FAQs

Please see below a list of our Frequently Asked Questions:

Why have we changed platforms?

We have decided to merge the Mediaburst and TextAnywhere brands, ensuring that all customers have access to the same fantastic level of customer service and developer support. With regards to the platform, the team have been working very hard behind the scenes to create and deliver our brand new platform. Improvements have been made to make this even more user friendly and feature-rich.

How is the new platform different to the old?

	Longer messages	API and Platform	Send messages containing up to 1000 characters (increased from 459) as a Long Message.
	Periodic / recurrent scheduling	Platform	Messages can now be scheduled for delivery on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis. Perfect for sending reminders about birthdays, MOTs, renewals, and other regular events.
	Improved options for inbound messages	Platform	Multiple actions can be applied to incoming messages. You can send an automatic reply, add the number to a group, and forward the messages to an email address, with the option to configure a different sequence of actions based on the content of the incoming message.
	Sub-accounts	Platform	You can now create accounts that are linked together for billing and administration purposes, but are otherwise separate, ensuring that the marketing team can only see the marketing campaign messages, and the finance team can only see the payment reminders.
	Export messages / campaigns	Platform	Sent and received messages can now be exported to XLSX format as well as CSV. New options to search by date range and recipient can also be used to optimise the export results.
	Manage personal blocklist	Platform	Users can have their own personal block list and manage this independently of the other users of the account.
	SMS (REST) API	API	We have added a brand-new SMS API providing a powerful interface to send and receive messages. The API conforms to REST principles to provide a simple, lightweight web service built on established standards to reduce the need for special toolkits, and will be the focus of our future API development and enhancement.
	Contact & Contact Group management APIs	API	Integrate our Contact & Contact Group management API to manage your contacts and groups for your campaigns.
	Blocklist management APIs	API	Integrate our Blocklist management API to manage your blocked and opted-out numbers.
	SMS history	API	See your SMS history in your dashboard, and filter and export the results to XLSX or CSV, as well as receive SMS Delivery Receipts via the APIs.

How will the Mediaburst brand and platform change affect my business?

Please see the video from our latest webinar which shows a short demo of how to send an SMS on the new platform.

How will this change impact my API integration?

All APIs will continue to work and there will be no disruption to your service. On the new platform we have tried to maintain all APIs and parameters that you currently have. The only change on the platform is how the “Message Validation Defaults” are set. In the new platform you will not set these as defaults on your account, but we have maintained your current settings in the legacy platform to the new. If you want to change this in the future for maximum message and long content, you can do this through the parameter, please see documentation for further details https://developers.textanywhere.com/. For invalid characters these are replaced with similar characters or blank space and no changes can be made via parameters.

Why can I not add additional API keys?

All API keys that were migrated over from the legacy platform will continue to be supported and available. However, while we are migrating customers onto the new platform you will not be able to add additional API keys. We hope to have this activated as soon as possible. Please contact our support team for more information.

When will I be upgraded?

We will be upgrading customers in groups starting in late October 2020, you will receive an email to let you know when this will be happening nearer the time. So for the meantime you don’t need to do anything.

Will I be able to login using the same login credentials?

Yes your previous login credentials will still work. Simply login as normal and you will be redirected to the new platform.

Who do I contact if I have an issue? 

Please contact our MediaBurst Customer Support team; phone us on +44 (0)161 359 3100 or email us at hello@mediaburst.co.uk. 

Will the prices remain the same?

Yes, all current pricing will remain the same. For any future purchases of subscriptions however, our pricing will change – please see the shop for more details. 

What currency will my invoices be billed in? And will this also apply to my SMS purchases and subscriptions?

Going forward for the mediaburst brand all purchases and invoices will be in GBP. Any customers wanting to pay in USD or EURO can do so, but will be charged the going exchange rate through their bank.

Why has my account number changed?

As we modernise our systems, we’ve decided to standardize how we store our data and in most cases this means we have issued new customer account numbers. Hopefully those of you with multiple accounts, will find everything more consistent.

For a post-pay customer, will there be any changes to my invoices?

The invoices will remain the same, but the logo will be different. If you are a Postpay customer you may receive two invoices on the month you are upgraded, one from your original platform and one from the new platform. It’s nothing to worry about it will simply separate into two time periods. 

What happens if I have scheduled messages, will they still be sent after I have been upgraded to the new platform?

Yes, scheduled messages will continue to send even if you are migrated to the new platform before they are due. But there will be a change in how these are charged for. On our new platform Pre pay customers will be charged from schedule and not send, but Postpay customers will be billed on send. So at the time of migration you will see a charge on your invoice or notification of credits taken. 

