A2P 10DLC serves as a crucial tool for businesses seeking to ensure compliance in their messaging endeavors, facilitating the transmission of Application-to-Person (A2P) messages through 10-digit long code phone numbers within the United States. This thorough manual offers an intricate exploration of A2P 10DLC, covering registration prerequisites, diverse campaign applications, adherence to compliance standards, and the consequential effects on message distribution and costs. Whether you operate a small enterprise or function as an Independent Software Vendor (ISV), grasping the nuances of messaging compliance remains imperative for sustaining dependable and impactful communication channels with your target audience.
• AT&T and T-Mobile are increasing the per-message rate on unregistered traffic. If these numbers remain unregistered, they may be subject to additional filtering or blocking. Some carrier fees will be increased on June 1, 2023, and others will be increased on August 1, 2023.
• For more information on the specific fees and timing, please see What Pricing and Fees are Associated with A2P 10DLC.
• If you have unregistered traffic, register for A2P 10DLC via LC Phone Console or API before June 1, 2023, to avoid the higher fees and service disruptions.
Please Note:
Sole Proprietor A2P 10DLC Registration Now Available
LC Phone is excited to reintroduce its Sole Proprietor Brand registration service, previously referred to as the “Starter Brand,” aligning with updated industry standards governing low-volume messaging transmission.
• If you’re an individual or small business without a Tax ID (EIN), please see New Changes to Sole Proprietor Brands FAQ for more details on how to register.
• If you have a Tax ID (EIN) and low traffic requirement (less than 6,000 messages per day), Low Volume Standard Brands can be used for mixed messaging campaigns with multiple use cases, multiple numbers per campaign, and higher throughput than Sole Prop.
• If you have a Tax ID (EIN) and higher traffic requirement (more than 6,000 messages per day), Standard Brands can be used for multiple use cases, multiple numbers per campaign, and higher throughput.
• For a full overview of the different Brand registration offerings, see the Comparison between Sole Prop, Low Volume Standard, and Standard registration for A2P 10DLC article.
New Requirements for A2P 10DLC Registrations
Effective January 26, 2023, new A2P Campaign registrations are subject to a new vetting process, which includes a one-time $15 campaign vetting fee.
What is A2P 10DLC?
A2P 10DLC, an innovative system within the United States, empowers businesses to transmit Application-to-Person (A2P) messages through standard 10-digit long code (10DLC) phone numbers. All LC Phone traffic in the US is regarded as A2P by carriers. With carriers now offering A2P 10DLC services, message delivery quality is enhanced, and there’s a reduced risk of filtering compared to traditional long code SMS, all while utilizing the same phone numbers.
Furthermore, the system now accommodates Special Use Cases. However, for customers seeking approval for such cases or those representing a 527 Political Organization, it’s advised to review the guidelines on Special Use Cases before initiating registration.
Take advantage of the improved deliverability and enhanced throughput within the newly verified A2P 10DLC ecosystem by registering now. Note that there are new registration prerequisites for businesses intending to dispatch long-code messages to AT&T in the US.
If you refrain from transmitting messages to individuals within the United States via long code numbers, no action is required on your part. However, should you choose to communicate with recipients in the U.S. utilizing long code numbers, various registration avenues are available to you, contingent upon your Tax ID status, messaging volume, and specific use case.
Registration for A2P 10DLC is facilitated through the LC Phone System Trust Center, providing a streamlined process for compliance.
For a comprehensive guide on the necessary information and initiation steps, continue reading. Delve into the regulations and prerequisites governing the new A2P 10DLC registration framework, along with solutions to frequently asked questions.
There are two important requirements under the new A2P 10DLC system:
Enrollment is exclusively managed via the LC Phone System Trust Center, offering seamless integration with The Campaign Registry (TCR) to fulfill carrier demands and streamline the onboarding process for businesses.
Do I need to register? If so, what’s the deadline?
We urge customers to finalize their registration promptly to avoid increased unregistered fees and potential filtering of their traffic. Until your phone number(s) are linked with a registered campaign, you may encounter elevated charges and filtering measures. It’s crucial to re-register promptly to mitigate the impact of these fees.
If you lack a tax identification number, it’s advisable to enroll in a Sole Proprietor Brand tailored for individuals and small enterprises. This option will become accessible starting April 17th. Conversely, if you possess a tax ID, registration is mandatory, regardless of the quantity of messages dispatched. Opt for the Low Volume Standard Brands registration if your daily message segment count falls below 6,000.
Increased message filtering and fees will apply to messages that are sent without registration. We also expect that at a future date, unregistered messaging to the US via long code numbers will cease to be supported altogether.
