Frequently Asked Questions

cloudwi.re is an shared short code platform focused on sending and receiving TCPA compliant SMS and MMS messages.  Our platform is built to handle high volumes of 2-way messaging via a mixture of both US Carrier approved short codes and US and international long codes. cloudwi.re additionally provides insight and message analysis tools for better subscriber intelligence.  We work with companies big and small enabling scalable messaging applications.

Twilio does not support shared short codes. cloudwi.re does! cloudwi.re is a premiere Twilio partner and Twilio also aggregates our short codes. Developers who need high throttle SMS or who suffer from long code filtering issues are referred to cloudwi.re because we eliminate those problems with a few lines of code.

cloudwi.re can support just about any SMS-MMS use case that can be imagined.

We’ve been in business since 2006 and a Twilio premiere partner since 2011.

At cloudwi.re, we do things differently then any one of our competitors.  Our platform is primarily built to guarantee natural 2-way communication between opted-in mobile subscribers and a business.  We use multiple short codes to accomplish this.  The challenge this solves is a situation where one unique subscriber attempts to opt-in to multiple businesses.  What happens if the subscriber opts-out of one business?  Does that apply to the short code or the business?  Stuffing opt-ins onto one short code can cause compliance problems. Additionally, cloudwi.re provides developers with more tools to gain insights on subscriber demographics, reputation and tone.

We’re higher priced than our competitors.  Look, if you are doing bulk SMS and you want to import a list and start firing away…..to be frank….we’re not a good match for each other.  There are plenty of companies out there that can accommodate you.  We vet every business that signs up with cloudwi.re.  It’s important that everyone stays compliant because if they don’t, short codes get shut down.  That impacts everyone.

We are a small veteran owned shop here at cloudwi.re.  Our pricing is higher because we offer a feature rich platform to developers who demand the very best.  Companies choose cloudwi.re because of the feature sets built-in to to the platform.  cloudwi.re guarantees natural 2-way messaging between the subscriber and the store.  IBM Watson inbound message sentiment provides intelligent analysis of inbound messages for the subscriber’s tone.  Our opt-out classifier allows developers to understand the intent of a subscriber to opt-out.  Intelligent message routing gives us the highest degree of message deliverability in the space.  And we support our Clients in any way possible from conception to production.

It depends.  There are no monthly fees per se.  Messaging and the intelligence tools are consumption based.  However, if you select a keyword for one of our keyword short codes (Such as text BEER to 444999), keyword BEER is a billable keyword.  Keywords are billed on a monthly license type basis.  But if you don’t utilize keywords on our keyword short codes, there are not monthly fees.

Schedule a call with us.  That is what we are here for and we like to solve challenges.  We’ve seen a lot of really neat and intuitive apps built with cloudwi.re  We welcome developer and business team discussions on best practices and use cases.

Yes!  We pride ourselves on pretty quick turnarounds.  We shoot for one hour or less on level one support issues.  Most other lower grade inquiries have a three hour or less response time.  We do not charge for that.  We just ask that you consume as much of the documentation as possible.   Most of our support inquiries are in the beginning phase of development and they include questions asked and answered in the docs.  

The showcase is for developers who wish to promote applications they’ve built with cloudwi.re SMS. We want our Clients to be successful and part of our mission is to nurture that success in any way that we can.  There are no fees or stipulations to be included in the showcase.  Simply contact us and we’ll let you know what we need and then get you listed.  At cloudwi.re, we know our Clients really well.  When we get a lead looking to build something that one of our Clients has already done we make every effort to get the two parties connected.

A short code is a 4,5 or 6 digit number that allows SMS-MMS to be sent to/from a software application to/from a mobile subscriber.  They are pre-approved by the mobile carriers.  They come with higher message throttle as well.  The typical short code can send north of 200 messages per second versus 1 message per second on a long code.  Since short codes are pre-approved by the carriers, messages are never filtered for spam concerns, greatly increasing message deliverability.  Developers sending more than a few hundred messages per month should consider sending SMS over a short code.

They do not.  Short codes are not global.  A Canadian mobile number cannot interact with a USA approved short code.  For now, cloudwi.re short codes are only approved in the United States.  We are considering enhancing our services with a Canadian short code in the near future.

Major carriers: AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and T-Mobile USA.

Minor carriers: Advantage Cellular (DTC Wireless), Aio Wireless, Alaska Communications Systems (ACS), Appalachian Wireless (EKN), Bluegrass Cellular, Boost Mobile, Carolina West Wireless, CellCom, Cellular One of East Central IL (ECIT), Cellular One of Northeast Arizona, Cellular One of Northeast Pennsylvania, Chariton Valley Cellular, Cricket, Coral Wireless (Mobi PCS), Cross, C-Spire (CellSouth), Duet IP (Maximum Communications New Core Wireless), Element Mobile (Flat Wireless), Epic Touch (Elkhart Telephone), GCI, Golden State, Google Voice, Hawkeye (Chat Mobility), Hawkeye (NW Missouri), Illinois Valley Cellular, Inland Cellular, iWireless (Iowa Wireless), Keystone Wireless (Immix Wireless/PC Man), Metro PCS, Mosaic (Consolidated or CTC Telecom), MTA Communications
, MTPCS (Cellular One Nation), Nex-Tech Wireless, NTelos, Panhandle Communications, Peoples Wireless, Pine Cellular, Pioneer, Plateau (Texas RSA 3 Ltd), RINA, Sagebrush Cellular (Nemont), SI Wireless/Mobile Nation, Simmetry (TMP Corporation), SouthernLinc, SRT Wireless, Thumb Cellular, Union Wireless, United Wireless, U.S. Cellular, Viaero Wireless, Virgin Mobile, and West Central (WCC or 5 Star Wireless).

