A2P.guide — Qualify to Text & Call in the USA

Outbound Calling Trust: The Two-Layer Voice Model

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

US outbound voice trust has two distinct layers, and they are run by completely different parties. Confusing them is the most common reason brands waste money in the wrong place.

The first layer is regulatory and cryptographic: STIR/SHAKEN caller-ID authentication, FCC-mandated, where your voice provider signs each call so the destination carrier can confirm the number wasn’t spoofed. The second layer is commercial: a small set of private analytics engines (Hiya, TNS, First Orion) that score your reputation, decide whether the handset shows “Spam Likely,” and power branded calling.

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Brand Registration Readiness

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

Run this before you submit your Brand to The Campaign Registry . Brand verification matches the details you enter against authoritative records (IRS, the RMD , your website), so a single mismatch — a DBA where the legal name belongs, or an EIN that’s off by a digit — fails the check and can hurt your Trust Score . Since February 1, 2025 unregistered 10DLC traffic is blocked outright, so a clean Brand is the gate to sending anything.

Regulatory Change Tracker (2024–2026)

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The numbers and deadlines on this topic move constantly. This is the one table to bookmark. Status is In force , Upcoming / Delayed , or Dead / Repealed .

Change	Date	Status
Unverified toll-free traffic blocked	Jan 31, 2024	In force
AI-generated voices ruled "artificial" under TCPA (illegal in robocalls w/o consent)	Feb 8, 2024	In force
One-to-one consent rule vacated by 11th Circuit	Jan 24, 2025	Dead
Unregistered 10DLC traffic blocked 100%	Feb 1, 2025	In force
TCPA consent-revocation core rule (10 business days, any reasonable means)	Apr 11, 2025	In force
TCR fee increase (brand $4.00→$4.50; standard vet $40→$41.50)	Aug 1, 2025	In force
One-to-one rule formally repealed by FCC final rule	Sept 2025	In force
New third-party caller-ID authentication obligations (STIR/SHAKEN)	Sept 18, 2025	In force
CTIA Messaging Security Best Practices published	Oct 2025	Published
FCC Call Branding FNPRM (ties branding to A-level attestation)	Oct 28, 2025	Proposed
Verizon BCID live as terminating provider	Nov 5, 2025	In force
Toll-free verification BRN / Issuing Country / Entity Type mandatory Telnyx & Bandwidth cite Feb 17, 2026 as their enforcement date.	Jan 1, 2026	In force
RMD annual recertification deadline	Mar 1, 2026	Upcoming
Twilio toll-free: separate Privacy + Terms URLs required (error 30493)	Sept 15, 2026	Upcoming
TCPA "revoke-all" cross-channel provision takes effect	Jan 31, 2027	Delayed

The three you most likely need to act on

RMD annual recertification — Mar 1, 2026. If you (or your voice provider) file in the Robocall Mitigation Database, recertify or risk having all traffic blocked.
Toll-free BRN fields — Jan 1, 2026 (Telnyx/Bandwidth: Feb 17, 2026). New mandatory Business Registration Number, Issuing Country, and Entity Type on toll-free verifications.
TCPA “revoke-all” — Jan 31, 2027. A STOP on one message type will eventually apply across all types; build your opt-out plumbing accordingly.

Consent & Opt-In: The Compliant CTA

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Marketing SMS in the US requires Prior Express Written Consent (PEWC) — the highest consent standard under the TCPA . In practice that means a documented, affirmative opt-in captured through a compliant Call-to-Action (CTA) . This is also the single most-scrutinized item in 10DLC campaign review: the CTA, your sample messages, and your message flow all have to tell the same story, or the campaign is rejected (see rejection reasons and the campaign rejection table).

Do I Need A2P Registration?

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

If your business sends automated texts or places automated calls to US mobile numbers, you almost certainly need to register — and the rules differ depending on whether you’re texting, calling, or both. This page is the orientation: figure out which track applies to you, then follow the right guide.

The short answer: who must register

You need A2P registration if software (a CRM, a marketing platform, an API, a dialer) sends messages or places calls to consumers — as opposed to one person texting another from their phone.

Short Code Leasing Guide

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

Leasing a Short Code is a three-stage process: lease the code from the registry, write a program brief describing how you’ll use it, then wait out the per-carrier provisioning review. Budget 8–12 weeks end to end and plan your launch date around it — there is no fast track.

The leasing flow

Lease the code from the registryReserve a code through the Somos U.S. Short Code Registry (usshortcodes.com) — directly, or through a CPaaS reseller that manages the registry relationship for you. Choose random (cheaper) or vanity (self-selected, memorable, premium), and a lease term: 3, 6, or 12 months (some offer 9). You lease, you don’t own — let it lapse and it returns to the pool.
Write and submit the program briefThe program brief is the application carriers review: brand, use case, sample messages, the full opt-in/opt-out flow, message frequency, and the call-to-action. It must align internally the same way a 10DLC campaign does — mismatches cause rejections. Submit it through your provider/aggregator.
Carrier provisioning and approvalEach carrier reviews the program brief independently. Expect provider/aggregator review of ~1–2 weeks followed by carrier review of ~6–10 weeks — 8–12 weeks total. Once all carriers approve and the code is provisioned, you can launch at ~100 MPS per code.

Plan around the timeline

The 8–12 week carrier provisioning is the gating constraint. If you have a fixed launch date (a campaign, a product release), start the lease and program brief well ahead. For anything faster, a verified toll-free number launches in days.

Registry vs reseller pricing

Be explicit about which price you’re quoting. The official Somos registry rate is what you pay leasing the code directly; a CPaaS reseller marks it up in exchange for managing the registry relationship, the program brief, and carrier provisioning for you.

