When your brand and campaigns are registered, every message you send incurs a carrier fee. These fees can vary based on the carrier and message type, and they may change over time.

On average, the cost for sending messages in the U.S. is approximately $0.003 to $0.015 per segment. The exact fee depends on the carrier and the length of your message, as SMS fees are charged per segment. Typically, MMS fees are higher than SMS fees.

For messages sent via T-Mobile, here's what you'll pay:

The fees for AT&T carrier are as follows:

Verizon is another carrier that imposes fees for A2P messaging. The fees are relatively low compared to other carriers.

The fees for US Cellular carriers are as follows:

Due to the volume of messages processed and the need for accurate billing based on registration scores, Aloware implements a 24-hour delay in charging A2P fees.

While message costs are deducted from your account in real-time, the associated A2P fees are consolidated and charged the next day. This delay may cause your balance to drop overnight and trigger an auto-recharge.

Example:

Let's say your text rate with us is 1.0¢ per message, and you want to send to 30,000 contacts. Also let's assume the A2P fee for each message is 0.3¢ across the board (in reality, these depend on the contact's carrier). Your account balance is currently $100.

When you send your campaign at 10 am, on Dec 3rd, we deduct SMS charges against your balance as messages go out, so in a few minutes, when 1000 messages are out, your balance declines by $10 to $90. While your campaign is ongoing, you'll see your balance slowly paying for the messages until it reaches below your auto-recharge threshold.

Having reached that auto-recharge threshold, we perform an auto-recharge (for $250). So in the end, your account will look like this:

Now, normally we would expect all those 30k messages to be hit by a 30,000 x 0.003 = $90 fee and another auto-recharge to kick in to cover the fees as they go. But as we explained above, this is not the case - Aloware aggregates all those fees and applies them the next day. Hence you'd see your balance dropping to -$40, and another auto-recharge to cover for it.

By understanding how A2P fees are charged and the specific carrier fees for SMS and MMS, you can better manage your messaging costs. Aloware’s cost calculator allows you to estimate both the base charges and carrier surcharges before sending your campaigns, helping you avoid any surprises.