Will my SMS credits expire? 

Yes, however we have ensured that any credits you have on the day of migration will be set to 12 months from that date. See new Terms and Conditions for further details.

Why do I have to purchase Credits instead of a cash value?

The new system enables you to select how many credits you want to purchase and will then calculate the price for you afterwards. There is also the option to buy SMS packs at a set price if you prefer. 

Will I be charged a subscription fee for VMN’s and Shortcodes now?

Yes, there is a small fee to cover the costs of administering and maintaining these to ensure we can provide a high quality service to you. For any VMNs you already have these will continue at the same price as you pay now per month. Subscription fees will be charged via card payment and not taken from your Credit balance on the new platform. 

Why have my users been given sub-accounts to the main account?

This is to ensure they can maintain a separate inbox, sent items, contacts and address book groups to other users on the account. If users need to share their accounts they can do this by adding another user on their account. 

Why does my sub-account not have any credit balance?

This is because the sub-account draws from the super-account credit balance and therefore does not have a balance of their own, they will be able to continue to send and draw from the main credit of the account as they did on the legacy platform, this just does not show the balance within their account.

Who do I need to contact to get access to a previous invoice?

Please contact the MediaBurst customer support team or your account manager who will be able to assist you. 

Why are the invoices only going to single contact?

The invoice will be sent to a single email address so if you need this to be distributed to other contacts you will need to create an automatic forwarding. Please ensure this contact information is checked upon confirmation of your migration, as we are only able to take one invoice email address forward to our new platform.

Will there be any changes to payment methods?

We will continue to support BACs direct debits, BACs transfer and credit/ debit card payments. But we will no longer be supporting Paypal. 

Will my credit balance alerts still continue to work on the new platform?

Yes, we will ensure these are maintained as per the current configuration. However they will be rounded up to the nearest £ if they are not set to that to align with our new platform. 

Will my scheduled messages get sent 

Yes, we will ensure these are maintained as per the current configuration. However they will be rounded up to the nearest £ if they are not already, to align with our new platform. 

Will my Terms and Conditions remain the same?

There are some minor amendments to the Terms and Conditions, these can be found here.

Will my contact group names remain the same?

All contact groups will remain the same, however, if any groups have the same name on an account, we will be making these unique by adding a number suffix to the name ie. if there was two groups with name “example”, this would become “example 1” and “example 2”

If I currently send messages to destinations outside the UK, how do I purchase my SMS credits?

If you already have the capability to send outside the UK this will be maintained through migration to the new platform. If you purchase SMS credit you will be able to do this in the new platform within the shop. You will have a unique “custom pack” that will be maintained at the prices you pay currently for international SMS. For any queries or to activate this on your account, please contact customer support. 

Can I purchase a Virtual mobile number (VMN) on my own?

Yes you can. You have to go to the shop page, in the Subscriptions tab and choose the VMN you are interested in from the list of the available VMN. Once selected, you can go on with the purchase.

I currently pay for my Virtual mobile number (VMN) using my credit, what happens in the new platform?

Any VMNs you currently have will be migrated across and continue to work for 30 days after moving to the new platform. However, to continue to pay for this product going forward you will need to setup a bank card subscription to manage this instead of using account credit. You can do this in the new platform:

1. Before the end of the 30 days: You can setup your card information ready in the account menu > billing sub-menu. After the 30 day period the VMN number will still show in your account but will not be active and receive messages. So to keep this number active you will you would need to go into the shop, find the existing number within the VMN product under subscriptions tab and setup a new payment subscription to get this to become active again.
2. After the end of the 30 days: Go into the shop, find the existing number within the VMN product under subscriptions tab and setup a new payment subscription to get this to become active again.

After a total of 45 days, the VMN will not be available on your account and you will need to contact our customer support team to get this re-activated on your account and payment setup. The number will finally be unavailable after the 31st January 2021.

How do I purchase SMS credits per country destination? 

You have to contact our support team, they will be happy to help you find the right solution for your needs.

What is the new owner user role?

This is for the main administrator on the account. This user has the same access as an admin, however, they cannot be deleted from the account, because we need to ensure there is always one admin on the account.

Will my plugin continue to work and be supported?

Plugins on the platform include WordPress, Zapier and Nagios. All of these will continue to work with the current integrations you have set up. However, Mediaburst will not continue to support these plugins going forward on the new platform.

My historical data is missing from the SMS Campaigns section, can I access this again?

Yes, the data will only be missing for a short period of time and we plan to load this onto the platform in due course. If you have any queries around this please contact our Customer Support Team through email on hello@mediaburst.co.uk.