How do I use Message Logs?

Message Logs is a Messaging Insights page that allows you to access the information about the status of your messages and see what’s happening to them at Bandwidth before the delivery information is received. It also lets you follow the flow of the message while it’s being sent.

Accessing Message Logs

1. Log in to the Bandwidth App.
2. In the top navigation bar, select Insights and click Messaging.
3. Select Message Logs.

Note: If you’re unable to see the Messaging tab, please contact your Account Admin to enable the Messaging Insights role associated with your user on your account.

4. You may refine your search for Message Logs using the following filters:
   
   
   • From Received Time
   • To Received Time
   • From Number(s) 
   • To Number(s)
   • Status
   • Error Code
   • Message Type
   • Message ID
   • Carrier
   • Direction
   • Campaign ID

5. Click Apply Filter.

Note: Your results will include records from the past 30 days and a maximum of 10,000 records without filtering. While this data is generally presented in real-time, you may experience delays on high-traffic days.

Using the Region drop-down menu

The Region drop-down menu allows you to filter your message data by one of the following data origins. Please note that US: North America is selected by default. As you expand your messaging services into Europe or choose to leverage our Alphanumeric messaging services, you’ll be able to select the EU: Europe option to see all message data for those services.

• US: North America – All message data from the message is originating from the US or Canada. This means that if the From number is US or Canadian on Outbound messages, or the To Number is US or Canadian on Inbound messages, the message data will be automatically available when selected. 
• EU: Europe – All message data from the message is originating from Europe, Australia, or Alphanumeric messages. This means that if the From number is European, Australian, or Alphanumeric on Outbound Messages, or the To Number is European or Australian on Inbound messages, the message data will be automatically available when selected. 

Navigating Message Logs

Above the filters, you'll find several options that allow you to configure and download Message Logs:

• Close Filter: This option allows you to expand or collapse filters to see more results with the filter closed.
• Timezone: While all messages are recorded in Universal Coordinated Time (UTC), this option allows you to filter and display your message data in the timezone that makes the most sense for you.
• Settings: This option opens a window where you can toggle columns on or off to decide which of them should appear in the table. Message ID, Received Date/Time, Type, Direction, From, To, Status, Error, Carrier, and Campaign ID columns will appear by default. You can add or remove any of them (except for the Message ID), or add additional ones (Campaign Class and Segment Count). 
• Download: This option allows you to download your filtered results. Please note that this is limited to 10,000 records.

Understanding Message Logs

Below the filters, you'll find a table that contains the message data:

• Message ID: The unique ID associated with the message.
• Date/Time (UTC -04:00): This is the date and time the message was received by Bandwidth in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). You can search within at least the last 30 days.
• Direction: Indicates whether the message is inbound or outbound.
• From: This phone number is the sender.
• To: This phone number is the receiver.
• Status: This is the current status of the message, which is derived from the event status as the message is processed. For more information, please see the list of message statuses below.
• Error: This is the 4-digit messaging error code associated with the message. For more information, please see the complete list of messaging error codes.
• Carrier: This is the name of the carrier, either the originating or the destination one, depending on the direction of the message.
• Campaign Class: The campaign class of the message, or unregistered. This only applies to A2P traffic where campaigns have been registered.
• Campaign ID: This is the Campaign ID associated with your local A2P traffic.
• Type: Indicates whether the message is SMS or MMS.
• Segment Count: SMS messages that exceed the character limitation for their given encoding are broken into multiple parts in order to be sent or received. This is the total quantity of parts your message was broken into. 

Understanding statuses

Message Logs show the real-time status of the message. This diagram shows multiple statuses the message goes through as it's being sent through Bandwidth to its intended destination. 

Outbound Status	Description
RECEIVED	Bandwidth has received your request to send a message. This is the initial status when sending a message to indicate Bandwidth accepted the message.
QUEUED	Bandwidth has successfully received the message and queued it prior to being sent downstream.
SENDING	Bandwidth is in the process of sending your message to the downstream carrier.
SENT	Bandwidth has sent the message and the carrier has accepted the message.  This can be a final delivery status for messages when no delivery receipt (DLR) was requested or when no DLR was received from the carrier.
FAILED	The message could not be sent. The error code associated with this message will provide more information about the specific reason for this final failure delivery status.
DELIVERED	Bandwidth has received a delivery receipt (DLR) from the downstream carrier confirming successful delivery to the carrier or handset (when available). This represents a final successful delivery status.
UNDELIVERED	The DLR received from the carrier indicated the message was not deliverable. The error code associated with this message will provide more information about the specific reason for this final failure delivery status.

Inbound Status	Description
RECEIVED	Bandwidth has received a request to send a message to a Bandwidth number. This is the initial status for inbound messages.
ACCEPTED	The message was accepted by the customer. This is the most common final status for inbound messages, indicating successful receipt of a message.
FAILED	The message could not be delivered to the customer.
DELIVERED	This status indicates a DLR was requested by the carrier sending the message to Bandwidth.

Understanding error codes

The Error field indicates the messaging error for each message. If the message was successful, it will display a 0. If not, it will display a 4-digit error code once the message is in final delivery status. See the full list of messaging errors for the description and explanation of each error. 

Note: If you send messages using SMPP and/or MM4, you may be more familiar with 3-digit SMPP and MM4 codes. The error codes you’re able to search by in Message Logs are very similar: they have a leading digit that indicates whether the error is a client (customer) or service error.

Understanding segment count

The Segment Count field indicates the number of segments the original SMS message from the user is broken into before it's sent over the carrier networks. Because the number of supported characters in an SMS message is limited based on the encoding used, the message that exceeds that limit will be broken into multiple parts. See our character limitations and concatenation practices to learn more about why your messages may have multiple segments.

Questions? Please open a ticket with your Bandwidth Support Team or hit us up at (855) 864-7776!