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 wonder if the NumberBarn mobile app would run on an Android emulator app, installed on a Windows laptop? If so, then people could use their laptops to send SMS.
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with google voice, I can reply on my laptop to texts I receive on my laptop. So it's not absolutely impossible to reply to texts via a laptop. Why can't we do the same via Number Barn?
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JudithMeyers did you ever have any luck with the Android tablet? As far as your laptop goes, do you have a Mac or PC? If on a Mac, yes you can use iMessage but keep in mind that a) that's Apple and they are a huge company and b) a good portion of the messages use iMessage and aren't sent by SMS and c) they are able to minimize the number of devices you can text from. That's something we can consider in the future -- having our own messaging platform that includes desktop messaging -- but something like that would have to be developed. I hope that helps.
Marc Martin an Android emulator is certainly a possibility. If you're able to give it a try I'd love to hear if it works for you.0 -
My android tablet is wifi only, no cellular capability. When I tried to install the Number Barn app, google play store wouldn't let me -- it said the app wouldn't work on my device. I suppose I couldget a tablet with cell connectivity, but I was hoping to avoid the monthly cost of another cell line.
I finally got the NB app installed on my cellphone, but it's so very hard for me to use with the tiny on-screen keypad. I bought a bluetooth keyboard and mouse to see if it could help with using the phone to text, but I haven't had the dire need nor the courage and patience to try it out yet.
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Thank you for sharing, JudithMeyers. I don't think the presence of cellular would improve compatibility with our app. Can you tell me the make and model of the tablet? I'd like to test on our side and see why that isn't working. Perhaps there's a setting we can enable with the Google Play Store or something like that.
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OK, thanks -- here's a link to the tablet I bought on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FDWT3MXK?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
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Hey JudithMeyers, thank you for sending this and sorry about my slow response. So when you go to this link on your Tablet you don't have an option to download from the Play store? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.numberbarn.app
I definitely want to raise this with our team that works on our apps.0 -
right -- I just tried again a couple of days ago. there is no way for me to download the app on my tablet. there's just a statement that the app won't work on my device.
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Thanks JudithMeyers! Let me see if our team has any insight on this.
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JudithMeyers it does look like we may need to make some updates to our app to ensure that it's supported on our tablet. One question for you. When you go to https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.numberbarn.app do you see a blue/grey box that says "Join the beta"? If you join that it gives you access to the latest version of our app that's in testing. I'm not sure this will work but let me know.
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no, there's no option to join the beta. the message on google play says "your device isn't compatible with this version."
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Hey JudithMeyers, I was optimistic but sorry that it's not working. We did just have a new version of the app go live around 3pm Pacific yesterday. I'm assuming you don't see any change when you go to Google Play now? I think there's a bigger update that we need to do in order to make our app compatible with your tablet.
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Just tried again now. It still says that it won't work on my device. Please let me know about any progress your team makes. Also let me know if they give up, so I don't keep trying from time to time. thanks.
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JudithMeyers do you see any change now when you check the play store? Either an option to download or join the beta? We made an update last night.
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Nope -- just checked it again now. Still says the app won't work on my device.
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Thanks for checking JudithMeyers. Let me check with our engineers to see what we can do to test further.
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Hey JudithMeyers, were you ever able to download the app on your Android tablet or did you see the option to join our beta? Let me know.
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No, it still just says that the application won't work on my tablet.
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Hey JudithMeyers, I just learned that a new version of the Android app went live on the Play Store this morning. Do you see anything different when you try to download the app?
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Nope. everything the same. still says it won't work on my tablet.
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