian number to other Canadian numbers, you should not be impacted. If you are sending text messages from a Canadian number to a US wireless number your text messages may be impacted.
How does this impact texting on toll free numbers? NumberBarn has never offered text messaging on toll free numbers but NumberGarage does. A similar campaign is required in order to send text messages through NumberGarage and this will still be supported for the foreseeable future.
Can I still use NumberBarn for voice service? If you switch to String through your account control panel, this will set up what's called "Hosted Messaging" and NumberBarn would still be responsible for the voice service on your telephone number. If you would prefer to port your number to String, we can help, however you'll find that the voice functionality on String is much simpler than on NumberBarn.
If I ported away, will my numbers be impacted? If you ported to a US wireless carrier, you shouldn't have any issues. If you ported to another VoIP/landline service provider, we recommend checking in with them to see if they require 10DLC registration but it's highly likely that they do.
Is NumberBarn offering 10DLC registration? Not currently. We are only offering 10DLC registration through the String service. We will update if this changes in the future.
I don't see an option to activate SMS with String. If you are signed into your account. Go to "Numbers", click on your number, and click "Messages." If you have active SMS you will first need to click "Deactivate SMS" and then you can activate your SMS with String.
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I replied to your email a bit ago.
Also, all incoming texts to my Numberbarn # are now going directly to String with no record in Numberbarn. I had a notification set up in Numberbarn that would email me if a new inbound text was received. How does that work now if Numberbarn does not record the inbound text? Can you explain how the overall process works with Numberbarn vs. String, and what is done in each application? Numberbarn also has a phone app ... does String?
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Hey Bob Gelhaus, though we're all the same company, String is it's own brand and service so it does have its own mobile application. I do find that customers really like receiving email notifications for text messages so we will consider adding that in the future for String. I realize having 2 apps isn't ideal and definitely recommend making sure you have push notifications enabled in the String app. I hope this helps.
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According to cs, outbound texting is 6 months out? we are paying for it.
You keep posting re working on it, 6 months out is Not working on it, its called slacking.
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why are my posts "pending approval" ?
Last I check this is a FREE COUNTRY.
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0rez we definitely value freedom of speech and are grateful to live in a free country but found that we were inundated with spammers posting advertisements. So we approve every community post before it goes live.
That said, I'm sorry we don't have more solutions for outbound texting as of yet. Many of our competitors just stopped offering text messaging to anyone who didn't have a registered 10DLC campaign. I can say that we are working on a P2P (Person to Person) texting solution and hope to show meaningful progress soon. I'll continue to post updates as I have them.
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Open forums that don't moderate posts end up with a million spam bots posting advertisements—usually for porn. Moderating to ensure that posts are legitimate is not only valid, but necessary to make sure the information being shared pertains directly to the question or issue at hand.
I think NumberBarn does an awesome job with what they’re doing. This whole situation is unfortunate, and hopefully things will get worked out soon. I’ve done months of personal research, and I’ve spoken with other companies, getting person-to-person texting to work across all networks is extremely difficult right now.
From what I understand, a lot of companies like NumberBarn and anonymous texting apps have had to be pulled from the market because of this issue. It’s not that these companies don’t want to offer the service, It’s that the approval process is taking months and months to complete.
I’ve talked to a couple of people trying to go the business number route and complete all the required authorizations, but they keep getting turned down. They're told the paperwork isn’t proper, but no one will tell them exactly what’s wrong. In my opinion, the system is overloaded right now, and unfortunately, it’s going to take a long time for all these new applications to be processed and verified.
Now companies like NumberBarn are in the same boat. Not only are they trying to get approved, but they’re also trying to blanket that approval across all services—which is going to take even longer.
I'm not making excuses, and I have no affiliation with NumberBarn at all, but I’ve bought several numbers through them and found their customer service to be excellent. Even though I’ve had to move three of my numbers to a different carrier for now, I plan to move them back once NumberBarn gets things resolved because I truly believe in the company.
