IBM Cloud SMS service

Create a subscription with IBM SMS service as destination

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

2. 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.

3. Complete the following subscription details:

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

4. Select IBM Cloud SMS service as Destination from the list.

5. The Recipients section displays three tabs:

   • Invited - displays the list of phone numbers that are added to the subscription. Enter the phone numbers that need to receive SMS notifications as part of this subscription.
   • Active - displays the list of phone numbers that are added to the subscription and confirmed by the user to receive SMS notifications.
   • Unsubscribed - displays the list of phone numbers that are added to the subscription and where the user declined to receive SMS notifications.

   Add phone numbers with a + and country code, separated by commas (,), for users who need to receive SMS messages as part of this subscription.

6. Click Create subscription. The recipient automatically receives an initial message stating 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 to a web page. The web page contains information about the SMS notification subscription for the topic and a Confirm button. When the recipient clicks Confirm, the recipient's number is moved from the Invited tab to the Active tab. A confirmation message is displayed stating that the recipient has accepted to receive SMS notifications. The confirmation message also contains an Unsubscribe link, which moves the recipient's number to the Unsubscribed tab.
• an expiration time for the opt-in message.

Notifications are routed only to opted-in recipients. To stop receiving notifications, a recipient can click the Unsubscribe link in the message. After unsubscribing, the recipient does not receive any notifications for that topic. To restart the subscription, the recipient must contact the IBM Event Notifications service administrator to add the number back to the subscription.

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

When a recipient does not want to receive any SMS notifications, they can opt out by sending a STOP response, which immediately disables notifications to that recipient. However, the phone number is moved to the Unsubscribed tab only on the next attempt to send an SMS to that 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.
2. 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 represent on behalf of yourself and your company that you have properly informed the individuals, to whom the added phone numbers pertain, of their addition to this recipient list and purpose thereof, and have the required consents to do so.

Total SMS Units

The total number of SMS units consumed for the notification is calculated as follows:

Total SMS units = (Number of Segments) x (Number of phone numbers) x (SMS Unit for the country)

In this example, with five subscribed phone numbers - two in the United States, two in Mexico, and one in France - the total number of SMS units would be:

SMS units for United States is: 3 x 2 x 0.61 = 3.66
SMS units for Mexico is: 3 x 2 x 1.93 = 11.58
SMS units for France is: 3 x 1 x 2.48 = 7.44

Total SMS units = 22.68

Total SMS Price

The total cost of SMS messages sent is calculated as follows:

Total SMS price = (Number of Segments) x (Number of phone numbers) x (Price In USD for the country)

In this example, the total cost of SMS messages sent would be:

SMS price for United States is: 3 x 2 x 0.0098515 = 0.059109 USD
SMS price for Mexico is: 3 x 2 x 0.0311695 = 0.187017 USD
SMS price for France is: 3 x 1 x 0.040052 = 0.120156 USD

Total SMS price = 0.366282 USD

Alternative Calculation

Alternatively, the total cost of SMS messages sent can be calculated using:

Total SMS Price = Total SMS units x 0.01615 ($0.01615 USD/Outbound Digital Message SMS Unit)

Total SMS price = 22.68 x 0.01615 = 0.366282 USD

Charging for Successfully Sent Messages

Regardless of whether the message was successfully delivered to the local device, you are charged for messages that are successfully sent by the IBM Cloud SMS service to the local SMS provider. Verify your phone number list carefully to prevent unnecessary charges.

For personalized numbers or for higher volume and price negotiations, see more details.

You can monitor your SMS usage by setting up a monitoring dashboard through the Actions menu in the Event Notifications dashboard. See Monitor Event Notifications service metrics with IBM Cloud Monitoring for details.