If your business sends texts from an ordinary 10-digit phone number through software, US mobile carriers expect that traffic to be registered as A2P 10DLC: first your business, called the brand, then each kind of messaging you do, called a campaign. Reviewers check that your website, opt-in wording, privacy policy, terms and sample messages all match what you say you will send. Unregistered or mismatched traffic is filtered or blocked, which is usually why a text that left your system never arrived.
This is general information about how registration and consent work, not legal advice. Messaging rules change, and your messaging provider and your counsel have the final word on your program.
What 10DLC means
10DLC stands for 10-digit long code: a normal local number, as opposed to a five- or six-digit short code or a toll-free number. A2P means application-to-person, which is any message sent by software, such as a phone platform, a CRM, a booking system or an AI agent, rather than typed by one person on a handset.
Carriers built the registration system so they can tell legitimate business traffic from spam. Registrations go into a central database called The Campaign Registry, but you rarely touch it directly. Your messaging provider, meaning the phone, texting or software platform that sends your texts, collects your details, submits them and passes back the result.
Which kind of number to text from
| 10DLC (local number) | Toll-free number | Short code | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical use | Local businesses, conversations, reminders, moderate volume | Support lines and national brands | High-volume alerts and marketing |
| Approval process | Brand and campaign registration | Toll-free verification, a separate process | Its own application, with a longer lead time |
| Consent rules | The same consent and opt-out rules apply to all three | Same | Same |
If you already use a toll-free number for your main line, texting from it can make sense. We cover the trade-offs of the numbers themselves in toll-free and vanity numbers.
Step one: register the brand
The brand is the legal business behind the messages. Expect to provide:
- Your legal business name and EIN, exactly as they appear in IRS records. A mismatch between the two is one of the most common reasons a brand fails verification, and it is often something as small as a missing "LLC".
- Entity type: private company, public company (with its stock symbol), nonprofit or government body. Sole proprietors without an EIN have a separate, more limited route.
- Business address, website, industry, and a contact email and phone number.
Some providers also offer additional vetting through a third-party vetting service. A stronger vetting result can raise how many messages carriers will accept from you. Whether it is worth doing depends on your volume, so ask your provider what limits apply without it.
Step two: register each campaign
A campaign is one kind of messaging program. Appointment reminders are one campaign; promotional offers are another. Common use cases include account notifications, customer care, delivery notifications, one-time passcodes, marketing, and a mixed category for programs that combine a few low-volume types. Some categories, such as political, charity and sweepstakes messaging, carry extra requirements.
For each campaign, your provider will ask for:
- A description of who you message and why.
- Sample messages, written the way you will really send them, with your business name in each.
- The message flow, meaning exactly how a person opts in: a web form, a checkbox when booking, a keyword they text to you, or a paper form at the counter. Reviewers want a link or a screenshot they can check.
- Your opt-in confirmation, HELP and STOP replies.
- Content flags, such as whether messages contain links or phone numbers, or anything age-restricted.
Carriers then review the campaign. Approval can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, and a rejection restarts part of the clock. Phone numbers are attached to an approved campaign, and until that happens you should assume texts from them may not be delivered.
What reviewers look for on your website
Most rejections come down to the website not backing up the application. Before you submit, check:
- A working website on a domain that matches the brand, describing the products or services the texts relate to.
- A visible opt-in point. If people sign up on a web form, the form should be reachable by a reviewer, or you should supply a screenshot.
- Consent wording at the opt-in point, beside a checkbox that is not pre-ticked, stating who is texting, what the messages are about, that frequency varies (or how often), that message and data rates may apply, how to get help and how to stop, and that consent is not a condition of purchase.
- A privacy policy that covers text messaging and says mobile numbers and opt-in data will not be sold or shared with third parties for their own marketing.
- Messaging terms that describe the program: its name, the message types, frequency, rates, HELP and STOP instructions, and a support contact.
Our own booking form is one example of how this reads in practice: an unticked box with the consent wording beside it, and links to our privacy policy and terms. Yours will say different things about a different business; the elements are what matter.
