Canada has very specific messaging restrictions and a direct connection is necessary in order to ensure message delivery to the numerous networks. Nexmo uses an extremely high-quality, direct connection in order to deliver your SMS to Canada.
Sender ID
All SMS sent to Canada must originate from either a U.S. or Canadian pre-approved long number that is associated with your Nexmo account. Alpha sender IDs are not supported.
Limited numeric sender only --> In the “from” field you need to specify your pre-approved Canadian (or US) virtual number in international format e.g. 18479121345. Otherwise your message will get rejected with the API response code 15 Illegal Sender Address - rejected.
You can purchase pre-approved long virtual numbers very inexpensively from the Numbers tab in your Nexmo dashboard.
Content
P2P: Person-to-Person traffic may be sent to Canada from a long virtual number using our SMS API. An SMS may originate from a mobile phone, a computer application or an internet-based service, but the message must have been initiated due to human interaction.
A2P: Application-to-Person (A2P) traffic may be sent to Canada, using our Alerts Short code API.
CA Short Codes
- All shortcodes follow the CWTA Handbook Guidelines
- Short Code routes support handset delivery receipts and unicode encoding, long/concatenated messaging on most carriers.
- There is no daily maximum of messages per day restriction on our short code routes and API requests will use your overall throughput allocation.
- As of 2020 Rogers Communications, Vidéotron as well as BCE Inc. (Bell Mobility, PC Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Lucky Mobile, and Bell MTS) are no longer accepting 'General Use' or 'Shared' shortcodes.
- Rogers - decommissioned all 'General Use' except for same vertical
- BCE - is currently grandfathering in all current 'General Use' codes
- Vidéotron - is currently grandfathering in all current 'General Use' codes
Other features/restrictions of note:
Delivery Receipts:
- All carriers send handset delivery receipts except Eastlink.
- Intermediate DLR (accepted status) will be provided as soon as the message reaches the operator's platform.
U.S. Toll free numbers:
- Reach:
- Toll Free numbers can deliver to all Canadian carriers.
- Delivery Receipts:
- You will receive network delivery receipts instead of handset DLR’s when sending to Canada.
- Other:
- Rotating TFN’s is against Carrier Best Practices and will result in traffic getting blocked by the carriers.
- It is highly recommended that customer's go through a verified sender process for optimal delivery. Please contact your Account Manager or support@nexmo.com for more info.
- Price:
- You will be charged for outbound and inbound SMS.
- You will be charged for outbound and inbound SMS.
- Verified Toll Free:
- All Toll Free SMS in Canada should be verified. Please see Verified Toll Free information here.
Long virtual numbers:
- Reach:
- Long virtual numbers can deliver to all Canada carriers
- Sender ID:
- Limited numeric sender only --> In the “from” field you need to specify your pre-approved Canadian (or US) virtual number in international format e.g. 18479121345. Otherwise your message will get rejected with reject code 15 Illegal Sender Address - rejected.
- You can purchase pre-approved long virtual numbers very inexpensively from the Numbers tab in your Nexmo dashboard.
- Delivery Receipts:
- You will receive network delivery receipts instead of handset DLR’s when sending to Canada. See chart below for delivery receipts and supported carriers.
- Content:
- Binary, VCard, unicode and long SMS are not supported by Canadian carriers.
- Euro symbol (€) and some accented characters are not supported by Canadian Carriers.
- Throughput:
- You may send a maximum of 1 SMS per second and per virtual number in Canada due to local carriers regulations. If you send messages more quickly, the message(s) will be rejected. If you require higher throughput, you can purchase more numbers and spread your traffic across your numbers. E.g. 10 numbers = 10 SMS per second.
- Maximum of roughly 500 messages per day and per long virtual number. If this is exceeded your number will be blocked and will no longer work.
- For high through put needs a dedicated short code would be the optimal solution.
Restricted Content:
- Emergency notifications & SMS/Betting/gambling content are not supported on any senders
Links:
Global SMS Features Overview (Outbound only)
Global SMS Numbers Features Overview
|
Canadian Carriers Delivery Receipt Support |
|||
|
Carrier |
Gateway accepted/rejected |
Carrier Ack/Nack |
Handset delivery receipt |
|
Bell Mobility |
• |
• |
• |
|
Fido |
• |
• |
• |
|
Rogers + Vidéotron |
• |
• |
• |
|
Telus Mobility + Koodo |
• |
• |
• |
|
SaskTel Mobility |
• |
• |
• |
|
Manitoba Telecom Services (MTS) |
• |
• |
• |
|
Aliant Mobility |
• |
• |
• |
|
Virgin Mobile CA |
• |
• |
• |
|
NorthernTel Mobility |
• |
• |
• |
|
Télébec Mobilité |
• |
• |
• |
|
Vidéotron 3G |
• |
• |
• |
|
Freedom Mobile |
• |
• |
• |
|
Eastlink |
• |
• |
|
Canada SMS Delivery Options
|
Canada SMS Sending Options |
Long Code |
Dedicated Short Code |
Toll Free SMS (purchase under U.S.) |
|
Example |
12013511943 |
12345 |
1-888-555-5555 |
|
Daily Send Limit |
250 SMS / Day / Number |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Throughput Limit |
1 SMS / sec. / Number |
Up to 30 mps |
30 SMS / sec. / Number |
|
U.S. Reach |
Yes |
No (Customer must purchase a U.S. short code) |
Yes |
|
2 way SMS support |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Suggested Use Case |
P2P, Non-Marketing, Customer Service, and Chat Applications |
Marketing, High Volume School/Flight/ Appt reminders. |
A2P with CWTA compliant opt-ins |
|
Price Per Number / Month |
See |
See |
See |
|
Price Per Outbound Message |
See |
See |
See |
|
Price Per Inbound Message Y/N |
No |
Y - See |
Y - See |
|
Set Up Time |
Available Immediately. Log in to your Nexmo account to get started. |
6-8 Weeks. Contact sales@nexmo.com to get started. |
Nexmo Pre-Approved: Available Immediately. Customer Owned: 3-7 business days. |
|
Unicode |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Concatenated* |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Regulatory |
Immediate code shutdown for marketing messages. Subject to carrier filtering. |
CWTA Guidelines |
CWTA Guidelines. Immediate code shutdown for marketing message |
* Bell Mobility does not support proper concatenation in Canada. View details above under Concatenation section of this article.
