A2P 10DLC Registration: What It Is and How It Works

A2P 10DLC registration is how a US business gets permission from the carriers to send texts from an ordinary 10-digit phone number through software. You register your business (the brand) and what you send (the messaging registration, which the industry calls a "campaign"). On Twilio, a new brand costs $4.50, vetting a messaging registration costs $15, and a low-volume registration costs $1.50 a month. The messaging registration review is the long wait: up to 5 business days for a standard use case, by Twilio's estimate.

This page is the overview. The A2P 10DLC help center has one page per task: the brand, the messaging registration, opt-in checkboxes, privacy and terms pages, fees, wait times and common rejection codes.

Texts from an unregistered 10DLC number don't arrive: Twilio blocks them with error 30034, "Message from an Unregistered Number".

What "A2P 10DLC" means

• A2P (application-to-person): texts sent by software on a business's behalf, as opposed to a person texting from their own phone.
• 10DLC (10-digit long code): a regular local phone number, as opposed to a toll-free number or a 5–6 digit short code.
• The Campaign Registry (TCR): the industry body the carriers use to record who is sending what. Your provider (Twilio, Telnyx, and others) files with TCR for you.

Toll-free numbers and short codes have their own approval processes (toll-free verification, short code applications) and don't use 10DLC registration.

What you file

1. The brand

Your business identity: legal business name exactly as it appears on your EIN paperwork, EIN, business type, address, website, and an authorized contact. The brand is checked against IRS records. Brand registration, field by field covers the formats that get brands rejected.

2. The messaging registration

• Use case and description: who is texting whom, and why. "Acme Realty texts people who asked about a listing on our website, to answer questions and schedule showings."
• Sample messages: at least two, written like your real texts, matching the use case.
• Opt-in flow: where and how people agree to receive texts. Reviewers open the live form and compare its checkbox wording with what you filed, so the two must match word for word. Use a screenshot only when the form is behind a login.
• Privacy policy and terms URLs: public pages, not behind a login.

3. Your numbers

Once the messaging registration is approved, each sending number is attached to it. A number can't send registered traffic until it is.

What it costs

On Twilio, a small business on low volume that skips secondary vetting pays $22.15 the first month ($4.50 brand, $15 review, $1.50 monthly registration fee, about $1.15 for the number), then $2.65 a month. Secondary vetting adds $41.50 once, and a standard registration costs $10 a month instead of $1.50. A2P 10DLC registration cost lists every fee and when it's charged.

Two cost traps: fixing a rejected brand by editing it is free, but filing a new brand bills $4.50 again. Deleting a rejected messaging registration and filing a new one bills another $15, so edit and resubmit the same one, with everything the rejection names fixed (Twilio). Editing through Twilio's API is still in private beta, so some providers file a corrected registration as a new one. What registration costs has every fee.

Low volume or standard?

Daily limits are set per carrier. T-Mobile publishes them, and they're the ones that usually bind (Twilio's A2P 10DLC overview covers the details):

Registration	T-Mobile daily limit
Low volume (any trust score)	2,000
Standard, trust score 1–24	2,000
Standard, trust score 25–49	10,000
Standard, trust score 50–74	40,000
Standard, trust score 75–100	200,000

If you send fewer than 2,000 message segments a day to T-Mobile users (Twilio estimates about 6,000 across all carriers), register as low volume and skip secondary vetting. Standard costs $8.50 more a month and the $41.50 vetting buys a score you don't need.

How long it takes

• Brand: Twilio says brand vetting sometimes takes several days, and to contact support if a brand is still in review after two days (Twilio). A new EIN can take 30 to 90 days to reach the records carriers check.
• Messaging registration: up to 5 business days for standard use cases (Twilio).
• Phone numbers: up to 24 hours after approval (Twilio).

Each rejection adds another review of the same length, so the fastest path is a clean first filing. How long registration takes covers what slows it down.

Why registrations get rejected, and the fix

Most refusals come down to the opt-in checkbox, the policy pages or a description that doesn't match the samples. The error codes are Twilio's; A2P 10DLC rejection codes has more codes and their fixes.

• Marketing consent bundled with other texts (30913): one checkbox covers both texts about an inquiry and promotions. Give marketing its own unchecked checkbox; the opt-in checkbox guide has the wording.
• Checkbox ticked by default, required, or folded into accepting your terms (30925, 30931): the person has to tick it themselves, the form must submit without it, and agreeing to your terms isn't agreeing to texts.
• Consent wording incomplete (30924): it needs your business name, what the texts are about, frequency, "Message and data rates may apply", and how to stop and get help.
• Privacy policy or terms page incomplete (30908, 30882): the privacy policy must say texting data isn't shared, and the terms page needs eight specific items. Both codes also come back when a URL is missing. Privacy policy and SMS terms has both pages ready to publish.
• Use case doesn't match what you send (30916, 30886, 30893): rewrite the description and samples so a stranger could tell who's texting whom and why.
• Content or business that can't be registered (30883, 30897): for example cannabis, loan marketing, debt relief or third-party lead generation. These can't be fixed by resubmitting (Twilio).

Opt-in text that passes review

Use two checkboxes on the form where people give their phone number: one for texts about their inquiry and one for marketing. Both start unchecked, neither is required to submit the form, and your Privacy Policy and Terms are linked right under them. One box for both is a refusal we have seen in production (30913).

I agree to receive text messages from Acme Realty at the phone number provided about my inquiry, including responses, appointment reminders and follow-ups. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to unsubscribe or HELP for assistance.

I agree to receive marketing and promotional text messages from Acme Realty at the phone number provided, including special offers and new programs. Messages may be sent using automated technology. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to unsubscribe or HELP for assistance. Consent is not a condition of purchase.

File the same sentences in your registration, word for word. Opt-in checkboxes carriers accept has the wording traps and a section to forward to your web developer, and privacy policy and SMS terms has both pages ready to publish.

Then put the same disclosures in your first text, and make sure every opt-out word works. