Please note: At this time, the following instructions are being completed by some of our clients as a beta test. We will be sending out an email to all of our clients using the texting feature after we have confirmed that these instructions are the most helpful way to address this issue.
In your IMS database, we use Plivo, a 3rd party vendor, as our intermediary for sending and receiving texts. Plivo (by the requirement of all mobile phone carriers) now has to have all texting customers and campaigns vetted & approved before texts can be sent. Please note that this change affects all intermediaries and it is not unique to Plivo.
We are very sorry for the hassle of this, but it is required by the US phone carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile & Verizon).
This requirement is new and you may have received emails about from Plivo before it went into effect.
We are providing the following instructions as a courtesy to help you navigate this transition as smoothly as possible. Again, we apologize for this interruption that is out of our control!
Before You Begin
-
You must first login to your Plivo account. Please note that Plivo has 2-factor authentication that was setup when your Plivo account was registered.
-
You must make sure you have enough money in your account to cover the one-time registration fee and the new monthly charge required for compliance. As of this writing, it is $4 for the vetting and $1.50/month for the compliance. This number may be more if you have more than one phone number. We recommend adding $30 of funds to your to your account.
-
You must have your tax identification number available (your EIN for your organization).
After logging into your Plivo account:
**Step 1. Go to Messages in the Navigation Menu and then select 10DLC. On the 10DLC page click Register for the Standard option
Step 2. Answer the questions to register your brand, which is your organization.
Please note that as you register your organization, you will be asked about your “Vertical” and your “Entity Type”. Of the options available, the best option for Vertical is “Education” and the option for Entity Type is Non-Profit.
At the end of the registration screen, you will be asked about what kind of vetting you want. Select "Submit my brand without secondary vetting for $4. (This is sufficient if you don’t send more than 2000 messages/carrier a day, 75 messages/minute/carrier.) Click Continue.
Step 3. Register Your Campaign.
A campaign represents the overall type of texts that you send to your clients & program participants. We recommend that you name your campaign “Client Communication” as the simplest way to explain what you do with the texts.
For the Campaign Type, select “Low Volume,” which costs $1.50 per month. (This is sufficient if you don’t send more than 2000 messages/carrier a day, 75 messages/minute/carrier.)
You must also provide additional information about your campaign, including a description, message flow, sample messages, support, and opt out information. The following are suggestions only, and you may tailor these answers as you see fit.
Please be sure to enter your organization name in the Campaign description and your organization’s email address in the Help message.
Campaign Description
[Insert organization name here] uses this campaign for client communication.
Message Flow
Clients opt in by providing a mobile phone number and agreeing to receive texts from us for client communication when they apply to our mentoring program. Their opt in is managed in our client database.
Sample Message #1
Thank you for your question. Would you like to schedule a Zoom call today to discuss this more?
Sample Message #2
Hi, this is your child’s case coordinator. I hope all is well with you. I am checking in to see how things are going and if you need anything else from us right now.
Help Message
For help, email [insert your organization email address here}. To opt out, reply STOP.
Opt-out Message
You have opted out and will receive no further messages.
Step 4. Add other email addresses if you want others to be notified about your registration status Please add [email protected]tivementoring.net
Click Submit.
Step 5. You can see the progress of your account. As of this writing, Verizon was manually verifying all accounts, and were saying they have a 5-7 business day turnaround. AT&T and T-Mobile should be faster.
Common issues:
I can’t login to my Plivo account
If you have forgotten your password, click the “Forgot Password” link when you login to Plivo.com
If you do not know your phone number for 2-factor authentication, click on Support in the upper right hand corner
Fill out a Plivo Support Ticket
I don’t have time to do this, can IMS do it for me?
Yes, for a support fee of $120 we can register your Plivo account for you. Reach out to [email protected] if you would like to proceed with this.