In September 2023 the following 3 x changes will be made by UK networks, to your ‘Send’ configurations:
Change 1:International numeric sender IDs (numeric sender ID’s not starting with 00XX/+XX) will be blocked
The MIS handles this requirement by adding +44 to the sender number after you send a message. The sender number is found under Config > Communication > Configurations. It will either use the School Telephone Number found in Config > Administration > Core Details, or the Other Sender number.
Change 2: Short codes which don’t follow correct UK short code format (five digits starting with 6-8) will be blocked.
The MIS does not allow Short Codes to be used. If you try it will fail with an error message.
Change 3: Generic senders such as “Alert”, “Verify” & “Info” and senders containing any alternative generic terms will be blocked.
The majority of customers will be unaffected by this. Please make sure you do not use these generic terms. See example below from Config > Communication > Configurations.
A full list of the blocked terms are listed below:
FAQs
Q: What characters are supported in the sender name?
Alphabet characters A-Z and a-z, numeric 0-9, and punctuation characters are supported.
Q: Does this mean that numbers in Bromcom that do not have +44 would be rejected?
The restriction is the SENDER ID – which means, where the message comes FROM not where it goes to.
All messages TO your intended recipients will continue to be sent providing you have text credits in Bromcom and the above criteria is met. You do not need to change any contact numbers, but over summer you can do some housekeeping to check that numbers are stored correctly (see final FAQ).
Q: My school has a Virtual Textback Number (Textback service), do I need to do anything?
If you use a Textback number, you are unaffected by the change. The sending number gets overwritten with your virtual number.
Q: What if I send TO international numbers, for example staff who have international numbers or pupil contacts?
If you currently have International telephone numbers in Bromcom in your recipient lists, you will be required to add the International code or the message will fail. This would be the case now, too. You can check the numbers by importing a report from the Online Reporting Repository:
