---
name: event-notifications-en-destination-sms-custom
title: IBM Cloud SMS and MMS service with Custom SMS
description: You can configure a Custom SMS destination in the **Destinations** page.
last-updated: 2024-07-29
---

> ## Documentation Index
> The table of contents for this documentation set is at https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/event-notifications?format=markdown
> The index for all IBM Cloud docs is at: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use these files to discover more information as needed.

# IBM Cloud SMS and MMS service with Custom SMS
{: #en-destinations-sms-custom}

You can configure a Custom SMS destination in the **Destinations** page.

Custom SMS destination is not supported by Lite Plan. To know more about the plans and destinations available, refer [here](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/event-notifications?topic=event-notifications-getting-started&format=markdown)
{: note}

## Custom SMS personalized numbers
{: #en-destinations-sms-custom-numbers}

After creating the destination, you must explicitly request these numbers to use this destination for sending events. To request for numbers [contact us](mailto:mbluemix@in.ibm.com?subject=[Custom%20SMS]%20:%20%20Request%20for%20Personalised%20numbers&body=Kindly%20provide%20the%20following%20details:%0D%0A%0D%0AInstance%20CRN:%0D%0ADestination%20ID:%0D%0ACountries:%0D%0ARegion:%0D%0APhone%20Number%20Type:%20[short-code,%20alphanumeric,%20long-code).

Provide the following details: the destination ID, CRN of the event notification instance, along with the list of countries for which you need to send notifications using this destination.

Provisioning the phone numbers may take six to eight weeks depending on the country and phone number type.
{: note}

## Using a Custom SMS destination
{: #en-destinations-sms-custom-use}

To use the SMS service destination, add it to a subscription along with the phone numbers of the recipients. Within a single subscription, you can add up to 3 phone numbers for lite plan and 100 phone numbers for standard plan. The subscription also needs a topic to filter events of interest from your sources. When an event lands in the topic, Event Notifications immediately routes the event notification to your SMS recipients.

To comply with the regulatory standards, you may need to get a consent (opt-in) from the SMS recipients to receive SMSes from each of the Event Notifications subscriptions.

### Create a subscription with Custom SMS as destination
{: #en-create-subscription-sms-custom-destination}

1. Click **Topics** in the Event Notifications instance.
Create a new topic or select an existing topic to configure the subscription for.

1. If you are creating a new topic, configure **Topic**, **Filters**, and **Subscriptions** in the flow.
For an existing topic, click **Edit** in the **Actions** menu and click the **Subscriptions** tab.

1. Complete the following subscription details:

   - `Name`: name of the subscription.
   - `Description`: add an optional description for this subscription.

1. Select Custom SMS destination created as **Destination** from the list.

1. The **Recipients** section displays three tabs:

   - _Invited_ - displays the list of phone numbers added to the subscription. Enter the phone numbers that need to receive SMS notifications and need to be part of the subscription.
   - _Active_ - displays the list of phone numbers added to the subscription and confirmed by the user to receive SMS notifications.
   - _Unsubscribed_ - displays the list of phone numbers added to the subscription and refused by the user not to receive SMS notifications.

   Add the phone numbers prefixed with _+_ followed by the _country code_, with comma (,) as separator between the numbers.

Make sure that the phone numbers added belong to the destination supported countries, else SMS delivery may fail.
{: note}

1. Click **Create subscription**. The recipient automatically receives initial message that they have been invited to subscribe to the topic. This is the `opt-in` message.

The Opt-in message contains:

- invitee name or account
- name of the subscription
- name of the topic
- a link that will take you to a web page. The web page contains information that the recipient is subscribed to receive SMS notifications to a topic and a **Confirm** button. When the recipient click the **Confirm** button, then the recipient's number is moved from _Invited_ tab to _Active_ tab. A confirmation message also displaying that the recipient has accepted to receive SMS notifications. The confirmation message also contains a link to **Unsubscribe**, which on clicking moves to recipient's number to the _Unsubscribed_ tab.
- an expiration time for the opt-in message.

Event Notifications are routed only to opted-in recipients. To stop receiving the notifications, recipient can click the **Unsubscribe** link in the message. Once unsubscribed, the recipients will not receive any notifications on the topic they have unsubscribed. To restart the subscription, the recipient need to contact IBM Event Notifications service administrator to add the number back to subscription.

In some cases, the carrier service allows keywords like `START` and `STOP` for receiving notifications and to stop notifications.

When a recipient prefers not to receive any SMS notification, they can opt out by sending a response `STOP`, which immediately disables sending notifications to the recipient. However, the phone number is moved to **Unsubscribed** tab only on the next attempt to send an SMS to the same number.

To add a recipient number back to active list, take the following steps:

1. Recipient needs to send `START` message back to the number from which SMS was received.
1. After sending `START` message, the recipient can contact their IBM Event Notifications service administrator to add the number back to subscription.

By adding phone numbers, you affirm, on behalf of yourself and your company, that you have adequately informed the individuals to whom the added phone numbers pertain about their inclusion in this recipient list and the purpose thereof. Additionally, you confirm that you have obtained the necessary consents to perform this action.
{: note}

## SMS segment
{: #en-destinations-sms-custom-segment}

SMS segments are character batches (of length 160 characters) of an SMS message, used by carriers to measure the size of the message.

If a message contains less than 160 characters, then it is considered as one SMS segment. If a message contains more than 160 characters then it is considered as 2 segments, first segment has 160 character and the second segment has 40 characters.

## Custom SMS charges
{: #en-destinations-sms-custom-charge}

The SMS charges will vary depending on the country and phone number type. The details will be provided in response to your email request.

## MMS Service
{: #en-destinations-sms-custom-mms}

The Custom SMS destination supports Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) along with SMS to the subscribed phone numbers. MMS recommended limit is 500kb and 1,600 characters.

## MMS Supported countries and charges
{: #en-destinations-mms-custom-charge}

MMS messages are charged in terms of `SMS Units`. An SMS unit is a fixed unit of cost. Therefore, the number of units that are consumed by a message varies based on the destination country, and Event Notifications service charges vary.
The following table shows SMS Units charged for each MMS sent.

| Supported Country Code        | SMS Units |
|-------------------------------|-----------|
| +1 (Canada) | 2.11847 units |
| +1 (United States) | 2.11847 units |
{: caption="MMS supported countries, units per message" caption-side="bottom"}