MMS-enabled US short codes are able to deliver MMS messages to the following mobile phone carriers: AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and T-Mobile. For carriers that do not offer MMS support, cloudwi.re will use long codes to deliver your MMS message.

Puerto Rico: Puerto Rico is supported in the US on only 3 of the 4 major carriers. However, delivery is not guaranteed. Supported carriers are: AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint. Verizon is not supported.

Yes, but not on short codes.  The cloudwi.re platform is agnostic from the send/receive side of things.  Meaning, if you are generating opt-ins through a web-form you can then post the number and message to cloudwi.re and we’ll lookup the country of origin and fire the message.  Most international traffic goes out on US global enabled long codes.  But we do maintain long codes in Canada, Mexico, Britain, Brazil and Australia.  If you are planning SMS to countries other than listed here, it’s a simple task to add long codes to the SMS API.

The cloudwi.re platform uses a service to lookup the carrier info of the mobile subscriber.  If the subscriber is not on a short code supported carrier, cloudwi.re will select a long code to deliver the traffic on.  The lookup is done for each message request. If the subscriber moves to a supported short code carrier, cloudwi.re will send messages to them on a short code. However, the long code the subscriber originally used to communicate with your store will remain in place and any message sent by the subscriber from it will be posted to your store.

Because cloudwi.re spreads opted-in subscribers over three short codes for 2-way communication, we can pool the available message throttle.  Those three communication short codes are throttled at 200 message per second each.  Combined, cloudwi.re can deliver a maximum of 600 messages per second.  However, we break campaign specific traffic into queues.  For message campaigns, we hold open two campaign queues which are each throttled at 225 messages per second.  One campaign queue can deliver 13,500 messages per minute.  For individual subscriber (non-campaign) messaging, cloudwi.re holds open 50 messages per second of throttle per short code.  This results in an extremely low message latency rate even during significant usage events.

Yes!  cloudwi.re hosts both dedicated 2-way messaging short codes and dedicated keyword short codes that hook up to our 2-way communication short codes.  Keep in mind that we do not consider this a competitive or core aspect of our business. The primary reason that Clients host with us is that they do not want to build all of the logic rules that come with maintaining compliance.  Not sure what to do?  Schedule a call with us.

The cloudwi.re SMS Restful API speaks JSON and is served up over HTTPS.  It handles tasks both synchronously and asynchronously to keep things speedy.  There are 30 methods to the public API. It is beautifully documented to get you going quickly. We think we’ve seen it all with regards to SMS and apps. Prove us wrong.

Yes.  Although the core of our is developer focused, a user-interface is provided and most functions available via the API are accessible via the administrative portal.  There is no additional cost. cloudwi.re is working towards a more non-technical product for small businesses to send and receive messages. Contact us to find out more about projected release dates.

cloudwi.re makes use of our our US Patent to guarantee 2-way messaging.  When an opt-in event occurs, the unique subscriber mobile ID is looked up to determine its relationship between any other cloudwi.re stores or accounts.  If none exist, cloudwi.re selects a short code to bind (or marry) the mobile ID to the short code for the life of the opt-in.  However, if the mobile ID is binded to a short code with another store or account, then cloudwi.re selects a code to which there is no bind.  It’s essentially like calling your friend or spouse.  They each have a unique number.  With this in mind, cloudwi.re selects a unique number (short code) to act as the go between your application and the subscriber.

For outbound messages, cloudwi.re can support character counts up to 1600. cloudwi.re concatenate your message into one message body on supported carriers.  Message status is also included including relevant error codes if a message fails.  For inbound messages, cloudwi.re will post those in real-time to a URL of the developer’s choosing.  IBM Watson message sentiment is also included in every inbound message.  cloudwi.re will tell you who the message is from, what code it came in on, what the message body is and the media the subscriber sent (if included). Each inbound message also includes and opt-out classifier which analyzes whether the subscriber is attempting to opt-out.

cloudwi.re will deliver your MMS message as a shortened URL linked to your media on unsupported MMS carriers.

cloudwi.re provides intelligence on mobile numbers to developers who request it.  cloudwi.re has a free E.164 format lookup tool which will tell you whether a number format is valid and the country of origin.  Pay per request tools include Carrier ID, a fraud lookup to protect against fraudulent commerce and a subscriber reverse lookup which includes the subscriber’s name, address, social handles and known emails. Cloudwi.re strives to provide our Clients access to all tools possible to understand their customer base.