Shocked at your latest phone bill? Maybe your team is starting to text more customers, and that might be driving up your costs.
If you’ve noticed a fee category titled “carrier fees,” you might be wondering where they come from. You might also be wondering how to avoid paying more than is necessary.
Good news! This guide breaks down how carrier fees work, when they apply, and what they typically cost. You’ll also learn how to avoid them altogether with an SMS service that keeps costs low.
What are carrier fees?
A carrier fee is a per-message surcharge that’s charged by most US and Canadian mobile carriers whenever you send a text. Think of it like a toll for using their network infrastructure to send your messages. These fees apply to most business texting in the US and Canada, including carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.
Carrier fees often depend on five factors:
- Your phone provider: Major carrier networks charge different prices for sending texts. For example, T-Mobile may charge $0.0030 per outgoing SMS segment, while Verizon may charge $0.0040.
- Number type: Your carrier fees change depending on the type of number you use. Long code numbers, like local and toll-free numbers, are more affordable than short code numbers.
- Destination country: Domestic messaging is relatively inexpensive. International texting costs more. Even texting US territories like Puerto Rico may have higher fees compared to texting a number in the continental states.
- Service provider:The type of platform you use to send texts will also impact your monthly bill. Some platforms charge add-ons to send texts. Others, like Quo, include texting in their pricing plans.
- Message type: You can send SMS or MMS messages to your customers. Depending on the type of message you send, your carrier may charge a different rate.
Keep reading for a full breakdown of SMS versus MMS carrier fees.
How do carrier fees differ between SMS and MMS?
Carrier fees have different costs depending on the types of text messages you send. Your two main options: SMS,which stands for Short Message Service, and MMS,which stands for Multimedia Messaging Service.
SMS messages typically have lower fees than MMS since they only support basic texts up to 160 characters. MMS supports 1,600-character texts, plus images, videos, and GIFs. It’s why most MMS carrier fees are double or even triple the cost of SMS.
How much do carrier fees typically cost?
Want to know your carrier fee costs so you can decide which carrier you should use? With so many different factors that impact carrier fees, it can be challenging to get an accurate estimate. Here’s a breakdown of the average per-message rates and carrier fees you can expect to pay:
Long code carrier fees
10-digit long code numbers are your standard local phone numbers. They’re designed for one-to-one communications. Here’s how much you can expect to pay in carrier fees when you use a long code number:
| Carrier | SMS – Outbound | SMS – Inbound | MMS – Outbound | MMS – Inbound |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T | $0.003 | $0.003 | $0.0075 | $0.0075 |
| T-Mobile | $0.003 | $0.003 | $0.01 | $0.01 |
| Verizon | $0.004 | – | $0.0065 | – |
| US Cellular | $0.005 | – | $0.01 | – |
| All other carriers | $0.004 | – | $0.01 | – |
Toll-free carrier fees
Toll-free numbers are your 800 area code numbers that are popular for nationwide communications. They’re a unique offering that allows customers to message you over long distances without having to bear the costs. Instead, you bear the costs of receiving toll-free texts, which is reflected in some of your carrier fees.
Here’s a breakdown of how much you can expect to pay in fees with a toll-free number:
| Carrier | SMS – Outbound | SMS – Inbound | MMS – Outbound | MMS – Inbound |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T | $0.003 | $0.003 | $0.0075 | $0.0075 |
| T-Mobile | $0.003 | $0.003 | $0.01 | $0.01 |
| Verizon | $0.004 | – | $0.0065 | – |
| US Cellular | $0.0025 | $0.0025 | $0.005 | $0.005 |
| All other carriers | $0.004 | – | $0.01 | – |
Short code carrier fees
Short code numbers are dedicated numbers that are used for high-volume texting. Businesses often use them for bulk messaging to advertise promotions and discounts.
Here’s a breakdown of how much you can expect to pay in fees with a short code number:
| Carrier | SMS – Outbound | SMS – Inbound | MMS – Outbound | MMS – Inbound |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T | $0.003 | – | $0.0075 | – |
| T-Mobile | $0.0025 | $0.0025 | $0.01 | $0.01 |
| Verizon | $0.004 | – | $0.0065 | – |
| US Cellular | $0.0035 | – | $0.01 | – |
| All other carriers | $0.0025 – $0.0035 | – | – | – |
How you can avoid carrier fees with a VoIP business phone
Texting more customers shouldn’t have to mean spending more money. Thankfully, not all phone systems require carrier fees..