When you complete your US A2P Brand registration, your Brand will receive a Trust Score from 0 to 100. This rating influences the maximum message throughput that will be allocated to each of your Campaign use cases.
Upon finalizing the registration of your Brand and Campaign(s) for A2P Messaging via the LC Phone Console, the data is seamlessly transmitted from LC Phone to The Campaign Registry (TCR), an essential third-party entity in this innovative registration process. LC Phone initiates an automatic submission of your Brand for further scrutiny, employing a sophisticated reputation algorithm to evaluate various criteria pertinent to your company. Subsequently, a Trust Score is assigned to gauge your messaging throughput and establish T-Mobile’s daily message limits.
Trust Scores are grouped into three levels, from lowest to highest. Your Trust Score level and Campaign Type will determine the message throughput allocated to your campaign use case.
Each business will need the following information to register for A2P 10DLC. This means you must collect this info for your customers if you are a direct brand.
An authorized representative with the following info:
Sole Proprietor registration is available now. The following requirements will apply.
No Tax ID (EIN): To qualify for Sole Proprietor registration, you must not have an EIN (Employer Identification Number). Any business with a Tax ID (EIN) is not eligible and should instead register for a Low Volume Standard Brand.
US or Canada only: Sole Proprietor Brands are limited to individuals in the US and Canada.
Please Note:
Each mobile phone number can only be used to validate up to 3 brands. Each email or physical address can only be used to validate up to 10 brands. This limit applies for all A2P registrations within the ecosystem, even brands registered outside of LeadConnector.
This represents a messaging use case, for example, sending account notifications or conducting marketing. In carrier terminology, these are called “Campaigns.” For more specificity, LC Phone is calling them campaign use cases.
Some companies may only need to register one campaign use case; in other scenarios, you may have multiple. For example, if you are a company that sends authentication codes to validate new users but also sends marketing messages, you should register two campaign use cases.
Your campaign use case describes the type of messaging you plan to send. This will influence the price you pay per message on AT&T.
Use cases vary from notifications and fraud alerts to customer care to social updates.
Do I need to go directly to The Campaign Registry or any other non-LC Phone website to complete registration?
No. Registration can be completed entirely through LC Phone. LC Phone has integrated directly with The Campaign Registry (TCR) to facilitate registration for our customers. This offers you other benefits of LC Phone’s Trust Hub.
If you are an Independent Software Vendor (ISV), you can apply to LC Phone for an exception to allow you to go directly to TCR for your US A2P Brand and Campaign registrations and use those registrations for your message traffic on LC Phone.
Buying new numbers is unnecessary if you already use long code numbers. Following the registration process will enable your existing numbers to use the new A2P 10DLC service.
If your company is an ISV, you must register your Business Profile and Brand, then register each of your client’s US A2P Brands and Campaign Use Cases. LC Phone is continually working on making this process as smooth as possible for ISV customers, especially those with many clients.
First, you’ll register your company as a Primary Business Profile in the Trust Hub on your primary LC Phone account.
For registering your end clients, LC Phone will be offering two options:
We understand that onboarding to A2P 10DLC may be a significant effort if you are an ISV with many clients. We recommend you start by registering your larger clients, then expand registration to your smaller clients.
You will need information about each business and brand to register businesses, brands, and use cases. The required info includes the business name, physical address, and business type (LLC, partnership, etc.).
After your Brand(s) and Campaign(s) receive approval, it’s imperative to connect each A2P Campaign Use Case with a Messaging Service and assign phone numbers to it. All phone numbers added to the Messaging Service will automatically become linked with the corresponding Campaign.
By default, newly created Messaging Services adopt the “Defer to sender webhooks” setting, preserving any existing inbound message handling configurations on your LC Phone numbers. For previously established Messaging Services, ensure their inbound message handling settings align with your preferences before incorporating new numbers. You can review these settings through the LC Phone Console or utilize the Messaging Services API for management.
If you don’t currently use Messaging Services in your application to send outbound messages, that’s OK – you won’t need to make changes within your application. Modifying your application to include the Messaging Service SID in your API requests is unnecessary. Adding the phone numbers to a Messaging Service is only necessary to associate them with a Campaign.
For an overview of registration costs and per-message carrier fees associated with A2P 10DLC, please see the pricing and fees associated with the A2P 10DLC service article.
A2P 10DLC registration is a multiple-step process that includes registering a Business Profile, a US A2P Brand, and a Campaign use case.
Brand registration can typically be completed in a few minutes if you’ve collected all the required information. For example, when registering a US-based business, you should ensure your Employer Identification Number (EIN) is ready when you begin registration. However, in the event that there is a discrepancy with the information you provide, a manual review may be required for Secondary Vetting, which can take up to 7 days. To avoid this, please see A2P 10 DLC Brand Approval Best Practices article.
