1. I would like to be normal user. What are the procedures?
2. Why a SMS has been sent out but recipient has not received it?
3. Is there any characters limit on SMS?
4. Do you provide phone numbers database?
5. Is there any sponsored SMS for charity organizations?
6. Can I provide the phone numbers and SMS content to your colleagues and ask them to send for me?
7. How do you protect the customer privacy and ensure that the data is not disclosed?
8. Can I send SMS message in other languages besides English?
9. How do I send messages to multiple different recipients?
10. Can recipient replies a message after receiving the SMS?
11. Can I send SMS to foreign country?
12. I have sent a SMS and observed there are different SMS delivery status occurred, named "RETRY", "EXPIRED", "DELIVERED" etc. What do they mean?
13. Will the SMS be charged if it is sent out failed?
14. What is the SMS validity period?
15. If a SMS is resent by telecommunication operator, will there be an extra charge for each retry?
16. Why does sending a SMS failed to some mobile numbers belonged to 1-Card-2-Number type?
17. Why does China SMS not support SenderID and SMS content will be added "[慧昇資訊]" automatically as the signature prefix?
18. Can I change the signature prefix in the China SMS from "[慧昇資訊]" to my company name?
19. Why does China SMS not support SMS true delivery report?
20. Since China SMS is easily to be filtered, any methods to improve it?
21. What are the differences between the Hong Kong Business Route and the Hong Kong Economic Route?
22. One of the departments in our company is your normal user. We would like to setup a new account for another department to use. We both share the account balance, but the delivery results are not disclosed to each other. Is it possible to do it?
23. What is "Short Message Service (SMS) Sender Registration Scheme"? Is it necessary to apply it before sending SMS? What are the procedures to apply it?

1.

I would like to be normal user. What are the procedures?

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• Setup a trial account and get HK $5 for testing: New user sign up;
• After testing and confirm to use our service, please submit a copy of the business registration certificate by email to Customer Service cs@meteorsis.com to register as normal user. Meanwhile, you may set up at most 5 SenderID with a length of 11 alphanumeric characters or 11 numeric valid mobile phone number;
• Once the document has been approved, you may start to top up for your testing account above. The payment mode is prepaid and there is no expiry day on top up amount: Price List;
• After payment, please send the payment receipt by email to Customer Service cs@meteorsis.com and fill in the log in name, purchased product and contact information: Payment Method;
• Once the payment is confirmed, the top up amount is updated in 10 minutes;
• If you have to send bulk SMS by using WebSMS, please login our web portal: Log in system;
• If you have to send verififcatin code by using MISSSM API, please go to Resource Center to download manuals and samples for reference, and the fourth item is HTTP API Manual: Download File.

2.

Why a SMS has been sent out but recipient has not received it?

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SMS messages are usually sent to the recipient device immediately, but if the number has been deactivated, the device is turned off, or the SMS box is full etc, then delivery time and results are affected. Under the validity period of 1 - 23 hours, if the transmission fails for the above reasons, the supplier's SMSC will resend these messages. After the validity period, this message that failed to be transmitted will be marked as "EXPIRED" and will not be sent again anymore. Each message has a unique message ID for identification, this ID can be used to track its delivery status, the failed reason for the transmission, and charged amount.

3.

Is there any characters limit on SMS?

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Yes. For Hong Kong and foreign SMS, an English message is 160 characters long; Unicode (for example: Traditional Chinese or Simplified Chinese) has a length of 70 characters, including text, punctuation, spaces and line break. This is the length of one single SMS, where one SMS amount is deducted. Since the system supports chain SMS function up to 3 messages, so three SMS amount will be deducted on this case, that means English and Unicode are 459 and 201 characters respectively. For China SMS, its English and Unicode characters length are the same with a maximum length of 459 characters equal to 8 messages. Details are as follows:

4.

4. Do you provide phone numbers database?

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No. Customers need to use their own phone numbers for sending messages.

5.

Is there any sponsored SMS for charity organizations?

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Yes. We support charity business. All charitable organizations can obtain an extra amount top up for HK $200 for the first purchase and an extra 10% amount top up for every purchase. Organization has to provide certificate issued by the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department that it is tax exempted.

6.

Can I provide the phone numbers and SMS content to your colleagues and ask them to send for me?

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No. The entire process of sending messages is handled by customer, including logging in to the website, uploading phone numbers, entering SMS content, and pressing buttons. The advantage of this is that our staff can avoid contact with customers' valuable information, and also reduce unnecessary disclosure of data through email transmission in order to protect the privacy of customers.

7.

How do you protect the customer privacy and ensure that the data is not disclosed? We value customer privacy and concern about the protection of data transmission. These are the technical safety and code of practice as below:

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We value customer privacy and concern about the protection of data transmission. These are the technical safety and code of practice as below:

Technical safety

• All data transfer is encrypted with SSL;
• Account password is only sent to the customer registered mobile phone number by SMS;
• System records the source IP address and date time of each connection access;
• System limits the source IP address of each connection access;
• System only keeps the latest 2 months of delivery records.

