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Common Short Code - CSC

Short Codes are phone numbers that are 5 digits long. These phone numbers are used in SMS messaging. Instead of long numbers such as 12065554321, a provider can lease these short codes to allow advertisers to communicate an extremely easy to remember number such as 82267 (tacos).

SMS messaging can be used for many different purposes including marketing, advertising, entertainment, and commerce. It is possible to pay for a service by sending a SMS message from your cell phone. For example, instead of having to pay for parking with coins and dollar bills, a person could send a message to 2PARK (27275), the body of the message would be something like "352 12", which would mean I am paying for parking at Lot 352 Spot 12. The format of the message would be described on a sign post at the parking lot. Now people don't need coins to park and the owner of the parking lot doesn't need to collect money from a machines, money from your cell phone bill is wired to the proper account.

TV shows can conduct instant polling using messaging, They can ask viewers to send in their opinion via SMS message. The possibilities of SMS messaging are neat.

Short Codes are like domain names, however there is a limit on how many short codes that exist. There are 79,999 short codes total! This counts all available and registered short codes together. Short Codes are meant to be short that is why there is such a limited supply of them. Mean while with domain names there exists over 25 Million DOT COM Domain Names that are registered right now. And about 50 Million domain names overall.

Short Codes are universal like domain names except they are limited to Continents. All the carriers in North America have one authoritative set of Short Codes. This means when a user sends a message to TACOS (82267) in California on AT&T, and a person in New York on Cingular Wireless sends a message to TACOS they would both get the same application. So if for example Taco Bell owned TACOS they could distribute signs and procedures across North America telling users how to pay for food using TACOS sms messaging.

Being an owner of one of these CSC means you are one of the 80,000 owners in North America. Obtaining a CSC is simple, go to www.usshortcodes.com and register your Common Short Code. The only down side is the cost, about $500/month for a randomly assigned code or $1000/month for a custom picked one.

The good short codes are already gone, LOTTO (56886), MUSIC (68742), GAMES (42637), MONEY (66639), VEGAS (83427), DAILY (32459), STOCK (78625), but that doesn't mean that some great names are not still available. At the time of this article TACOS (82267) was available for example.

In Europe, Common Short Codes are already producing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and soon that will be true in North America too.