What Is 10DLC? A2P 10DLC Registration Explained

10DLC is a 10-digit long code: an ordinary phone number with an area code, like the one on a business card. It is different from a 5 or 6-digit short code and from a toll-free number.

A2P stands for application-to-person. It covers any text sent from software to a person: a CRM, a texting app, an appointment reminder system or an API. The opposite is P2P, person-to-person, which is you texting a friend from your own phone.

Put together, A2P 10DLC is business texting from a local number. Carriers welcomed it because customers reply to local numbers, but spammers used the same numbers. So AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon now require every business sending A2P texts on 10DLC numbers to register first, through an industry database called The Campaign Registry (TCR).

If your business sends texts to US phones from a local number through any software, yes. That includes one-to-one conversations from a CRM inbox, not just bulk campaigns. Since early 2025, US carriers block texts from unregistered 10DLC numbers instead of only slowing them down.

• You need it if reps text leads from a CRM, if you send appointment reminders or order updates, or if you run promotions to a list.
• You don’t need it for a toll-free number (that has its own verification process) or a short code (that has its own approval).
• Signs you are not registered: texts show as failed or undelivered, often with carrier error 30034 (“message from an unregistered number”), and replies stop coming.

You don’t register with TCR directly. Your texting provider (for example Twilio, Telnyx or your phone system) collects your details and submits them for you. There are three steps.

1. Register your brand. This is your business identity: legal business name, EIN (US tax ID), business address, website and a contact person. The name and EIN must match IRS records exactly, character for character.
2. Register a campaign. This is what you will text about. You pick a use case (for example customer care, marketing, account notifications or mixed), describe how people opt in, and provide two or more sample messages that look like what you will really send.
3. Attach your numbers. Once the campaign is approved, your provider links your 10-digit numbers to it, and texts from those numbers go out as registered traffic.

No EIN? Sole proprietors without a tax ID can register as a sole proprietor brand instead. It is faster and cheaper, but limited to one campaign and one phone number, with low daily volume.

What to have ready before you start

• Your exact legal business name and EIN as they appear on your IRS letter.
• A live website that matches the business name, with a privacy policy.
• A privacy policy line saying mobile information is not shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Missing this line is one of the most common reasons campaigns are rejected.
• A clear description of how people agree to receive texts: a web form checkbox, a keyword they text in, or a verbal opt-in on a call, and where that happens.
• Sample messages that include your business name and “Reply STOP to opt out.”

Most of the fees come from TCR and the carriers and are passed through by your provider, so they look similar at most providers. Typical amounts as of late 2026:

• Brand registration: about $4.50 one time for a sole proprietor or low-volume brand, or roughly $45 for a standard brand, which includes secondary vetting.
• Campaign vetting: about $15 one time per campaign, charged again if a rejected campaign is resubmitted.
• Monthly campaign fee: roughly $1.50 to $10 per campaign, depending on the use case.
• Carrier fees: a fraction of a cent per text segment, on top of your provider’s own per-message price.

Check your provider’s pricing page for the exact numbers on your account; they change from time to time.

Timing: brand registration is often done within minutes to a day. Campaign vetting is manual and usually takes a few days, longer if it is sent back for fixes. Every rejection means another fee and another wait, so it pays to get the details right the first time.

Registration does not only unlock delivery. It also sets how much you can send.

• Sole proprietor brands: about 1,000 text segments a day to T-Mobile customers, one number, slow per-minute speed.
• Standard brands: secondary vetting gives your brand a trust score from 0 to 100. A higher score means higher daily caps (from about 2,000 segments a day to T-Mobile at the low end, far more at the top) and faster sending to AT&T.
• Long texts count more than once. Limits are counted in segments. A standard text is up to 160 characters; longer texts, or any text with an emoji or special character, split into more segments. Our free text message checker shows the segment count before you send.

For a small team texting leads and customers one-to-one, the standard limits are rarely the problem. Content and consent are.

Rejection notices are often vague (“insufficient description”, “improper consent”). Almost all of them come back to the same few problems:

• Business details don’t match. The legal name or EIN doesn’t match IRS records, or the website shows a different name.
• The opt-in isn’t clear. The description doesn’t say where and how people agree to texts, or the form has no consent language.
• No privacy line about mobile data. The privacy policy is missing, or it doesn’t say mobile numbers aren’t shared for marketing.
• Samples don’t match the campaign. For example, you said no links but the samples contain links, or the use case is “customer care” but the samples are promotions.
• Consent is shared. Lists bought from or shared with another company aren’t allowed. Consent belongs to the business that collected it.
• Restricted content. Some topics need extra approval or age checks, and some are not allowed at all (see the next section).

Registration gets you in the door. Carriers still filter individual messages, so the way you write matters every day.

• Say who you are. Start with your business name, for example “Sunrise Realty: …”.
• Include an opt-out on the first text to each person: “Reply STOP to opt out.”
• Stick to your registered use case. If you registered for customer care, don’t start sending promotions from the same campaign.
• Watch your words. Some words are common in spam (“free”, “cash”, “urgent”). Using one is usually fine; repeating it in the same text adds up. If a flagged word is part of your business name, use your short name in everyday texts.
• Use your own domain for links. Public link shorteners like bit.ly are widely blocked.
• Age-restricted products (alcohol, tobacco and vape, firearms, gambling) are legal to text about when your campaign is registered for them and your contacts are confirmed adults. Cannabis, illegal drugs and sexual content are not allowed on business texting at all.

Before a new template goes out, paste it into our free text message checker. It underlines the words carriers watch for, counts segments and checks for the opt-out line and your business name. For the rules on consent, opt-outs and quiet hours, plus what each carrier error code means, see our SMS compliance guide; for a longer playbook, the B2B SMS outreach guide.

For most small and mid-size teams that text leads and customers, 10DLC is the right choice: people recognize a local number and reply to it.

Conduyt sends texts through your connected texting line, so 10DLC registration happens with that provider, for example in the Twilio Console if you use our Twilio integration. Once you’re texting, Conduyt helps you see problems early:

• When a carrier refuses a text, it shows as Not delivered with the reason in plain English, such as “the line is not registered for texting (A2P 10DLC)”, plus the carrier code for your provider’s support team.
• A line the carrier refused because it can’t text isn’t used again for an hour, so one bad line doesn’t burn through your follow-ups.
• Opt-outs are recorded on the contact, and every text sits on the same timeline as calls and emails. See CRM text messaging.