Code of practice

• We do not provide service of phone numbers database and it is clearly stated on the website;
• Our staff will not help customers to send out messages, and customers have to process by themselves in order to avoid the contact with customers' valuable information by our staff;
• All front line staffs who provide customer service are trained, and only they are authorized to access customer data. Moreover, our system only display the first 5 characters of SMS content during assistance;
• We are the licensee of OFCA IVANS and the license number is 1449. Our company system structure safety and data processing procedures are strictly in accordance with the guidelines and requirements of the Hong Kong Telecommunications Authority, and we are reviewed and renewed annually by the relevant authorities;
• We protect your privacy rights in accordance with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Chapter 486) and the internationally recognized Privacy Policy for Personal Data.

8.

Can I send SMS message in other languages besides English?

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Yes. Our system supports Unicode including Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, etc.

9.

How do I send messages to multiple different recipients?

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Within the WebSMS, you can upload Excel file with one mobile phone number per line. Each file is limited to a maximum size of 4 MB, which contains approximately 50,000 numbers.

10.

Can recipient replies a message after receiving the SMS?

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Yes, you can use your registered mobile phone number to receive any reply, just you set the SenderID to this number. In addition, you may also use our 2-Way SMS service to do it.

11.

Can I send SMS to foreign country?

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Yes, you may send SMS to multiple countries, including Hong Kong, China and Macau etc. For details, please refer to file Network Coverage

12.

I have sent a SMS and observed there are different SMS delivery status occurred, named "RETRY", "EXPIRED", "DELIVERED" etc. What do they mean?

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The SMS is uploaded by the user to the server of the company and then to the telecommunication operators. There are many steps. The details are as follows:

13.

Will the SMS be charged if it is sent out failed?

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Here the definition of "failure" is that the SMS has been sent out from system to telecommunication operator, but it cannot reach the mobile phone, such as the number has been deactivated, the device is off and line forward etc. In this case, this message will be charged and failure reason is provided. On the other hand, if the SMS has not been sent from system, then it will not be charged, for example the incorrect format of mobile number, insufficient account balance or the exceeding of SMS charge against the account setting of single SMS charge upper limit and so on.

14.

What is the SMS validity period?

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SMS validity period means the maximum period kept in the delivery queue for next resending after the message has been transmitted to telecommunication operator but the message is failed to handset on first delivery. The longer the validity period, the higher the chance that the client will receive the SMS. On the other hand, if the validity period is short, it can reduce the probability of telecommunication operators to send duplicated messages to roaming clients, and delivery result will be known earlier. The recommended time is 120 minutes, it is applicable to Hong Kong and foreign messages only. In addition, the validity period will vary depending on telecommunication operators policy.

15.

If a SMS is resent by teleommunication operator, will there be an extra charge for each retry?

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No. Our system will only charge the message on first time delivery.

16.

Why does sending a SMS failed to some mobile numbers belonged to 1-Card-2-Number type?

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This depends on whether the telecommunication operator supports the SMS gateway for both networks. Usually only one network is supported within both numbers. If you send a message failed on a certain number, you can try to send the message to another mobile number of this card.

17.

Why does China SMS not support SenderID and SMS content will be added "[慧昇資訊]" automatically as the signature prefix?

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Because China strictly manages and filters SMS delivery, so telecommunication operators must ensure the source of each SMS sent out. Therefore, we cannot customize to set SenderID and it is replaced by a traceable gateway number instead. As for the signature prefix, this is the requirement of telecommunication operators, so that recipients can know the source of the SMS.

18.

Can I change the signature prefix in the China SMS from "[慧昇資訊]" to my company name?

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Yes. Staring from July 22, 2015, we support the setting of signature prefix service for China SMS. Details are as below:

Customers who use signature prefix

• The SMS content will be added a signature prefix automatically in the format of "[Company Name]";
• The signature is your company name and they are 3 to 6 Chinese and English characters. In addition, this signature must be consistent with the company name in your Hong Kong business registration certificate;
• Apart from providing Hong Kong business registration certificate copy, customers also have to submit director's China or Hong Kong Identity Card copy and mobile number for real-name registration;
• Customers are allowed to send notifications and non-sensitive industries promotional messages;
• "Sensitive industries" are defined by China telecommunication operators, your messages have to be reviewed by customer service before submission;
• If customers can further submit China business license copy, the accounts can be arranged to use a higher-quality routing, e.g. "Business management and service route". This type of route is specially used to deliver business management messages such as OTP, system login, business reminders and repayment notifications, its latency is shorter and the number of overrun is looser;
• Number of overrun means the maxtimum deliveries of messages towards the same mobilel number within a day. Customers who have provided China business license copy, their number of overrun can up to 15 times (applicable to OTP only);
• The fee to apply for a customized signature prefix is HK $2,000. If customer top up account HK $20,000 or above, the application fee is waived;
• It takes 3 to 7 working days to apply for a customized signature prefix. We will handle the documents and payment fees for customer with China telecommunication operators;
• Once the signature prefix has been confirmed but you need to change this name again, a new business registration certificate submission and payment is required;
• More supplementary information, please refer to file "ITD (2023) No. 94".