Just my two cents, I know it may not mean much, but I wanted to share this. I believe Jeremy and the team are doing everything they can. If they don’t get this fixed, they stand to lose a lot of money and business, and I’m sure they already have. They’re not doing this to hurt any of us—they’re in the same boat we are. And yeah, it sucks. But it is what it is.
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Hi All, just a quick update to say that efforts to restore outbound texting for NumberBarn continue to be ongoing and it continues to be a priority. I still don't have an ETA but will keep you posted on this.
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thanks for the update, it's much appreciated. Please continue to keep us posted .
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Any update on this, Jeremy? Thank you
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Hey Daniel Howe, I don't have an exact date but we are nearly ready to roll out our new P2P service on NumberBarn. An official announcement should go out in the next week or two.
Just so you're not caught off guard, there will be a small charge ($1/mo per number) for outbound texting moving forward.
And in keeping with industry regulations, it will be impossible for high-volume business users to use our P2P service. For such folks they will need to use our A2P service through String which requires a campaign registration. We will also push all customers to use the mobile app to send messages. They can still read their conversations from within their account, however. This has been a huge undertaking but we're thrilled to finally have a solution for customers again.
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Hi Jeremy, thanks for replying to Daniel Howe. Will that extra $1/mo per number be in addition to the recent announced price rise, or does that new announced price incorporate the new P2P service? Thanks!
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first of all, let me make it clear that i appreciate all your efforts to get this done.
Having said that, that though, there's a huge BUT...
What do you mean, you'll be pushing us to use the mobile app to send messages??? as I've mentioned on this or some other thread before, I'm 80+ years old and one of my major reasons for using number barn is so I can send texts via my laptop, which is much easier for me than doing it on a phone. One of your mods even replied in agreement that it's easier for him, as well. So... after this so-called solution Will it still be impossible to send outgoing texts via my laptop??Another big reason I use number barn is so I can see incoming texts on my laptop via email. Will I still be able to to that?
As I've written before, I don't turn on my smartphone unless I really have to. Keeping half the conveniences I previously enjoyed and appreciated is something, but it's not much progress as far as I can tell, if I have to use a cellphone to send outgoing texts. The only improvement I can see is that I'll be able to reply to texts I receive on number barn, which I cannot do now -- but since it will have to be on my cellphone, it won't be as easy or convenient as it was from my laptop.
So that's something...I hope you folks will take this disappointment seriously and work hard to restore our ability to send outgoing texts via laptop.
thanks.
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Hi GG, yes it is in addition to the price increase. For anyone that was only receiving inbound messages, they can continue to receive inbound with no additional charges but will have to activate outbound. That's where the $1 fee will be applied.
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Yes, I agree with JudithMeyers on the "being forced to use the mobile app" to do outgoing SMS (although certainly still a big improvement over not being able to do it at all). I also mostly deal with incoming and outgoing texts via a computer.... I've been using another VoIP service for this lately, as I guess they were already approved for P2P and not cutoff like many providers seemed to be.
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Hey JudithMeyers, I hear you and thank you for sharing your concern. To address your questions.
Yes, you will still be able to read all incoming text messages on the computer.
If you want to reply, you will have to reply on a phone or tablet using our mobile app.
Much of this is born from an interpretation of guidelines from the wireless carriers where only one person can text from one device at a time as a means of preventing abuse. So we did our best to align with those guidelines. That said, I/we will give this some more thought. It was something I knew would be a concern for some and we'll do what we can to make sure the texting service is accessible for all. I've opened a ticket for you and will follow up after some internal discussion.
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Also, regarding the comment on being able to see your incoming SMS text messages via an email notification, I know of at least two VoIP companies that currently allow you to reply to those emails and that sends an SMS reply back. Not sure how easy that is to implement or if it will satisfy JudithMeyers needs?