This includes Quo: a business phone system for growing businesses. Quo offers unlimited calling and texting from a local US orCanadian long code number or a North American toll-free number on all pricing plans. When you send two-way texts to US and Canadian numbers with Quo, you won’t pay carrier fees at all.
While Quo doesn’t have per-message carrier fees, there are still some fees you need to pay to comply with A2P 10DLC regulations. These regulations were pushed for by carriers to combat spam messages sent to their customers. If you text any US number from a local phone number, you’ll have to complete US carrier registration. We’ve made this process hassle-free in our app.
Here are the carrier registration fees you can expect to pay.
All of these are pass-through fees, which means we don’t make money off them. They go to The Campaign Registry (TCR) and other third-party entities that help you maintain good standing with US cell carriers. You’ll pay a one-time $19.50 registration fee, plus a variable monthly fee based on your business type:
- $1.50 per month if you register as a business with a tax ID
- $2 per month as a sole proprietor
- $3 per month as a non-profit
Keep in mind if your submission is rejected, you’ll need to pay a $15 resubmission fee to reapply. Our submission process is designed to follow registration requirements. We try to reduce the possibility of rejection.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on the carrier registration process:
If you have a toll-free number, you’ll need to complete a separate toll-free number registration, which is free with Quo.
In the spirit of transparency, there are two other potential texting costs with Quo:
- Automated texting: Want to send automated texts with tools like Zapier, Make, or the Quo API? We charge $0.01 per segment for automated texting with these tools.
- International texting: We charge affordable rates for texts sent to numbers outside the US and Canada. If you plan on texting international numbers, check out our rate sheet to estimate how much you might spend.
Grow your business with Quo
Carrier fees are pretty much a given with text messaging service providers.
But small business phone systems like Quo don’t charge carrier fees at all, which could save you time, money, and unexpected monthly bills.
Here are the other features you can access, along with zero carrier fees:
- Unlimited calls and texts in the US and Canada, plus transparent costs for international calls
- Texting automations like auto-replies, which let you respond when you’re unavailable to pick up the phone
- Snippets to create text message templates
- Scheduled texts in your recipient’s time zone
- Integrations with 8,000+ third-party apps via Zapier and Make to connect with other tools in your business tech stack
- Support for group texting so you can send texts to multiple people
- Shared SMS inboxes so you can split responsibility for incoming customer texts
- Internal threads and mentions to assign texts to your team, ask for clarification, or collaborate on responses
- 24/7 AI call answering with our voice agent, Sona, so you can reduce missed calls and serve customers around the clock
Starting at $15 per user per month, Quo is the best solution for texting customers without carrier fees.
As you can see, we offer much more than just cost savings. You can test our platform for yourself by signing up for a seven-day free trial.
FAQs
The easiest way to avoid unexpected additional fees is to sign up for a business phone system like Quo. Quo doesn’t charge carrier fees on 1:1 messages to the US and Canada.
Telecom carriers like T-Mobile and US Cellular charge carrier fees to deliver text messages to recipients. In contrast, messaging platform fees refer to the monthly subscription you pay for software like Quo to send and manage messages.
If you’re traveling internationally, you can avoid paying extra fees by using a service like Quo. That’s because texts are sent over a WiFi-powered internet connection rather than a mobile network. This ensures that you don’t need to worry about additional routing costs.
Carriers need to maintain a network infrastructure to deliver your text messages — and fees help pay for this expense. Fees also help prevent spam and bulk unsolicited messages since sending those at scale can get expensive fast.
Keep in mind these fees can vary between carriers, especially when sending messages from different types of numbers. You might lower these fees by switching to a VoIP system. Some platforms, like Quo, don’t charge carrier fees at all.
Yes, you’ll have to pay carrier surcharges when you send messages to countries outside the US and Canada. These rates are for international mobile networks, which are not covered by your Quo plan.
We provide clear, transparent pricing for international calls and texts so you always know what to expect. This way, you can connect with your global customers without guessing how much you might spend every month.