Effective January 26, 2023, all new A2P Campaign registrations are subject to a manual vetting process. We are currently experiencing several weeks of delays in vetting A2P 10DLC Campaigns. We are working with our 3rd Party provider to improve the vetting times. In the meantime, please account for these delays when registering.
Yes, MMS messaging via long code is subject to carrier fees as part of A2P 10DLC. We also expect registered MMS traffic to ultimately benefit from reduced carrier filtering. However, long code MMS messaging remains subject to throughput limits due to limited carrier capacity. A shortcode is still the best option for high-volume MMS use cases in the United States.
Message throughput (MPS) will be allocated per registered Campaign Use Case. For many customers, A2P 10DLC will offer much higher throughput than the traditional 1 MPS for long code messaging without requiring additional numbers to get higher throughput.
These changes do not directly affect shortcodes and Toll-Free numbers, except for officially prohibiting shared short codes for all use cases except authentication codes. Details below.
Utilizing dedicated short codes remains an effective method for disseminating high-volume A2P messages within the United States. However, the shift towards A2P 10DLC entails the prohibition of shared short code numbers, with the sole exception being for transmitting 2-factor authentication (2FA) or OTP codes exclusively.
Shared short codes denote those numbers utilized by multiple entities, such as Shoe Company A and Beverage Company B transmitting messages through the same code. If you’ve acquired a short code from LC Phone solely for your business and brand usage, this alteration will not impact you.
According to the updated policy, shared short codes are permissible only for transmitting authentication code messages, like “Your login code is 12345.” Any other messaging category is prohibited on shared short codes. Clients who share a short code across multiple brands for purposes beyond sending 2-factor codes (OTPs) are advised to fully transition away from shared short codes.
Previously, the termination date for shared short codes was set for June 1, 2021. However, as of early 2022, this termination date is postponed pending the successful rollout of A2P 10DLC. A precise end date will be communicated once we obtain relevant information.
US Toll-Free phone numbers are not affected by these changes. Toll-Free SMS is still a great way to send A2P SMS in the United States and Canada.
Yes, for ISV-type customers invited to onboard their clients, LC Phone provides APIs for registering yourselves and your clients. Regardless of how you plan to register, we encourage you to go ahead and collect all the required information.
Verizon launched its A2P 10DLC service in January 2019. At this time, Verizon has not announced any plans to adopt these new Brand and Campaign registration requirements. If this ever occurs, LC Phone will notify our customers in advance.
Please note that the T-Mobile network includes Sprint and MetroPCS, as those networks were acquired by T-Mobile previously. All information related to T-Mobile also applies to these networks.
US Cellular (the 4th largest mobile carrier in the US) has not announced specific A2P 10DLC plans as of January 2022.
Read on for details about other types of mobile networks.
Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)
Many smaller branded mobile providers in the US are actually Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), who utilize one or more of the major mobile networks for their service. A list of US MVNOs is available on Wikipedia. These changes will also affect MVNO numbers primarily utilizing AT&T’s network.
If you perform an LC Phone Lookup on a mobile number operated by an MVNO, it will display the name of the primary host network (for example, AT&T or Verizon).
Other independent mobile networks
Small independent mobile networks in the US are a small percentage of the mobile market and are unaffected by upcoming A2P 10DLC changes. A list of mobile networks in the US that own and operate their network infrastructure is available on Wikipedia for reference.
No, Canada mobile carriers are not impacted at this time. Canadian mobile carriers may introduce registered A2P 10DLC solutions in the future, but at this time, carriers have not announced any plans to do so.
Yes, Puerto Rico carriers are impacted as well. Many recipients in Puerto Rico have telephone services from US-based carriers. Messages to those recipients are treated the same as messages to US-based recipients of those networks.
No. WhatsApp messaging is unaffected by any of these changes. WhatsApp messages are transmitted over the Internet rather than through carrier networks like SMS and MMS.
This Messaging Policy pertains to every sub-account utilizing LeadConnector Phone Systems (LC – Phone). It mandates that all outgoing messages from your sub-account adhere to our SMS and MMS Messaging Guidelines. The following messaging scenarios are strictly prohibited via SMS or MMS in the United States or Canada. The information below extends to extended code […]
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This FAQ relates to the US A2P 10DLC Campaign registration changes w.e.f January 26, 2023. What is changing? Commencing from January 26, 2023, a manual vetting process will apply to all newly registered US A2P 10DLC Campaigns (including Standard, Low volume standard, and the upcoming Sole Proprietor 2.0). Alongside registration, a one-time $15.75 campaign verification […]
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