---
title: "Carrier TPS (Transactions Per Second) Limits"
---

Carrier TPS (Transactions Per Second) Limits: Queueing & Throttle Strategies: SMSRiver

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Carrier Spam Filters & Deliverability

Published 2026-08-28

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8 min read

# Carrier TPS (Transactions Per Second) Limits: Queueing & Throttle Strategies

Master SMS throughput engineering: manage carrier TPS limits, Leaky Bucket rate limiters, and Redis queueing to prevent buffer overflow and delivery drops.

Key Takeaway & Executive Summary

Exceeding carrier TPS caps causes aggregator queue latency or instant message rejections. Implement token bucket rate limiters to pace outbound requests cleanly.

Telephony connections are bounded by rigid throughput limits measured in Transactions Per Second (TPS). Standard 10DLC numbers are restricted to 10-30 TPS per carrier, while toll-free lines allow 3-50 TPS. Disregarding these ceilings causes messages to back up in aggregator queues, ballooning OTP delivery latencies.

## Table of Contents

- [Token Bucket Rate Limiting Architecture](#section-1)

- [Frequently Asked Questions](#frequently-asked-questions)

## 1 Token Bucket Rate Limiting Architecture

Implement a distributed Token Bucket rate limiter (e.g. using Redis or Cloudflare Workers KV) at the application dispatch layer. Ensure outbound API calls never exceed 80% of your provisioned carrier TPS quota to preserve headroom for latency spikes.

## Frequently Asked Questions • Carrier Spam Filters & Deliverability

What happens if I send 100 TPS on a 10 TPS route?

Aggregators will buffer the excess 90 messages per second. After 30 seconds of sustained overflow, queue latency will exceed 30 seconds, causing OTP timeouts.

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