Why Some Text Messages (SMS) Do Not Get Delivered Successfully
In general, SMS has existed for two decades and it is widely used nowadays in this century. More and more businesses are relying on using SMS to boost their business sales on a tight budget. Despite that, SMS is much more complicated because when you are using your phone to call your friends or families and when their phone is switched off or out of carrier’s reach, you will know about that instantly whereas it is different with SMS, this is truly complicated as most of the heavy lifting is done without you knowing it. In short, you wouldn’t know if your messages were successfully delivered or what caused to sending failures.
For this reason, here are the top 5 reasons why your text messages or SMS fail to get delivered. By knowing all these factors, you may increase the chances of your SMS being successfully delivered.
1) Carrier is blocking the SMS
The top causes that the SMS was failed to get delivered was because the operators or Telco is known to block some SMS routes from time to time. This has caused and requires SMS service providers to re-route the message via the working route and causing a temporary delivery issue and delayed the message delivery status.
2) Invalid Numbers
This is the most common reason that text messages delivery may fail if an individual’s mobile number was disconnected, incorrect or invalid it won’t be delivered. Similar like entering an incorrect email address, you will get a response from your phone carrier informing you that the entered number was invalid.
3) The Number is in Roaming (Abroad)
Another reason for the text messages do not get delivered is when the messages were sent to a number that is currently not in home-country would cause a lot of problems as it is hard to reach the number. That is why delivering SMS to numbers in roaming is not guaranteed.
4) The Phone is Switched Off or Out of Carries Reach
Sending SMS and making a call is different as if you get a busy signal while calling, you can try again to reach the person. However, if the message recipient’s smartphone is switched off, the SMS does not get delivered on the first try. But, it is automatically re-sent at certain intervals without you knowing it when the smartphone is switched on or available again for the message to gets delivered.
5) Carrier Filters
One of the main ways that carriers block spam is by separating Person to Person (P2P) and Application to Person (A2P) messages. Just like email, some smartphone carriers have implemented a filter system that can block spam, other unwanted messages and phishing attempts.
In terms of P2P which is messages that sent between individuals with a valid alphanumeric sender ID for some specific purposes like surveys or feedback are likely to be delivered without being filtered. Whereas, A2P which is messages that sent from mass texting applications would likely be “filtered” by some carriers to prevent them from being sent to individuals in an attempt to prevent spam. SMS123 used advanced A2P routing to avoid this so that senders can send the messages through A2P-enabled routes. However, if the message content contains a certain keyword that didn't pass the filter check, some messages may still be blocked and this also depends on the specifics of each individual’s carrier.
In addition to that, it is truly important to understand Malaysia SMS messaging regulations and restrictions. This is due to the fact that Malaysia carriers are clamping down on SMS traffic that is currently in place that is regulated by Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (SKMM) which is the regulator for the converging communications and multimedia industry in Malaysia.
Hence, it is advised to fully cooperate with the bulk SMS service provider by giving sufficient details of your or business profiles and message content, with the help of our expert’s team, your messaging experience would be trouble-free and complying with all SMS regulations.
Do take note that the text messages content is important considerations because messages that are related to religious, adult, racial and gambling contents are permitted and could result in the suspension of services and the reporting of the message(s) to the relevant law enforcement agency.
Last but not least, it is also important to ensure on complying with all SMS regulations as there would be penalties in terms of financial penalties or even imprisonment for non-compliance with any provisions of the Personal Data Protection Act. This is because not complying with any of the provisions of the Personal Data Protection Act may result in a fine up to RM 500,000 Malaysian Ringgit and/ or imprisonment of up to three years.