A2P 10DLC Overview: What It Is and Who Runs It

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

A2P 10DLC stands for Application-to-Person messaging over a 10-Digit Long Code — a standard local phone number. It is the US carrier-mandated framework requiring businesses to register their identity and their message types before automated SMS/MMS from local numbers is allowed to flow.

The three major carriers — AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon — introduced it to curb spam and phishing and to make every commercial sender traceable to a verified business. P2P (person-to-person) texting from your personal phone is unaffected; this is strictly about application-driven traffic.

Privacy Policy

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Effective date: June 29, 2026.

This Privacy Policy explains how HappyChases Media Works OPC Private Limited (“we”, “us”, “our”), an OPC Private Limited incorporated in India, handles information in connection with the website a2p.guide (the “Site”). By using the Site you agree to this Policy.

The short version

We do not ask you to create an account or run advertising. If you opt into our newsletter, we collect only the email (and optional name) you submit. We use Google Analytics for aggregate page-view statistics. The interactive tools run entirely in your browser — what you type into them never reaches us.

Information we do not collect

The Site is a static, informational reference. We do not:

A2P Readiness Checklist

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Roughly 90% of 10DLC rejections trace to a handful of fixable gaps — a personal email, a privacy policy missing one clause, samples that don’t match the use case. This audit walks the four areas reviewers actually check. As you tick items, it scores your readiness and lists exactly what’s left, with a link to the guide that fixes each gap.

How it works

The audit is grouped into Business identity, Web presence, Consent, and Campaign — the four areas a DCA reviewer scores.
Your readiness score is the percentage of items checked. The gauge marker tracks it live.
Every unchecked item appears in the gap list with one-line guidance and a link to the page that closes it.
Progress is saved in your browser (localStorage) so it survives a reload. Use Reset to clear it.

Caveats

This is a self-audit, not a guarantee of approval. Carriers and DCAs apply their own discretion, and exact rules shift — verify live with your CSP before you submit. It is informational, not legal advice. For the full detail behind each item, see brand registration, campaign registration, privacy policy requirements, and consent and opt-in.

Sources & Methodology

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How this guide is built

Every page was researched across primary sources (The Campaign Registry, the FCC, CTIA, Somos), the major CPaaS documentation (Twilio, Telnyx, Bandwidth), and legal analysis, then each key claim was independently fact-checked before publishing. Where a figure couldn’t be pinned to an authoritative source, we say so.

Freshness policy

Fees, throughput tiers, and regulatory dates change on published schedules. So:

Every volatile number lives in a single shared data file, and every page that shows it carries a “Last verified” date.
Figures we expect to change carry a Verify live as of mid-2026 marker — re-check the primary source before relying on them.
The change tracker is updated as rules move.

Not legal advice

This site is informational. It is not legal advice. Verify fees, deadlines, and compliance requirements with your CSP, carrier, or counsel before relying on them.

Primary sources

A full, per-topic source list appears at the bottom of each reference page.

STIR/SHAKEN and Attestation, Explained

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

STIR/SHAKEN is the caller-ID authentication framework that lets a destination carrier confirm a call’s number wasn’t spoofed. STIR (Secure Telephone Identity Revisited) is the set of IETF cryptographic standards; SHAKEN is the ATIS/SIP profile that carriers actually deploy on their networks. Together they sign each call at origination and verify it at termination.

It is the foundation of voice trust — but on its own it does not stop a “Spam Likely” label. That is the job of the analytics layer. STIR/SHAKEN answers a narrower question: is this caller authorized to use this number?

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Toll-Free Verification Guide

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

Toll-Free Verification is a single submission — no separate Brand and Campaign like 10DLC. You assemble one packet of business details, message samples, and proof of opt-in, your provider files it with the Somos/carrier-backed verification system, and the carriers approve or reject it. While it is in review, the number sends at a reduced pending rate; once verified, it moves to the default toll-free throughput.

The fastest path is to get every field right on the first pass. Use the Toll-Free Verification Field Builder to assemble a complete packet, including the new 2026 fields, before you submit.

Official US Government Resources

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This page collects the primary government sources for US A2P texting and calling. Industry and vendor documentation (Twilio, Telnyx, TCR, CTIA, etc.) is useful for how-to, but it is secondary. For what the law actually requires, go to the source.

Why primary sources matter

Fees, deadlines, and rules on third-party sites — including this one — can lag the official record. Before you rely on a number or a rule for a compliance decision, confirm it against the relevant .gov source below and, where it matters, a qualified attorney.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

The FCC enforces the TCPA , mandates STIR/SHAKEN caller-ID authentication, and operates the RMD .

Campaign Submission Checklist

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Work through this before you submit a Campaign for vetting. The reviewer checks that your use case, your description, and your sample messages all tell the same story; the most common rejections are simple internal contradictions — samples that contain a link while has_embedded_links is off, or a description that doesn’t match the messages. Vetting costs $15 and each resubmission costs $15 again, so it pays to catch these before you click submit.

How to Get A-Level Attestation

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You cannot ask for A-level attestation directly — there’s no form, no setting, and no fee that grants it. The originating provider assigns the grade based on how confident it is that you’re authorized to use the calling number. A means the provider authenticated you and confirmed the number is yours. So “getting A” is really about structuring your numbers and your provider relationship so the provider can confidently stamp A.

Number Type Recommender

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Picking the wrong number type is expensive: short codes lock you into a ~$500–$1,500/month lease and an 8–12 week wait, while 10DLC throttles a high-volume blast to a crawl. This recommender encodes the full decision matrix into five questions and scores all three options against your answers.

Opt-Out, STOP & HELP

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Honoring opt-out is a hard requirement under both the TCPA and the CTIA Messaging Principles. Carriers test STOP/HELP handling during campaign review, and the FCC tightened the rules significantly in 2025: you can no longer force a consumer to use your exact keyword.

