10DLC and A2P. The step nobody warns you about.
What it is, whether your voice agent needs it, and how long it takes. In plain English.
What it is.
10DLC (10-Digit Long Code) is how US carriers let businesses send application-to-person (A2P) SMS from a normal 10-digit number. You register your business and use case through The Campaign Registry (TCR). Unregistered traffic gets filtered, throttled or blocked.
Do you need it?
If your agent sends any SMS (confirmations, callbacks, lead follow-ups), yes. Voice-only calling has its own rules (STIR/SHAKEN), but most voice products also text. If you never send SMS, you can wait, but plan for it before you scale.
Two registrations.
Brand
Your business identity: legal name, EIN, address. Carriers vet it and set your throughput.
Campaign
The use case, like appointment reminders, with sample messages and opt-in details.
Timeline.
The wait is the carrier review queue, not your code. Start registering early and build in parallel.
Costs and gotchas.
- A one-time brand fee, monthly campaign fees and per-message carrier fees. Amounts vary by provider.
- Sole proprietor brands get much lower throughput than EIN-backed brands.
- Opt-in language and samples must match what you send, or the campaign is rejected.
- Unregistered traffic is increasingly hard-blocked, not just filtered.
Get the full checklist.
Brand and campaign fields, opt-in templates and provider links, by email.
No spam. Just the checklist.