September 2025 Summaries

Basket, a UK-based rewards platform, successfully scaled its verification processes and reduced one-time password (OTP) costs by 25% with the help of Prelude, a solution that integrated seamlessly in under an hour. Faced with challenges of international expansion and the need for efficient fraud prevention, Basket's previous system required extensive engineering work for each new market, which was unsustainable for their small team. Prelude offered a robust solution by implementing mandatory phone and email verification, which significantly reduced bot-driven fraud and improved data reliability for analytics. This integration not only streamlined operations but also provided clarity in cost management and freed up the Basket team to focus on growth, enabling them to prepare for U.S. market entry and the rollout of new app features with confidence.

Silent Network Authentication (SNA) is an advanced method for phone number verification that bypasses traditional one-time passwords (OTPs) by utilizing mobile network infrastructure, thus enhancing user experience and security. Offered by Prelude, SNA streamlines onboarding by eliminating OTP input, thereby reducing friction and increasing conversion rates, while providing robust protection against fraud such as SIM swapping and phishing. It operates by having the carrier verify the SIM and device against the number provided, making the process nearly instant and invisible to users. In cases where SNA is unsupported, Prelude's system automatically defaults to SMS or third-party apps like WhatsApp, ensuring a seamless verification experience. SNA is cost-effective, potentially cheaper than SMS, and meets multi-factor authentication requirements in regulated industries. Prelude aims to lead in this technology by integrating SNA into their onboarding flows, offering reliability, security, and scalability, with current availability in France and planned expansion to other European countries.

10DLC, or 10-Digit Long Code, is a messaging standard introduced by US mobile carriers to improve business SMS communication by addressing issues of noise, unpredictability, and abuse, such as spoofed OTPs and anonymous marketing messages. It serves as a digital "license plate" for business texts, requiring companies to register their brand and campaigns to ensure compliance, reduce spam, and prioritize legitimate traffic. This registration involves two parts: brand registration, which verifies the business identity, and campaign registration, which outlines the message types and purposes. Compliance with 10DLC is not optional and is enforced by major carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, each with their own rules and penalties for non-compliance, including throttled delivery, blocked traffic, and financial penalties. The Campaign Registry (TCR) acts as a centralized system for registration, ensuring traffic is whitelisted and treated as compliant. The future of 10DLC involves stricter carrier enforcement and a shift in how businesses approach SMS, emphasizing transparency, legitimacy, and a trust-based communication channel, ultimately benefiting both users and businesses by reducing spam and improving message deliverability and reliability.

Firebase SMS OTP is a popular choice for startups due to its ease of integration, free tier, and association with Google's ecosystem, making it ideal for securing logins or sign-ups in mobile apps. However, as apps scale, Firebase's SMS OTP service can become cost-prohibitive, lacks flexibility, and faces routing limitations in some regions, prompting businesses to seek alternatives. By 2026, a strong ecosystem of OTP providers has emerged, offering global reliability, transparent pricing, and enhanced compliance features, with companies like Prelude, Twilio, and MessageBird providing scalable, secure OTP solutions. These alternatives offer benefits such as multi-routing, fraud prevention, and better cost management, making them appealing for growing businesses with specific needs, such as cost efficiency, global delivery, and compliance. As a result, businesses can choose the best-fit OTP provider to balance scalability, budget, and security requirements, ensuring a seamless user authentication experience as their apps grow.