Mandatory STOP and HELP keywords

Keyword set	Purpose	Required behavior
STOP / CANCEL / QUIT / UNSUBSCRIBE / END	Opt-out	Send one confirmation of the opt-out, then stop all further messages. Remove the number from the program (within ~24 hours).
HELP / INFO	Assistance	Reply with the business name and a support contact (and typically a link to terms).

These keywords must be supported on every campaign, and your campaign registration declares the opt-out, HELP, and confirmation messages (each 20–320 characters). The STOP confirmation is the only message you may send after a STOP — and only once.

10DLC vs Toll-Free vs Short Code

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There are three ways to send A2P texts from US numbers, and the right one depends on your volume, budget, timeline, and how much brand recognition you need. This is the decision page: the full comparison table, then a short framework for picking.

If you’d rather answer a few questions and get a recommendation, use the number-type recommender — it encodes the same logic.

The comparison table

Dimension	10DLC	Toll-Free	Dedicated Short Code
Number format	Local 10-digit	8XX	5–6 digits
Registration	Brand + Campaign (TCR )	Single toll-free verification	Program brief to all carriers
Setup cost	~$4–4.50 brand + $15 vet + monthly campaign fees + $50 T-Mobile activation	Free verification, ~$1/mo/number	$500–$1,000/mo lease + ~$650–$1,000 setup
Per-message (SMS)	~$0.0025–$0.005 carrier surcharge; free inbound	~$0.0055 outbound; inbound charged	Provider-specific usage rates
Throughput	~4 MPS → up to ~75 MPS by Trust Score	3 MPS default → up to ~150 MPS with approval	~100 MPS/code, highest
Time to launch	~days–3 weeks	~3–5 business days to several weeks	8–12 weeks
Delivery receipts	Carrier-level only	Handset-level	Carrier-level
Brand identity	Local presence	National, recognizable	Strongest brand association, highest trust
Best for	Small/local, two-way conversational, cost-sensitive	SMB needing fast launch, national presence, OTP/alerts, no campaign-vetting hassle	Enterprise/high-volume marketing, 2FA at scale, time-critical alerts

Verify live as of mid-2026

Decision framework

10DLC → small or local business, low-to-moderate volume, a two-way/regional feel, and cost sensitivity. The cheapest to run, but throughput is gated by your Trust Score and you carry the brand + campaign vetting overhead.
Toll-Free → a startup or SMB that needs to launch fast with a national presence and moderate volume — OTP, alerts, notifications. Free setup, handset-level delivery receipts, and one verification instead of campaign-by-campaign vetting. The pragmatic default for many senders.
Dedicated Short Code → enterprise or high-volume senders who need maximum throughput, deliverability, and brand recognition, and can absorb $500–$1,500/mo plus an 8–12 week lead time.
Hybrid (common) → use a toll-free number or short code for broad outbound/brand traffic, and 10DLC for local, two-way conversational flows. Many mature senders run both.

The fast rule of thumb

Need it cheap and local with two-way conversations? 10DLC. Need a national number live this week without vetting hassle? Toll-free. Sending at huge scale where deliverability and brand are worth the cost and the wait? Short code.

Go deeper

10DLC overview and the registration guide
Toll-free SMS and its verification guide
Short codes and the leasing guide
Still deciding? The interactive number-type recommender walks you through volume, budget, timeline, and brand needs and returns a recommendation with rationale.

A2P 10DLC Registration Guide: End-to-End

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This is the canonical end-to-end flow. The example follows the Twilio model; other CSPs (Telnyx, Bandwidth, Plivo) are analogous — the registry behind all of them is the same TCR. Do every step in order: a campaign cannot be submitted before its brand is approved.

Budget a few days to ~3 weeks end to end. The brand can clear in hours; carrier/DCA campaign review is the part that takes real calendar time, and it lengthens during peak backlog.

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Terms & Conditions

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

Effective date: June 29, 2026.

These Terms & Conditions (“Terms”) are a binding agreement between you and HappyChases Media Works OPC Private Limited (“we”, “us”, “our”), an OPC Private Limited incorporated in India, governing your access to and use of a2p.guide and its content, tools, and downloads (the “Site”). If you do not agree, do not use the Site.

Not legal, compliance, or professional advice

The Site is provided for general informational and educational purposes only. It is not legal, regulatory, compliance, tax, or other professional advice, and using it does not create any advisory or professional-client relationship. A2P registration, TCPA/CTIA compliance, and telecom regulation are fact-specific and change frequently. Always verify with the official government source, your CSP/carrier, and a qualified attorney before acting.

1. Informational purpose only

The Site summarizes publicly available information about US Application-to-Person (A2P) messaging and calling — registration, fees, throughput, and regulation. Laws, carrier rules, registry fees, and deadlines change, and may have changed since a page was last updated. Nothing here is a substitute for the primary sources (see our Official US government resources) or professional advice tailored to your situation.

Toll-Free Throughput & Fees

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A toll-free number’s sending rate depends entirely on its verification state. Before verification, it is throttled to a low pending rate; after verification, it sends at the industry-standard default; and with a sales-approved upgrade it can scale well beyond that. Rates are measured in MPS (messages per second).

Throughput by verification state

State	Cap
Pending / unverified	~2,000 segments/day, 6,000/week, 10,000/month (Twilio/Bandwidth) Verify live as of mid-2026
Verified (default)	3 SMS MPS (~180 msg/min) — industry standard
High-Throughput Toll-Free	Starts at 25 MPS, scales to 50 and up to ~150 MPS (SMS) via sales approval; MMS capped at 25 MPS

The pending caps are provider-specific and change — verify the exact numbers against your provider before relying on them. The 3 MPS verified default is the consistent industry standard.

