Key takeaways
- Fewer links between you and the operator typically mean less delay and clearer delivery reports, but direct is not always better.
- Grey routes are often cheap but risky: they can deliver poorly, get blocked and give unreliable reports.
- Sender names are treated differently from country to country. Test with your own sender name.
- Test Asia and the US separately, and ask how many routes there are per country and how failover works.
What is the difference between direct connections and aggregators?
A direct operator connection means that the provider itself has an agreement and a connection with the operator. An aggregator or intermediary passes the message on to another provider, sometimes through several links. No provider has a direct connection to every operator in every country, so in practice it is a mix. What matters is that you know which.
| Route type | What it is | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Direct operator connection | The provider itself has a connection to the operator | The shortest path, but it does not exist everywhere |
| Partner direct route | A partner holds the direct connection, and the provider uses it | A short path and wider coverage. Ask where it is used |
| Route via an intermediary | The message goes through one or more other providers | Each link can add delay, cost and a place where the message can be filtered |
| Grey route | A route that bypasses the operator’s agreements for A2P traffic | Often cheap, but can deliver poorly or get blocked |
Why are grey routes a risk?
Grey routes bypass the normal agreements with the operator and can look attractive on the price list. In return they can be shut down at short notice, and the risk is yours, not the route provider’s. Ask a provider directly whether it uses them, and get the answer in writing. Be sceptical of prices far below what you otherwise see, without an explanation.
- Delivery: The route can deliver poorly or swing widely over time
- Sender: Your sender name can be replaced by a random number
- Reports: Delivery reports can be unreliable or missing
- Stability: The operator can block the route without notice
- Transparency: It can be unclear who handles the message and your data on the way
How are sender names treated from country to country?
The rules vary a great deal. Some countries require the sender name to be registered, some replace unregistered names with a generic number, and some allow only local numbers. The same message with the same sender can therefore arrive differently in two countries.
In the US, alphanumeric sender names are generally not available for SMS. Registered long numbers, toll-free numbers or short codes are used instead, each with its own registration and approval. In several Asian countries, sender names and sometimes text templates have to be registered in advance, and traffic that is not registered can be blocked. Requirements change, so check them for each country before you send.
What about Asia, the US and failover?
Regions behave differently, and a single average hides it. Test your most important countries separately.
- Test per country and operator with your real sender name and your real text
- Look at time to delivered and at the share with unknown status, not only at the delivery rate
- Ask how content and senders are filtered in the US and in the Asian countries you use
- Ask how many routes there are per destination, and how a failing route is detected
- Ask whether you can see which route a message took, and whether the switch happens automatically
How do price and quality relate?
The price of a route often reflects how it is built, but not always. A high price does not guarantee good delivery, and a low price is not necessarily a grey route. What you can demand is transparency: a price per country, not a global average, and an explanation of what lies behind it.
Flexible pricing in practice means that you can see the price per destination, can get volume prices per country, and that price changes are announced. It should also be possible to agree whether speed or price weighs most for a given message type: speed matters most for one-time codes, price for large campaigns.
How ZafeConnect fits
ZafeConnect reaches 190+ countries with direct operator connections, complemented by partner direct routes. Intelligent routing chooses among the available routes per destination and falls back if a route has problems, and ZafeConnect checks the sender requirements in your destinations and helps with registration where it is required.
List prices per country are in DKK and EUR, excluding VAT: 0.15 DKK per message in North America and 0.95 DKK in Asia. We are glad to go through which routes are used for your countries. ZafeConnect reports a message delivery rate of over 98%, a reported rate and not a guarantee, so measure it on your own traffic.