Consent: the law underneath the registration
Registration is the carriers' requirement. Separately, federal and state law govern whom you may text. In broad terms:
- The Telephone Consumer Protection Act restricts automated texts. Marketing texts generally need prior express written consent. Informational texts, such as a reminder for an appointment the person booked, generally need prior express consent.
- Consent cannot be bought or borrowed. Purchased lists, numbers collected for one purpose and reused for another, and numbers shared between businesses are not consent, and carrier rules prohibit them.
- Opt-outs must be honoured. Treat STOP and common variants such as UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END and QUIT as an opt-out, send one confirmation, and then nothing else. FCC rules adopted in 2024 also let people revoke consent by any reasonable means and set a maximum of 10 business days to honour it, though stopping straight away is the safe practice.
- State laws add to this. Some states, Florida and Oklahoma among them, have their own telemarketing laws with tighter limits on hours, frequency and consent.
- Keep records of when and how each person consented, the wording they saw, and when they opted out.
Writing messages that pass review and get delivered
- Start each message with your business name, so the recipient knows who is texting.
- Use links on your own domain rather than public link shorteners, which carrier filters often treat as suspect.
- Stay inside the campaign you registered. A reminder campaign that starts sending discount offers is a mismatch, and mismatches get filtered or suspended.
- Send at sensible local hours, and keep frequency close to what you told people.
- Include opt-out instructions in the first message and regularly after that.
A typical opt-in confirmation, for an invented dental office, reads: "Harbor Dental: you are signed up for appointment reminders. Msg frequency varies. Msg and data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help, STOP to opt out." Short, identifiable and complete.
A worked example
Hypothetical: the business, volumes and timings below are invented for planning purposes. Real review times vary by provider and carrier.
A heating and cooling company with three locations wants to text appointment confirmations and reminders, about 600 a week, and to send a tune-up offer to past customers twice a year. That is two campaigns: one for customer care and account notifications, and one for marketing. The marketing list needs its own written consent; customers who only agreed to reminders do not count.
The company plans backwards from a launch date six weeks away:
- Week 1: fix the website. Add messaging language to the privacy policy, publish SMS terms, and put an unticked consent checkbox on the online booking form and the paper intake form.
- Week 2: the provider submits the brand, then both campaigns, with sample messages and screenshots of the opt-in points.
- Weeks 3 and 4: time set aside for review and one resubmission if a reviewer asks for changes.
- Week 5: attach one number per location to the approved reminder campaign and test with staff phones, including STOP and HELP.
- Week 6: reminders go live. The marketing campaign waits until enough customers have opted in to it.
If everything passes first time, they launch early. If not, the plan absorbs the delay instead of a technician's schedule absorbing it.
Why texts still fail after registration
- Message content has drifted away from the registered samples.
- Links point to a public shortener or to a domain that does not match the brand.
- Messages go to people who opted out, or never opted in, and complaints follow.
- A new number was added but never attached to the campaign.
- Volume has outgrown the limits attached to your brand's vetting.
Questions to ask your provider
- Do you submit the brand and campaign registration for us, and what one-time and monthly fees apply?
- Which campaign types do you recommend for what we plan to send?
- Will you check our website, opt-in wording and sample messages before submitting?
- What throughput and daily limits will we have, and would extra vetting change them?
- How are STOP and HELP handled automatically, across every number we use?
- Can we export consent and opt-out records whenever we need them?
- If we move to another provider, what happens to our registration and our numbers?
Where FiberX fits
Business texting rarely stands alone. It runs on a phone platform, a booking tool or an automation such as the follow-up and booking agents on our AI automation page. We price phone platforms across providers through hosted phones and voice and UCaaS, and we will talk through which options include texting and how each handles registration, so it is in the plan rather than discovered after launch. The consultation is free with no obligation, and you usually hear back the same day. Get in touch, call 478-758-8091 or text (347) 870-0965.