Who Governs A2P: The Regulatory Bodies

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There is no single “A2P regulator.” Getting a US brand qualified to text and call means satisfying a federal agency, an industry trade group, a private registry, a number administrator, three mobile carriers, and an industry traceback consortium — each with a different kind of authority. The most important distinction: only the FCC makes binding law. Everyone else either operates a registry, publishes “best practices” the carriers choose to enforce, or filters traffic on its own network. That difference dictates who you appeal to when something goes wrong.

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10DLC Brand Registration: Fields, Paths, and the EIN Rule

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

The Brand is your verified business identity record in TCR . It holds your Trust Score and your T-Mobile daily cap, and every campaign you register hangs off it. Get the identity data exactly right the first time — the most common reason a brand lands in an “unverified” state is a name or ID that doesn’t match official records.

Required brand identity fields

Field	Notes
`business_name`	Exact legal name matching EIN/IRS records (per your CP 575 or 147c letter). This is the field people get wrong most often.
`business_type`	Corporation, LLC, Partnership, Co-operative, Non-profit Corp
`business_registration_identifier` + `_number`	The business ID and its value: EIN (US), DUNS, CBN, CN, ACN, CIN, VAT, etc. EIN is required for Standard and Low-Volume Standard.
`business_industry`	Vertical — HEALTHCARE, RETAIL, FINANCIAL, etc.
`business_regions_of_operation`	Where you operate
`company_type`	public / private / non-profit / government
`stock_exchange` + `stock_ticker`	Only if the company is public
`website_url`	Functional, HTTPS, and clearly related to the business name
`social_media_profile_urls`	Optional but helps verification
Authorized representative	First/last name, business title, job position (CEO/CFO/VP/Director…), E.164 phone, and a non-disposable business email (no free/personal email for public brands)
Physical address	Street, city, region (2-letter), postal code, ISO country

EIN is required — DUNS is not accepted as the primary ID

For Standard and Low-Volume Standard brands you must supply an **EIN **. Submitting DUNS as the primary business identifier forces an Unverified state and blocks you. DUNS, GIIN, and LEI may be added only as optional supplemental IDs — never in place of the EIN. If you don’t have an EIN at all, you’re on the Sole Proprietor path, which uses OTP identity verification instead.

The three registration paths

Which path you take is determined mostly by one question — do you have an EIN? — and secondarily by your expected volume.

Branded Calling: BCID and Rich Call Data (RCD)

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Branded calling is the modern upgrade beyond CNAM. Instead of a 15-character text name pulled from a flaky database, Rich Call Data (RCD) carries a verified business name, logo, and call reason inside the STIR/SHAKEN PASSporT so it displays on the handset when the call rings. It’s cryptographically protected and tied to your A-level signed call.

The industry-standard ecosystem is CTIA’s Branded Calling ID (BCID) , operated by BCID, LLC (a CTIA subsidiary), with TransUnion a major implementer (e.g. AT&T’s solution). It is the strongest answer-rate lever in the voice trust stack.

Consent & Opt-in Compliance

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Use this to audit the call-to-action where you collect SMS consent. Carriers and the TCPA require documented, informed opt-in: the elements below must all appear at the point of consent, and consent can’t be a condition of purchase. The TCPA carries a private right of action at $500–$1,500 per message, so retaining proof of consent — timestamp, channel, and the exact CTA wording — is as important as collecting it.

10DLC Cost Calculator

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Pick your registration path, vetting, campaign count, use case, carrier mix, and monthly volume. The calculator itemizes the one-time cost (brand + vetting + per-campaign DCA vetting + T-Mobile activation + optional SBR) and the recurring monthly cost (per-campaign fees + per-message surcharges + registry number fee).

10DLC Cost Calculator

One-time + monthly estimate from the official TCR fee schedule

Registration path

Sole Proprietor Low-Volume Standard Standard

Sole Proprietor uses the $4.00 brand fee and skips the $50 T-Mobile activation.

External vetting Optional — the main lever on Trust Score and throughput.

Use case (monthly tier) Recurring per-campaign fee, set by use case.

Number of campaigns Each adds DCA vetting, T-Mobile activation, and a monthly fee.

Monthly message volume Outbound SMS segments per month.

Carrier surcharge basis Per-segment pass-through rate used for the surcharge line.

Need >200k/day to T-Mobile (adds $500 SBR) Special Business Review, charged once per brand.

Estimates only. TCR publishes scheduled fee increases and carrier surcharges change frequently; CSPs may bundle or mark up pass-through fees. Verify every amount against the official TCR Fees & Pricing PDF before quoting it.

How it works

One-time total = brand registration + external vetting (if any) + DCA campaign vetting ($15 per campaign, per submission) + T-Mobile activation ($50 per campaign) + the optional Special Business Review ($500/brand) when you need to exceed 200,000 daily segments to T-Mobile.
Monthly total = your use-case monthly fee × number of campaigns + per-message surcharge × monthly volume + the ~$0.02/month industry registry fee per text-enabled number (estimated at one number per campaign).
The surcharge basis lets you plan against a single carrier’s per-segment rate or a blended average. Real billing depends on your actual carrier traffic mix and your CSP’s markup.

Caveats

These are planning estimates only. TCR publishes scheduled fee increases (the last confirmed bump was Aug 1, 2025), carrier surcharges change frequently, and CSPs may bundle or mark up the pass-through fees. Verify every amount against the official TCR Fees & Pricing PDF before quoting it to anyone. See the full breakdown on the 10DLC fees reference page.

Disclaimer

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Effective date: June 29, 2026.

