[VoiceOps] VoIP SMS Campaign Fees

[Ryan Delgrosso]

100% agree here. This is cartel / monopoly behavior and should be 
attacked as such.

The facts as I understand them are:

 1. All API originated traffic is considered A2P regardless of if its an
    app with a physical single person thumbing in messages at the far
    end. API involved = A2P. Done (lets ignore the fact that iMessage
    and Android messaging are now API as well)
 2. This means all non MNO traffic is A2P and subject to the fees
 3. If my customers who are single/small users, cancelled my service and
    signed up for VZW they would get the same service (actually much
    less) but not have to deal with this (this is the sort of antitrust
    behavior Microsoft has been sued for and lost multiple times over).
 4. TCR is in effect levying a tax, but is a private entity, whose
    proceeds and use thereof are not public record. Honestly I cannot
    figure out what the cost justification for the whole thing really is
    or how they arrived at the pricing.

Are we complying? Yes because the average customer simply doesn't / wont 
care why their messages aren't going through and presume you are at 
fault / incompetent. This isn't the hill I am going to pick to die on.

What we are doing is passing this through nearly 100% with links on our 
invoices to a page explaining why this is happening. This gives us to 
the penny accounting as well as we are quite keen to join any 
class-action suit on the topic. I may start one if I can find counsel 
and enough to join in.

We can all thank Ajit Pai for this. SMS is a telecom service not a data 
service. There is no longer a differentiation, data = telecom today.

-Ryan

On 11/29/2021 11:30 AM, Carlos Alvarez wrote:
> Alarmist is warranted.  I am equally perplexed by the inconsistent 
> rules, the vague language, and by everyone insisting that T-Mobile 
> will unilaterally issue $10k fines per message.  On what authority?  
> What is the appeals process? Dozens of questions, nearly no answers.
>
> I just sent a text from one of my business numbers in response to a 
> client who texted it.  Is this a campaign?
>
> The whole thing where everything that's not another cell phone is 
> considered automated and not P2P seems disgusting, if not actually 
> illegal and fraudulent.
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 16, 2021 at 4:16 PM Oren Yehezkely <orenyny at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>     Nate,
>
>     See a thread I started a few months ago about this matter.
>     I got a lot of negative responses for being an alarmist.
>
>     Basically these requirements are set by the different mobile
>     carriers and they are not the same.
>
>     Yes, they all consider customers to be businesses (A2P). No
>     customer is a consumer (P2P) in the eyes of these
>     carriers, TCR and even the person who answered you before.
>
>     I don't think that the penalty is $10,000 but VI may be trying to
>     deter you from using SMS
>     without registering. You may want to consider using a different
>     carrier for SMS.
>     Other carriers will also offer to help you register with TCR.
>
>     Good luck with dealing with that headache, feel free to contact me
>     off list to see if we can share some information
>     on dealing with this.
>
>     Regards,
>     Oren
>
>     On Mon, Nov 15, 2021 at 3:37 PM Nate Burke <nate at blastcomm.com> wrote:
>
>         Sorry if this was already discussed and I missed it.  I saw a
>         notice on
>         our Voip Innovations account today that any business DID's
>         that send SMS
>         messages to a consumer in any way now have to be registered with
>         'Campaignregistry.com'  Looks like this requires a $200
>         signup, and then
>         potentially $10/month/DID.  Anyone already gone through this? 
>         Talking
>         to VI, it seems they're not even sure, but it's a VI
>         requirement to be
>         registered by Dec 15.
>
>         The whole process seems confusing.  VI Makes it seem like
>         non-compliance
>         will be expensive. $10,000/violation keeps being referenced.
>
>         Would each one of my customers be considered a separate
>         campaign at
>         $10/month?
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