Release notes

The Bandwidth Dashboard now offers porting automation for U.S. off-net ports.

This update includes:

• Real-time status notifications for U.S.off-net port orders
• Flexible activation times! Trigger ports on your own or set an auto-activation time (between 6am – 11pm)
• Off-net ported numbers provisioning in real-time

We’ve added new fields to our Message Detail Records! You can now find Carrier Name (for instance, “Verizon”, “AT&T”, “T-Mobile”, “Sprint”) and Location ID (the Location field represented in the Bandwidth Dashboard) in your Message Detail Records (MDRs).

These fields provide more detail to understand which carrier the message was sent to and which of your locations the message was associated with so you have better insight into your messaging traffic.

Bandwidth now supports Delivery Receipts (DLRs) on MMS and group messages. With this update customers can enjoy a more complete view of their messaging delivery success.

Learn more about this change:

MM4 Users:

• Error codes
• MMS Delivery Receipts

V2 API Users:

• Error codes
• MMS Delivery Receipts

Bandwidth’s Direct Link Service has been expanded with direct connections to our virtual circuits via Megaport and Equinix Cloud Exchange. Dedicated connections like these provide additional security, reliability and performance. If you are a Megaport or Equinix Cloud Exchange user, you can get started by ordering the Bandwidth virtual circuit in the provider portal.

Bandwidth adds a third major carrier service provider, Comcast, to our list of interop partners for STIR/SHAKEN!

Comcast is an acknowledged leader in the area of STIR/SHAKEN and we are excited to be able to announce this joint effort in combating illegal robocalling. 

Thanks to this and existing interop agreements with major carriers, Bandwidth is currently signing more than 4 billion calls each month on behalf of our customers. You do not need to take any action to enjoy this benefit!

We’ve enhanced the Bandwidth Dashboard with the following off-net porting updates:

• Trigger off-net ports on your own, or set an auto-activation time
• Provision off-net ported numbers in real-time
• Receive real-time status notifications for US off-net port orders

Porting off-net numbers is now easier, faster, and more flexible. Maximize efficiency and time savings! 

The Bandwidth Voice API has been updated to include the ability to make conference calls. With the new feature you can create conference calls with up to 20 participants. There is also a new bridge verb that allows additional call manipulation flexibility for two party calls.

These features enable innovative use cases like call or agent whisper, custom bridging, and forwarding. Learn how to use the new conference API!

Customers can now use an HTTP Get API endpoint to search for individual messages and their statuses. This allows you to proactively check on message delivery status at any point after messages are sent. Get started by checking out our developer documentation.

You can now enable and manage a passcode for on-net Bandwidth Dashboard phone numbers to prevent unauthorized port-outs from occurring. You can add or modify the passcodes associated to your phone numbers easily through the Bandwidth Dashboard and API, with direct access to reporting to validate the passcodes.

You can now add or remove phone numbers to any in-flight port order via our API or Bandwidth Dashboard. With this update you will no longer have to cancel, resubmit port orders, and wait for processing time to make these simple changes. Happy porting!

We’ve shortened the amount of time to approve or reject toll-free port out requests from three days down to two days! Now when an end-user ports toll-free phone numbers away from your account, Bandwidth sends a ticket to your port-out contact to approve/reject the order. This change aligns more closely with other key industry porting partners and industry guidelines.

Bandwidth’s Emergency Calling API now supports mobile use cases when used away from the home or a provisioned address. You can now send Bandwidth coordinates of the caller and we will route the call to the geographically appropriate PSAP based on the coordinates received. To get started, access our Emergency Calling API Integration guide.

Now you can access real-time customer service records (CSR) via our API, when you submit port orders, to get the most accurate end-user information available. This update helps you validate phone number information seamlessly, resulting in fewer rejections and a streamlined porting experience.

Bandwidth continues to increase its coverage of STIR/SHAKEN by interoping with another leading wireless carrier,T-Mobile. Bandwidth is aggressively rolling out STIR/SHAKEN and is well ahead of the industry in meeting the deadline set by the FCC mandate with widespread STIR/SHAKEN deployment by June 2021.

Bandwidth and T-Mobile are now exchanging signed traffic in accordance with STIR/SHAKEN protocols. Bandwidth customers are automatically the beneficiary of this interop. No additional action is required. 

You can now get a recorded transcription of a call using our new call recording capability. This is an important capability for training and feedback within contact center or sales apps and legal documentation

To use this feature, set your record verb to “transcription=true”, which will request a transcription and an asynchronous callback will inform you when the transcription is available.

Bandwidth’s 911 solutions now provide emergency notifications in email, text message, voice announcement, or webhook (HTTP callback) formats. These different notification types can be assigned uniquely for each endpoint record registered with Bandwidth. Emergency notifications can improve emergency outcomes by alerting personnel to 911 calls and are an essential component of regulatory compliance for enterprises.

If you’d like to enable and provision emergency notifications on your account, please reach out to your Bandwidth Support Team and in the meantime you can take a look at our emergency notifications developer docs!

Hosted Messaging gives you the ability to power voice and messaging services separately with the same phone number. This functionality is now available for any phone number via the Bandwidth Dashboard or API. With this improvement your end users can select the voice and messaging service providers that best meet their needs for any given phone number.

You now have the ability to retrieve call information using the Bandwidth Voice API. This includes information like call status, direction, errors, and disconnect reasons. This functionality can be leveraged to build monitoring and maintenance features in your application.

Learn more about how to use the API features in our developer documentation.

Customers can now access Verizon’s 10DLC A2P messaging route via the Bandwidth Local A2P API. This route enables reliable messaging deliverability on local numbers—the first route of its kind. To get started, talk to your client development manager or access our developer documentation.

In an industry-wide effort to mitigate illegal robocalling and as mandated by the FCC, Bandwidth has deployed STIR/SHAKEN in production on its network and performed an initial interop with Verizon Wireless.

As a result, all Bandwidth customer traffic to and from Verizon Wireless will now be attested and signed via the STIR/SHAKEN protocols. No additional action is required from Bandwidth customers to attest traffic with Verizon Wireless.