Not legal or professional advice

Everything on a2p.guide is general information, not legal, regulatory, compliance, tax, or other professional advice, and it does not create any professional relationship. Do not act, or refrain from acting, on the basis of this Site without first consulting the primary government source and a qualified attorney licensed in your jurisdiction.

Accuracy and currency

US A2P rules, registry fees, carrier throughput, and regulatory deadlines change frequently and without notice. We work from primary sources and date every reference, but figures here may be out of date or incomplete by the time you read them. We make no representation or warranty about the accuracy, completeness, or currency of any content. Always confirm against the official US government resources, The Campaign Registry, and your CSP or carrier before relying on anything.

The FCC: TCPA, STIR/SHAKEN & the RMD

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The Federal Communications Commission is the only government regulator in the A2P stack — the one body whose rules carry the force of federal law, applied nationally and (often) effective the moment they’re published. Everything else on this site is a registry, a trade-group “best practice,” or a private carrier filter. The FCC plays three distinct roles, and 2024–2026 has been the most active stretch of FCC rulemaking and enforcement in the history of US messaging and calling.

Privacy Policy & SMS Terms Requirements

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Your privacy policy is not a formality — campaign reviewers actually open the URL and read it. A missing, broken, or non-compliant privacy policy is one of the top 10DLC rejection causes, and the specific clause carriers look for is narrow and easy to get wrong.

It must be publicly accessible

The privacy policy URL has to resolve, for anyone, without a login. Reviewers will reject if it:

returns a 404, a blank page, or “under construction”;
is login-gated or behind a paywall;
is linked but doesn’t actually load.

It must be linked from both your website and the opt-in form where consent is captured. At minimum the policy must disclose: what data you collect and how, how SMS data is used, the opt-in method, the opt-out method (“Reply STOP”), security, retention, and a support contact.

Rejection Troubleshooter

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About 90% of 10DLC campaign rejections trace to a dozen recurring causes — almost all of them in the consent flow, the privacy policy, or a brand/website mismatch. Search by the rejection code you were given (or by keyword), expand the cause, and read the exact fix.

Rejection Troubleshooter

Find your rejection code, severity, and the fix

Search by cause, code, or fix keyword

Each rejected resubmission costs another $15 — fix every cited issue before resubmitting. Codes are approximate and shift over time; confirm against your live console. Full table: rejection reasons & fixes.

How it works

Type any part of a cause, a code (e.g. 30932), or a fix keyword and the list filters as you type. Click a cause to expand its fix. Each row shows a severity:

10DLC Campaign Registration: Use Cases, Samples, and Message Flow

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A Campaign is a registered messaging use case under your Brand. It describes what you send, who receives it, why, and how people opted in. Your phone numbers attach here, and AT&T’s per-campaign throughput is allocated here. A campaign cannot be submitted until its brand is approved.

Required campaign fields

Field	Constraint
`us_app_to_person_usecase`	The category — see use cases below
`description`	40–4096 characters: who sends, who receives, and why
`message_samples`	2–5 samples, each 20–1024 chars; ≥1 must include the brand name; ≥1 should include opt-out language
`message_flow` (opt-in description)	40–2049 characters describing how recipients consent
`has_embedded_links`, `has_embedded_phone`	Booleans — must match your samples
Opt-in / opt-out / HELP keywords + messages	Each message 20–320 chars

Alignment is everything

Your description, use case, and sample messages must all agree. A “Customer Care” campaign whose samples are obviously promotional, or a description that mentions links while has_embedded_links is false, gets rejected. Mismatch is the top rejection cause — see rejection reasons.

Use cases and their monthly fees

Pick the use case that genuinely matches your traffic. It drives both your recurring per-campaign fee and, on AT&T, your throughput class. The standard use cases and their TCR monthly fees:

CNAM: The Legacy Caller Name

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CNAM (Caller Name) is the legacy mechanism for showing who’s calling. It’s a database lookup — a “dip” — that returns only a short text name. No logo, no call reason, and crucially no cryptographic verification, which means it can be spoofed. It predates STIR/SHAKEN entirely.

It still has a place: an accurate CNAM is a cheap, sensible baseline. But it is not a strategy for getting answered — that’s what branded calling is for.

CTIA: The Carrier-Enforced Messaging Rulebook

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

CTIA — the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association — is the wireless trade association: the industry group representing AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and the rest of the US mobile ecosystem. It is not a government regulator and it cannot fine you. But because its members are the carriers that own the last mile, CTIA’s documents function as the operational rulebook for US business texting and branded calling. Almost every messaging-compliance rule on this site — opt-in standards, STOP/HELP handling, the privacy-policy clause, the SHAFT content list — descends from a CTIA best-practices document.

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Privacy Policy Compliance

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

Check your privacy policy against this before submitting any Brand or Campaign. Reviewers visit the page directly, so a login-gated, blank, or “under construction” policy fails the review without an obvious explanation — making it the number-one silent rejection cause. The non-negotiable clause is that SMS opt-in data and consent are never shared or sold to third parties for marketing, with a carve-out only for the provider that delivers your messages. From September 15, 2026, Twilio also requires separate Privacy Policy and Terms URLs (error 30493).

Prohibited Content: SHAFT & Carrier-Blocked Categories

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Some content can never be sent over US A2P messaging — no matter how clean your opt-in is, no matter that the recipient consented, and in several cases no matter that it’s legal in the recipient’s state. These rules come from the CTIA Messaging Principles and are enforced by the carriers during campaign vetting.

Key point

Most prohibited-content rejections are non-resubmittable for that use case (TCR codes roughly 30940–30964). DCAs don’t credit a partial fix — if the content is blocked, you remove it or you can’t register that campaign. Check your content against these categories before you submit and pay the $15 vetting fee.