Customers who do not use signature prefix

• The signature content is "[慧昇資訊]";
• Customers are required to submit at least Hong Kong business registration certificate copy;
• Only notification messages are allowed to be sent out;
• The number of overrun is generally 4 times (applicable to OTP only).

Characteristics of China SMS

• They are applicable to all users who send China SMS, whatever they have applied signature prefix or not;
• The SMS SenderID is a random gateway number;
• Recipients cannot reply your SMS;
• Support for chain SMS function;
• The first SMS length is still 62 characters, and message can up to 8 messages totally 459 characters;
• If there is any remained characters in the SMS message, the gateway will automatically add the unsubscribed method "/退訂回T". This setting does not reduce the maximum number of characters that can be entered in the content, and there is no additional charge on message;
• The SMS delivery status is only "DELIVERED" and "UNDELIVERABLE"; and message is not charged if its delivery status is "UNDELIVERABLE";
• SMS content are not allowed about pornography, gambling, drugs, scam, making friends and rebates. Moreover, content cannot include any keyword listed in China SMS Illegal Keyword Library;
• Customer can check online whether your SMS content includes illegal keywords: Illegal keywords online checking.

19.

Why does China SMS not support SMS true delivery report?

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This is because China SMS transmission volume is very large, and the daily transmission volume is as high as 2.6 billion. The true delivery report service is an additional network burden for the telecommunication operators, so it is not supported.

20.

Since China SMS is easily to be filtered, any methods to improve it?

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The reason why the SMS is filtered is mainly that the content is illegal and the identity of the recipient is sensitive. For the content of SMS, telecommunication operators have developed China SMS Illegal Keyword Library. Before sending a message, please make sure that the content does not contain any illegal keyword. In special occasions, such as the Olympic Games or the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, more illegal keywords will be added suddenly but the library is still not updated. Customers can only find out through the SMS error code and contact our customer service to know such additional illegal keywords. As for the identity of the recipient, for example, the telephone number is belonged to a government official or the recipient has complained about the spawning of SMS before, and even replied to reject the receive of such messages, then telecommunication operators will also filter these numbers by default. In the same way, please contact our customer service, let us explain with telecommunication operators on these numbers, and then put them on white list to solve it.

21.

What are the differences between the Hong Kong Business Route and the Hong Kong Economic Route?

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In the past, the route for customers to send Hong Kong SMS was "Hong Kong Business Route". This route is slightly more expensive, but it is stable and supports a variety of SMS features, making it ideal for important notifications purpose. As for the "Hong Kong Economic Route", the price can be more favorable due to the elimination of SenderID registration and extra network traffic spent on delivery report acknowledgment, so it is suitable for mass promotion.

22.

One of the departments in our company is your normal user. We would like to setup a new account for another department to use. We both share the account balance, but the delivery results are not disclosed to each other. Is it possible to do it?

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Yes, our system supports sub account function. Both account balances can be trasferred to each other, but their account profiles, addressbook and delivery results are not disclosed to other parties. The first account you setup before is called primary account, and the newly opened accounts are called sub accounts. The new sub accounts must also be registered through New user sign up , then send an email to "cs@meteorsis.com", indicating the login names of primary account and its sub account. Our customer service will process the application and it will take 1 working day to process without additional charge. Here you are reminded that the transfer request of account balance has to be operated by customer service manually by email or telephone, and the website does not support customers to operate by themselves and there is no relevant transferred record kept in the system.

23.

What is "Short Message Service (SMS) Sender Registration Scheme"? Is it necessary to apply it before sending SMS? What are the procedures to apply it?

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The Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) announced the "Short Message Service (SMS) Sender Registration Scheme" on Dec 20, 2024, and it will first be implemented in the telecommunications, banking and government departments sectors with a view to helping members of the public verify the identities of SMS senders and beware of call and SMS scams. Under the Scheme, all Registered Senders will use "Registered SMS Sender IDs" with the prefix "#" to send SMS messages to local subscribers of mobile services. However, this scheme is not a mandatory policy towards companies other than the above sectors. So, you may still to send out SMS using SenderID without prefix "#". If you confirm to apply this scheme, steps are as below:

• Firstly, you have to register SenderID with prefix "#" through OFCA and get the approval from them.
• After the success of your application, you have to prepare Letter of Authorisation to Meteors Information Systems Limited. We will pass this document to our Registered SMS Service Provider (RSSP) partners and send a copy to you by email.
• We wait for the technical adjustments from RSSP, then you may start to send out such SMS using SenderID with prefix "#".

For the updated "Short Message Service (SMS) Sender Registration Scheme", please visit the web page Registration of SMS Sender IDs.