SMS Throughput
Throughput is how fast carriers let you send. Trust score sets it under 10DLC; vetting raises it; short codes buy out of the problem.
Throughput is the speed limit of SMS. AT&T enforces per-minute rates by trust tier, T-Mobile enforces daily message caps per brand, and Verizon manages filtering dynamically.
Representative 10DLC tiers: unvetted or sole proprietor brands may see under 1-4 messages per second and T-Mobile caps as low as 1,000-2,000 segments/day; standard vetted brands commonly land at 75 messages per second class rates with caps from 10,000 to 200,000 segments/day depending on score.
Throughput planning matters for time-sensitive sends: a 50,000-recipient blast at low tier takes hours and can breach daily caps mid-campaign. Options are raising the trust score via vetting, spreading sends, or moving to a short code.
Frequently asked questions
Related glossary terms
The trust score is a 0-100 rating assigned to a registered 10DLC brand by TCR's vetting partners. It determines message throughput, T-Mobile daily caps, and per-message fees.
A short code is a 5- or 6-digit phone number leased for high-volume A2P SMS, offering the highest throughput available but costing roughly $500-$1,250 per month plus a multi-week approval process.
A message segment is the billing unit of SMS: 160 GSM-7 characters per single message, 153 per segment when concatenated, and only 70 (67 concatenated) when Unicode characters like emoji are present.