SHAFT

SHAFT = Sex, Hate, Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco. Not all five are treated identically:

Quiet Hours Helper

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

TCPA telemarketing rules prohibit solicitation calls and texts before 8:00am or after 9:00pm in the recipient’s local time. Since late 2024, 100+ cookie-cutter class actions have alleged quiet-hours violations — even where the recipient consented. This helper converts your send moment into the recipient’s local time and tells you whether it’s safe to send.

Quiet Hours Helper

Is your marketing send inside the 8am–9pm window?

Recipient state Maps to the state's predominant timezone.

Your (sender) timezone

Send date

Send time (your local time)

Pick a recipient state and a send date/time to check the quiet-hours window.

Quiet hours are an active class-action area. Use the recipient's actual local time when you know it — state is only a proxy, and several states span two zones. Transactional messages the user requested are treated differently. More: quiet hours & TCPA time restrictions.

How it works

Pick the recipient’s state (the reliable path — it maps to that state’s predominant IANA timezone), then enter the date and time you plan to send and your timezone. The tool converts your send moment to the recipient’s local clock and checks it against the 8:00am–9:00pm window:

Carrier Throughput Estimator

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The three carriers do not share a throughput model. T-Mobile caps a daily segment count per brand (shared across all campaigns and numbers). AT&T allocates a per-minute rate per campaign. Verizon is fixed per number. Pick your Trust Score band and counts to see all three.

Carrier Throughput Estimator

T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon capacity from your Trust Score

Trust Score band From your secondary/standard vet. Sole Proprietor brands have no Trust Score.

1255075100

Number of campaigns Raises AT&T capacity (per-campaign), not T-Mobile.

Number of phone numbers Raises Verizon capacity (per-number).

How to raise it

Pay for external/secondary vetting to raise your Trust Score — the biggest lever for T-Mobile and AT&T.
Use an Aegis Enhanced vet if the standard score is unsatisfactory.
Choose the highest-throughput legitimate use case (e.g. AT&T Social class).
Split traffic across campaigns — helps AT&T (per-campaign), not T-Mobile's brand-wide cap.
Add numbers / a Number Pool — helps Verizon and spreads AT&T; not T-Mobile's daily cap.
Apply for T-Mobile Special Business Review to exceed 200,000/day.

Planning estimates. T-Mobile is a brand-wide daily cap (shared); AT&T is per-campaign TPM; Verizon is per-number and aggregator-reported. Your CSP's enforced limits and actual carrier mix govern real delivery.

How it works

T-Mobile — a brand-wide daily cap keyed to your Trust Score band. It is not multiplied by campaigns or numbers; splitting traffic does not raise it.
AT&T — a per-campaign TPM (messages per minute) for your band. Effective capacity is the per-campaign rate × your number of campaigns, since AT&T allocates separately per campaign.
Verizon — a fixed ~6,000 SMS TPM per sending number, independent of Trust Score. Adding numbers adds capacity (~4,500 TPM ≈ 75 MPS for reference).

Caveats

Verizon figures are aggregator-reported; Verizon does not officially publish them. The Sole Proprietor path has no Trust Score and fixed low throughput. These are planning estimates — your CSP’s enforced limits and your actual carrier traffic mix govern real delivery. See Trust Score and throughput for the full tables and the levers to raise each carrier’s number.

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Sole Proprietor 10DLC: The No-EIN Path

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

The Sole Proprietor path exists for one specific situation: you want to text from a local number but you don’t have an EIN . Instead of business vetting, TCR verifies an individual by sending a one-time passcode (OTP) to their mobile phone. It’s the cheapest way onto 10DLC — and the most limited.

Eligibility

You qualify only if both are true:

You have a US or Canadian address.
You have no business Tax ID (EIN).

Have an EIN? You're not eligible.

If you have an EIN, you are not allowed to use the Sole Proprietor path and must register as Low-Volume Standard or Standard. The Sole Proprietor route is reserved for genuine individuals and tiny businesses without a federal tax ID.

There are also anti-abuse limits on how widely one identity can be reused:

Spam-Label Remediation and Caller Reputation

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

“Spam Likely” and “Scam Likely” are not assigned by the carriers’ core network or by STIR/SHAKEN. They’re assigned by three private analytics engines , one per major carrier, each running its own reputation score and its own portal. You can have flawless A-level attestation and still get labeled if these engines don’t like your behavior.

The good news: you can register with all three in one free submission, and most labels are remediable. This page is the full playbook.

The TCPA: The Law Behind Every A2P Rule

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

The TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 1991, 47 U.S.C. 227, implemented at 47 CFR 64.1200) is the federal law that governs whether an automated call or text is legal to send. It is FCC-enforced, but its defining feature is the private right of action: any recipient can sue — individually or as a class — without a regulator’s involvement. Combined with statutory per-message damages and no aggregate cap, that is the single economic force behind US messaging compliance and the ongoing class-action wave.

TCPA Basics for Texting

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The TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 1991, 47 U.S.C. 227) is the federal law that governs whether an automated call or text is legal to send. It is the reason every other SMS compliance rule on this site exists, and it is the engine behind the ongoing class-action wave. For the full regulatory picture see /regulations/tcpa/.

What the TCPA covers in texting

A text message is treated as a “call” under the TCPA. The key consequences for business texting:

Toll-Free Verification Packet

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

Assemble this packet before you start a Toll-Free Verification . Unverified toll-free A2P traffic has been blocked entirely since January 31, 2024, and while the submission is free, an incomplete or inconsistent one drags out review — so collect everything up front. Note the 2026 additions: a Business Registration Number (your EIN in the US), Issuing Country, and Entity Type became mandatory January 1, 2026 (Telnyx and Bandwidth enforce from February 17, 2026).