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Thanks. Please keep us posted as you go along. I'm just one Grandma by myself texting maybe 10 texts/month at the max from 1 personal laptop. That doesn't sound like it comes close to violating the guidelines. I can't be the only one who prefers a laptop, so hopefully there's a solution to restoring the outgoing text function on laptops.
but I do appreciate your suggestion of maybe a tablet. it would cost me some $$ for the device, the sim card and the cell service, but it' could be a viable option someday if I ever need to text a lot more than i do now.
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Hey Marc Martin, very interesting. That would be a cool feature and I'll check into the feasibility of that.
And thank you JudithMeyers. I will keep you updated on that.
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What are the 2 VoIP companies that let you reply to email-forwarded texts with an emailed text?
Thanks.
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Thanks to everyone for the comments here, and to Jeremy for working on this. I just wanted to express my agreement with JudithMeyers concerning how important it is to be able reply to texts via the web. In addition to the basic convenience, it really is essential for those of us who, for whatever reason (from poor eyesight to other disabilities), can't comfortably use mobile devices.
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JudithMeyers both GoogleVoice and VoIP.ms will send you emails containing the contents of SMS text messages, and you can reply to those emails and that will send an SMS text message back. And apparently these are both still classified as P2P, as I've done no "business registration" for either, and they still work. There may be other services that do this as well, but I'm not aware of them. Most everyone seems to be in the same situation as NumberBarn, either signup as a business or no outgoing texts.
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Thank you Daniel Howe. Is there any chance any of you have an iPad or other tablet? The app does work on a tablet and at least increases the size for better visibility. I'll see if I can think of other alternatives we might be able to explore. I too am curious about providers that allow for email responses to text messages.
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thanks. I found google voice personal yesterday and signed up. It looks almost as handy as number barn was. but it's missing some features i enjoy at number barn, like having incoming texts forwarded to BOTH of my frequently-used email addresses. And dozens of my contacts already use my NB number to send me texts I don't have to reply to.
Never heard of voip,ms, I'll take a look.
Number barn's been perfect for me for years -- and it's still pretty good and handy -- so I plan to stick with it for a good long time, hopefully they'll get the send texts via website issue ironed out in my lifetime.
Since at least 2 other sites can do it, it's obviously not impossible....
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Howdy friends! Be sure to check out our latest post in the community for some exciting news about SMS!
https://help.numberbarn.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/33885716329751
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so I bought an android tablet running android 16 specifically so I could use it for outbound texting with numberbarn. got it all set up and went to install the number barn app. but...google Play Store says that app won't work on my device!!
you guys told me it would work on an android device with wifi only, but now googe play says it won't. what's the story???
installed the app on my phone and successfully sent a couple of texts, but at my age, it's VERY hard to do on the tiny phone keypad.
Please keep up the good work getting outgoing texting from the laptop available again!
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Hey JudithMeyers, ugh! I really hope it will work. Can you tell me the make and model of the tablet?
Also, when you search for app in the Google Play Store, it sounds like it does show up. Do you see an option to purchase/download/install or is there an error saying it's not compatible or something like that?
I'll do my best to troubleshoot and see if we can make sure it works.
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How does this impact Canadian numbers? If you are sending from a Canadian number to other Canadian numbers, you should not be impacted. If you are sending text messages from a Canadian number to a US wireless number your text messages may be impacted.
My number is Canadian and I only ever contact Canadian numbers, and I could send outbound text messages last month. This month, suddenly, I cannot send any! It suddenly says that I'm no longer configured for text messaging! I was never notified that I would no longer be able to send outbound messages!!
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Hi C C, for Canadian numbers you could received text messages but to continue to send we have to migrate you to our new carrier for SMS. I've initiated this process for you but it may take 3-5 days. I'll continue to communicate with you via the ticket that you opened.
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Hi Jeremy, do we have any further info on what devices allow for low frequency outbound text messages via nb? Specifically I am interested in laptops/desktops, not mobile. Thanks
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Hi Daniel Howe, currently outbound SMS is limited to our mobile application which currently can run on mobile phones and tablets. I know that this may be an inconvenience but we changed this to align with CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association) regulations. I hope this helps.
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