History: Our vendor no longer provides local NZ numbers because Vodafone, as well as other carriers in New Zealand, have recently intensified their message filtering to help prevent malicious/unwanted messages to their subscribers. As a result, SMS delivery over standard routes has degraded.

Vodafone NZ wants customers to send messages from dedicated shortcodes. Dedicated shortcodes can be expensive. A company like ours usually leases one shortcode and then sub-leases access to churches. We have had several NZ requests, but we are not sure if we have enough to justify the costs.

As mentioned, we have an alternative! We are now set up for one-way texting. A direct solution is not set up yet. Our current alternative is based on the fact that you can use a US number to send to most numbers globally.

You can use a US number to send a text to most global numbers. The traffic is converted to a NZ shared short code. The current cost is 15 credits for 1 text message (160 characters). However, this cost may decrease as more NZ church partners join, and we can get better rates.

Step 1: Sign up and pick any US number.

Step 2: Turn on one-way texting. Here is how to toggle on one-way texting: https://help.confirmed.church/en/articles/5637556-settings-one-way-texting

Step 3: Ensure you have general permissions from your audience, integrate, and let our system do the rest.

NOTE: When you use a US number, our carrier will send it via the shared, one-way short code: 8399.

As mentioned, local phone providers want people to use a dedicated short code. In other words, a short code unique to your organization. This would be considered mostly by commercial entities as it’s relatively an expensive solution to set up and maintain—costing thousands each year. If you are willing or interested, please reach out to us.