Trust Score Lookup

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Your Trust Score (0–100, from secondary vetting) sets your throughput tier with T-Mobile and AT&T. Pick a band to see exactly what each carrier gives you at that level.

Trust Score Lookup

Carrier throughput at a glance, by Trust Score band

Trust Score band From your secondary/standard vet. Sole Proprietor brands have no Trust Score.

Reference values. Banding ranges are the canonical published values; Verizon figures are aggregator-reported and not officially published. See the throughput reference page for special use-case classes.

How it works

T-Mobile caps a daily segment count per brand, shared across all campaigns and numbers.
AT&T assigns a Message Class per band, with separate SMS and MMS per-minute rates, allocated per campaign.
Verizon is fixed (~6,000 SMS TPM per number) and does not vary with Trust Score.

Caveats

Banding ranges are the canonical, most widely published values; one mirror has shown a shifted 1–24 band. Verizon figures are aggregator-reported. Sole Proprietor brands receive no Trust Score and a fixed low tier. For the full tables, special use-case classes, and how to raise each number, see Trust Score and throughput.

Opt-In CTA Generator

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

A compliant marketing opt-in Call-to-Action must carry all nine required elements, or it fails carrier review and leaves you exposed under the TCPA . This generator assembles the CTA plus the three messages every recurring campaign needs — the welcome/confirmation, the STOP reply, and the HELP reply — from your brand details.

Opt-In CTA Generator

All nine required elements, plus welcome, STOP & HELP replies

Brand / business name

Opt-in keyword The word users text to opt in.

Short code or number

Message frequency

Program type Marketing requires the full PEWC opt-in.

Opt-in CTA — all nine required elements

Welcome / confirmation message

STOP reply

HELP reply

Starting template, not legal advice. This assembles the standard required elements but does not account for your specific program, state law, or counsel's guidance. Review every block before you publish or submit it for campaign vetting.

How it works

The CTA block stitches together the nine elements the Consent & Opt-In guide requires: brand identity, program type, frequency, “Msg & data rates may apply”, STOP and HELP instructions, Terms and Privacy links, the “not a condition of purchase” statement, and the affirmative keyword action. The welcome message is the confirmation message every recurring program must send first. The STOP and HELP replies are the mandatory keyword responses carriers check for.

Quiet Hours: The 8am–9pm Rule

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

Quiet hours are a TCPA restriction: telemarketing calls and texts may not be sent before 8:00am or after 9:00pm in the recipient’s local time (47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1)). It applies to solicitation/marketing messages — and it is currently the most active litigation front in SMS compliance.

The rule

Allowed window: 8:00am–9:00pm in the recipient’s local time — not the sender’s, not the server’s.
Applies to: marketing / solicitation texts.
Different treatment: transactional and informational messages the recipient specifically requested (order updates, OTPs, appointment reminders) are treated differently and are not the target of these claims.

The local-time requirement is the trap: a 9:30pm Eastern blast is already past quiet hours for your East-Coast recipients even though it’s only 6:30pm on the West Coast.

The Robocall Mitigation Database (RMD)

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

The Robocall Mitigation Database (RMD) is the FCC’s registry where every voice provider certifies how it fights illegal robocalls. Providers that fully implement STIR/SHAKEN attest to that; providers that can’t must file a robocall mitigation plan describing their controls. Either way, being in the RMD — and staying in it — is a precondition for having your traffic accepted across the network.

This is a provider-side obligation. You, the brand, don’t file. But it belongs in your voice-trust playbook because your provider’s RMD standing directly determines whether your calls get delivered at all.

Short Code Launch

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Use this when you’ve chosen a dedicated short code as your path. It’s the premium, highest-trust tier — and the slowest: provisioning runs 8–12 weeks (provider/aggregator review ~1–2 weeks plus independent carrier review ~6–10 weeks), at roughly $500–$1,000/month. The two decisions to make first are registry vs reseller (pricing model) and random vs vanity (code), because both affect cost and timeline before any carrier ever sees your program brief.

Budget 8–12 weeks and decide registry vs reseller up front.

10DLC Trust Score and Carrier Throughput

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

Every Standard brand registered in TCR receives a Trust Score (0–100) from a third-party secondary vetting algorithm (Aegis Mobile or WMC Global). It reflects identity, business age/size, public records, and compliance history — not message content. A common banding is 0–20 low, 21–79 medium, 80–100 high. Sole Proprietor brands get no Trust Score and are pinned to fixed low throughput.

The score does not change on its own — re-vetting is the only way to move it.

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Still need the reference material? Everything on A2P.guide remains free without a subscription — fees, throughput tables, compliance guides, and tools.

A2P 10DLC Fees: The Complete Cost Stack (2026)

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The cost of 10DLC splits into four buckets: one-time registration, optional vetting, recurring per-campaign, and per-message carrier surcharges. The numbers below come from the official TCR Fees & Pricing guide (rev. 1/19/26). CSPs pass these through — Telnyx at cost, others may bundle or mark up.

$4.50

TCR brand registration (Sole Prop: $4.00)

$15

DCA campaign vetting — each resubmit too

$41.50

standard external vet (raises Trust Score)

$50

T-Mobile campaign activation (one-time)

$10/mo

standard recurring per-campaign fee

$500

T-Mobile Special Business Review (>200k/day)

Verify live as of mid-2026

Fees move on a schedule

TCR publishes scheduled increases (the latest confirmed bump was Aug 1, 2025: brand $4.00 → $4.50, standard vet $40 → $41.50). Carrier surcharges change even more often. Verify every amount against the primary TCR PDF before quoting it to anyone.

