Ooma joins telecom industry fight against SMS text messaging spam

As if robocalls bothering us at all hours aren’t bad enough, scam artists are abusing the SMS system with huge blasts of unwelcome and often illegal text messages. Relief is coming, thanks to The Campiagn Registry

Ooma is proud to join the telecommunications industry fight against SMS spam through a mandatory program called The Campaign Registry. Founders of the program include the two largest mobile carriers – AT&T, and T-Mobile – and involves nearly 100 communications service providers, such as Ooma.

The idea behind The Campaign Registry, or TCR, is simple: All businesses in the United States that send text messages must verify their identity. Once the system is fully in place, which may be as early as late March 2023, carriers will be able to block text messages from parties who aren’t in the TCR database. Carriers will also be able to kick out any businesses registered with TCR if they violate the rules for responsible SMS marketing campaigns.

Of course, there’s no magic bullet to stop abuse of online communications, whether it’s spam email, robocalls or SMS blasts. But we at Ooma believe TCR is an important and valuable step in the right direction.

Since 2021, Ooma has been reaching out to all Ooma Office business phone system customers who are active users of SMS texting to notify them of the need to register and verify their business with Ooma so we can authenticate them with TCR.

Unfortunately, TCR wanted more information after some customers had already responded to our original emails. Approximately 6,000 Ooma Office customers who send text messages are not fully registered. Due to the fast-approaching deadline, we are boosting our efforts to reach them. Yes, we get the irony of sending out emails and texts that some may view as spam, but we are simply trying to avoid the frustration of getting a text rejected.

For now, Ooma is absorbing any cost for Ooma Office customers to register. Simply call our dedicated SMS Registration hotline at (866) 797-4857. Support will verify the information Ooma has on your account regarding your SMS service, such as email address, business name, your IRS Federal EIN and the mobile phone number you use to send text messages.

Ooma has begun to switch off SMS service for a small number of customers who have not responded to registration requests. SMS service can be restored shortly after the customer completes The Campaign Registry process.

We will update this blog post as new information becomes available from The Campaign Registry.

More information is available on our website.

Customers who aren’t yet using texting and want to add the feature should contact Ooma support, 24 hours a day / 7 days a week, at (866) 939-6662.

The fight against SMS spam and robotexting is an ongoing battle. To our many Ooma Office customers, thanks for your understanding as we work with you to keep unwanted text messages off our phones and computers.