Normal phone numbers contain between 5 and 14 digits. For example 07700912345 is a mobile number in the UK and 03 9345 1868 is a local number in Sydney Australia.

All countries operate short codes, the most common of which are the three digit codes like 911 or 112 which are used to call the local emergency services.

Most countries offer shortcodes for other uses. These are typically 4, 5 or 6 digits long. Shortcodes make it easy for the consumer to remember the number of a service or organisation.

Shortcodes are assigned on a country by country basis and it is difficult to have the same shortcode in many countries.

There are two situations in which you must use a shortcode and at least one situation in which you may wish to use a shortcode even though you do not have to do so.

1. If you wish to charge the recipient

This is called Premium Rate SMS or PRSMS. In this case the recipient can be charged when you send a message to them (MT PRSMS) or can be charged when they send a message to your shortcode (MO PRSMS). You can charge the recipient anything from a few cents to several Dollars, Euros or whatever the local currency is.

The networks will take between 50% and 100% of the fee charged to the end user dependent on the price and the volume of messages. We will take a small percentage, typically 5%, and the rest is yours. See Zero Rated and Out-payments below for more details.

2. For the convenience of users who wish to text you.

As explained above a shortcode is much easier for a person to remember so they are especially useful for publicly advertised campaigns.

2. If you wish to send any messages to the USA

Connection Software has US shortcodes and you may be able to use one of ours as a Shared Shortcode. See below for more information on the shortcodes in the USA

If you lease a dedicated shortcode, the number is allocated to you and you can use it in (almost) any way you wish.

If you lease a shared shortcode then you share that shortcode with other people. To enable us to deliver the incoming message to the right person we route based on the first word in the message we receive. We call that word your "keyword" for that shortcode . For example if your keyword was "play" and your shortcode was 8888 then you might advertise "Text PLAY followed by your favourite colour to 8888 for a chance to win"

If we received the message "play green" we would know that this message was for you and we would forward the message, date and time and caller number to you.

If you have a dedicated shortcode we just forward all incoming messages to you.

Shared shortcodes are much cheaper than dedicated shortcodes.

Providing a US shortcode is neither cheap nor painless. We are here to help you with that process.

What is an MT billed shortcode?

With Premium Rate SMS (PRSMS) the person owning the mobile handset will be charged a premium (extra charge) for either sending or receiving a message to or from your shortcode.

You can charge the recipient anything from a few cents to several Dollars, Euros or whatever the local currency is.

The networks will take between 50% and 100% (yes 100%) of the fee charged to the end user dependent on the price and the volume of messages. We will take a small percentage, typically 5-7%, and the rest is yours. See Zero Rated and Out-payments below for more details.

This is something of a misnomer. In this case the Premium Rate charge is Zero - meaning that the handset owner will only be charged their normal text messaging charges with no additional "premium" charge.

Use a Zero Rated Shortcode if you do not want to make money out of using the shortcode.

In principle you can send or receive "anything" including SMS, MMS, .gif .jpg or .png images, polyphonic tones, mp3 files, games, java MidLets, videos, sounds and more.

Reality is different!

There are a number of things that can stand in the way:

• Can the phone decode and display the file format. You may be surprised to discover that even phones by the same manufacturer have vastly different capabilities.
• Does the Network permit you to send files in these formats using the shortcode you have? For example a US shortcode can be configured to EITHER permit Binary or Plain Text messages to T-Mobile phones in the USA. If you want to send both you need two shortcode. This is probably a commercial decision rather than a technical one. US networks are also difficult because of the range of technologies employed which places restrictions. See US & Canada for more information
• To send binary content such as images, sounds or movies, we use either WAP PUSH or MMS Notifications. These require the phone to have a GPRS or 3G connection to receive the image. Not all phones are setup correctly and this may require the recipient to contact their network operator to get their phone configured.
• Different operators also restrict the type of content that you can send. For example porn is prohibited to the US and Saudi Arabia. There are many other restrictions which we can advise you about.

You would be wise to test your ability to deliver content to a particular phone before sending your Premium Rate content.

As mentioned above the amount of money you receive for each Premium Rate message that you deliver varies depending on

1. The network that the recipient is connected to
2. The "price point" that the message is charged at e.g. $5
3. The total volume of messages delivered at that price point by you in one month

You will see the out-payment table under the particular country and service. See http://www.csoft.co.uk/shortcode and select the country you are interested in. Exact details will be confirmed before you sign the contract.