One-time registration fees

These are charged once, at registration. The TCR brand fee depends on company type; Sole Proprietor is the only one that’s cheaper.

Outbound Calling Trust

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Run this to build and defend your outbound calling reputation. A business can’t sign its own calls, so trust is assembled from a few signals: A-level STIR/SHAKEN attestation from your voice provider (avoid gateway/C-level traffic), a current filing in the FCC Robocall Mitigation Database , free registration of every number at FreeCallerRegistry.com (one submission reaches Hiya, TNS, and First Orion), accurate CNAM , and clean dialing hygiene. Get these wrong and your calls get a “Spam Likely” label that’s slow to remove.

Privacy Clause Generator

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

A missing or non-compliant privacy clause is one of the top campaign rejection causes. Carriers require your public privacy policy to state — in plain language — that mobile information and SMS opt-in data are never shared or sold to third parties or affiliates for marketing, with a narrow carve-out for the provider that actually delivers your messages. This generates that clause plus a matching SMS Terms of Service snippet.

Launch-Day Go / No-Go

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This is the last gate before you turn on traffic. Treat it as a hard go / no-go: a single red item — a Campaign still pending on one carrier, numbers not attached to the messaging service, or untested STOP handling — means hold, not launch. Confirm your Brand and Campaign are APPROVED across all carriers, that opt-out is tested end-to-end, and that deliverability and error-code monitoring is live so you’ll see problems the moment they start.

10DLC Campaign Rejection Reasons & Fixes

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Campaign vetting is done by a DCA (Direct Connect Aggregator), typically takes ~3–5 business days, and costs $15 per submission. The painful part: each rejection-and-resubmission costs another $15, and DCAs do not credit partial fixes — you must resolve every cited issue before resubmitting.

Fix everything before you resubmit

A resubmission that fixes 4 of 5 cited problems gets rejected again — and costs you another $15. Treat the rejection notice as a complete checklist, not a starting point.

Stuck on a specific code or symptom? Use the Rejection-Reason Troubleshooter to jump straight to the cause and fix.

Sample Message Validator

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

Sample messages are one of the most-scrutinized parts of a 10DLC campaign. Reviewers reject samples that are too short, identical, missing the brand name, or carrying link shorteners or bare HTTP URLs. Paste your samples below — one per line — and this validator flags the same issues a DCA reviewer would.

Sample Message Validator

Lint your 10DLC sample messages before submitting

Brand name At least one sample must contain this.

Sample messages (one per line, blank lines ignored)

Paste at least one sample message above to validate it.

A linter, not a guarantee. Passing every check here does not guarantee campaign approval — reviewers also weigh use-case alignment and prohibited content. Use it to catch the common, mechanical rejection causes before you submit.

How it works

Each line is checked for length (20–1024 characters), the presence of [bracketed] template placeholders, bare http:// links (carriers require HTTPS), and link shorteners (bit.ly, tinyurl, t.co, goo.gl, ow.ly) — which are flagged as failures because they hide the destination. Embedded links and phone numbers are noted so you remember to set has_embedded_links / has_embedded_phone to match.

SMS Segment Counter

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

Carriers bill SMS by the segment, not the message. A single GSM-7 segment holds 160 characters — but add one emoji and the whole message flips to Unicode encoding, where a segment is only 70 characters. This counter shows the encoding, character count, and segment count live as you type.

SMS Segment Counter

Encoding, character count & billed segments — live

Message text

Segments

Encoding GSM-7

Characters 0

Per-segment limit 160

Characters until next segment 160

You pay per segment, not per message. A single emoji flips the whole message to Unicode (70 chars/segment), doubling or tripling your cost. See what that does to your monthly bill in the 10DLC Cost Calculator.

How it works

If every character is in the GSM-7 basic or extension set, the message uses GSM-7 encoding: 160 characters in a single segment, or 153 per part once the message spans multiple segments (the extra 7 bytes per part carry the concatenation header). Any character outside that set — most emoji, many accented or non-Latin characters — forces UCS-2 / Unicode encoding: 70 characters single, 67 per part.

Toll-Free Verification Field Builder

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:01:11 -0400

Toll-free verification is a single, free submission — but a rejected one costs days. This builder collects every field your provider’s TFV form expects, flags the ones still missing, and assembles a clean packet you can paste straight in. It calls out the three fields that became mandatory from Jan 1, 2026 (Telnyx and Bandwidth enforce from Feb 17, 2026): Business Registration Number (the EIN), Issuing Country, and Entity Type.

Compliance Deadline Tracker

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The A2P rulebook keeps moving — toll-free BRN fields, the RMD recertification deadline, Twilio’s separate-URL requirement, the delayed revoke-all provision. This tracker lists every dated change with a status pill and, for upcoming deadlines, a live countdown computed against today’s date in your browser. The soonest deadline is pinned to the top.

Compliance Deadline Tracker

Every A2P change & deadline, with live countdowns

Loading the next deadline…

Filter

All Upcoming In force Dead

Last verified mid-2026. Some enforcement dates vary by provider (e.g. toll-free BRN) and proposed rules can shift. Countdowns are computed against your device's clock. Verify live before relying on any single date.

How it works

Every item carries a status pill: green (in force), amber (upcoming/proposed/delayed), red (dead/repealed).
Items with a target date show a live countdown — “in N days,” “today,” or “N days ago” — recomputed each time you load the page.
Use the filter to show All, only Upcoming, only In force, or Dead/repealed items.
The soonest upcoming deadline is surfaced at the top so you never miss the next one.

Caveats

Dates and statuses come from the site’s data layer, last verified mid-2026; some changes (e.g. the toll-free BRN enforcement date) vary by provider, and proposed rules can shift. Verify live before relying on any single date. For the full narrative on each change, see the regulatory change tracker.