What is an Alphanumeric Sender ID?

Alphanumeric Sender ID is the sender telephone number, that contains characters instead of number. This technology allows you to display your company name or brand when you send an SMS from Ozeki SMS Gateway. When the recipient reads the message, she/he will not see a sender telephone number. Instead, she/he will see that the messages came from the company (or brand). The sender ID text will be displayed as the sender phone number.

What kind of characters can be used?

An alphanumeric Sender ID can include both uppercase and lowercase ASCII characters. You can use letters and digits: A-Z, a-z, 0-9.

Can the SMS sender ID contain spaces?

The short answer is no. You cannot use any special characters such as a hyphen, or space: -. The SMS standard does not allow you to use any special characters. Even characters in the GSM 7-bit alphabet are prohibited. Unfortunately, there are no imaginative ways to create visual interest. Even if you use Ozeki SMS Gateway, you cannot send other characters.

What is the maximum length of an alphanumeric sender ID?

The maximum length of an alphanumeric Sender IDs is 11 characters.

Can I use alphanumeric sender ID for phone calls?

Alphanumeric sender IDs are only supported by SMS messages in the mobile telephone network. For VoIP telephone networks, you can use alphanumeric caller ID-s. Ozeki phone system and Ozeki voip sip sdk support alphanumeric caller ID-s.

Benefits of Alphanumeric sender IDs

Avoid spam lists

Many mobile network operators and government agencies filter unwanted SMS messages. Application originated (AO) sms messages with standard Sender IDs increasingly become a victim of such filters. SMS messages sent using alphanumeric sender IDs often avoid such lists. In some countries alphanumeric sender IDs need to be registered, in others they simply do not match the spam filter rules. If you send your marketing messages using alphanumeric sender IDs your service will less likely end up on one of those spam filters. When you use Ozeki SMS Gateway for your marketing campaigns, it is a good idea to configure an alphanumeric sender ID instead of using a standard phone number. Note that SMS short codes give you an even better performance in this aspect.

Better company name or brand name recognition

Brand recognition is great if you use alphanumeric sender IDs. Recipients your business name or brand name for every SMS sent. This is significantly better than presenting them with a set of digits. We recommend that you use Alphanumeric Sender ID to improve brand recognition.

Customers who receive a lot of spam, often don't open a text messages. If you send your SMS with alphanumeric sender ID, there is a better chance for them to open your text. By recognizing the name, customers will now that they have received valuable information from a trustworthy source.

Can I reply to an SMS sent from a sender ID containing letters?

The short answer is no. If a sender id contains letters, it means it is an alphanumeric sender ID. Alphanumeric sender IDs cannot be used as destinations and are not routed in the mobile network. You cannot reply to SMS message sent from alphanumeric sender IDs.