Message Deliverability - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Does Convey support DLR (delivery receipts)?

Yes. Delivery receipts - referred to as DLR - provide visibility to the greatest level of delivery confirmation in countries and with carriers who support DLR. For more information, check out the full article on Carrier Delivery Receipts as well as details about other types of message status acknowledgement.

2. Can SMS be used to send emergency notifications?

Yes. However, due to some limitations inherent in the design of SMS, we recommend also incorporating other channels and methods into your outbound notification to get as near as possible to 100% coverage in case of emergencies. Note that carriers maintain a disclaimer stating that they are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. SMS service reliability is described as “best effort” equivalent. Additionally, SMS lacks the ability to prioritize emergency messages. This means that your important message could be queued behind millions of other messages being processed at any given moment. Furthermore, SMS is not a real-time communications service, but rather utilizes “store-and-forward” technology, thereby potentially causing delays in delivery. Lastly, note that SMS was not designed with security mechanisms (although though this may not be relevant for all applications).

If you are interested in SMS service tailored toward emergency messages, we recommend exploring Convey's platforms which specifically provide continuity across SMS/MMS (via short code), RCS, push, email and voice channels to offer the best possible coverage for emergency notifications. These platforms provides multi-point redundancy within geographically dispersed data centers to ensure five-nines reliability.