SMS throughput: definition and how it works
Published and updated
SMS throughput is the number of messages a sender can push into the network per unit of time, and it is set by the sender type: a handset, a long code, a short code or an SMPP bind each have their own ceiling.
How it works
Throughput decides how long a send takes, and it is the number most often ignored until a batch is late. Every sender type has a ceiling. A phone sends one SMS at a time through its radio, so a handset drains on the order of ten to fifteen messages a minute, and a long message counts as several. A single long code on a cloud provider is typically capped at about one message per second by the carriers. A registered 10DLC campaign gets a rate tied to its trust score. Short codes deliver tens or hundreds per second. An SMPP bind to a carrier is limited by contract and by windowing.
Planning is arithmetic. A thousand messages from one phone is over an hour; from a long code, about seventeen minutes; from a short code, seconds. If a send must finish inside a window, the sender type or the number of senders has to match the volume. Spreading a batch across several long codes, or across several devices, multiplies the rate.
Throughput interacts with filtering. A consumer SIM that suddenly sends hundreds of identical messages looks like a SIM box to the carrier, so a phone gateway is only as fast as the carrier tolerates, not as fast as the radio allows.
Receiving has limits too, but they are far higher, since inbound messages queue at the message centre until the handset fetches them.
How this applies with textbee
One textbee device sends roughly 10 to 15 messages a minute, so a large blast takes time to drain. For higher rates add devices to the account; the account-level send endpoint spreads work across them. Keep bulk sends to consented recipients, since the carrier watches patterns on consumer SIMs.
Related terms
- Short code: A short code is a five or six digit phone number leased for high-volume application-to-person SMS within a single country.
- Long code: A long code is a standard full-length phone number, such as a ten-digit United States number, used as the sender of SMS.
- SIM box: A SIM box is a device holding many SIM cards that routes bulk calls or messages through consumer subscriptions to avoid wholesale charges, and carriers actively detect and block it.
- SMPP: SMPP (Short Message Peer-to-Peer) is the binary, persistent-connection protocol that message centres, aggregators and high-volume senders use to exchange SMS with mobile networks.