Carriers and disconnected numbers

The relationship between people, mobile numbers, and carriers is not static. Actually, it's surprisingly dynamic. People change phone numbers when they move. Or they get suspended for non-payment or other reasons. Or they keep the number, but change carriers (also called 'churn'). When numbers get de-activated, carriers typically re-assign them to other customers within 1-3 months.

It is quite important for content providers to understand the fluid nature of number allocation and assignment, especially if the content provider is offering subscription services. If these changes are not implemented diligently, content providers risk billing the wrong people. This will lead to angry customer support calls, and to carriers shutting down the content provider's short codes.

Here's some carrier specific information regarding handling of number changes:

- Verizon : posts number changes on a daily basis. These include de-activations, suspensions, modifications, and blocking. A de-activation means that the number has been cancelled. A suspension means that the number is temporarily not available. A modification means that the number has changed, and blocking means that the number is not authorized to receive any premium billed transactions.

- Sprint, Cingular, and Dobson : post number changes on a weekly basis. Only provide de-activation information.

- Other carriers currently don't provide any number change information.

When receiving DEACT, or SUSPENSION notices, customers need to opt-out all numbers from all campaigns and stop sending any messages to these numbers. If one of these numbers makes a new opt-in request at a later date, the request can be honored.
When receiving MODIFY notices, customers need to change the subscribers phone number but can leave the subscriber opted-in. (Verizon only)
When receiving BLOCK notices, customers need to block the subscriber from engaging in any premium SMS transaction, even when the customer requests it. BLOCKed phone numbers become UNBLOCKED as soon as they show up on a DEACT feed. (Verizon only)

For Quios customers using the Quios Permission Management System (QPMS), no further action is required. Quios will handle all feeds and take the proper action without any intervention from the content provider. Customers who don't use QPMS will have to download the feeds from the Quios FTP site and implement the proper action. Failure to do so will lead to termination of the shortcode/campaign by the carriers.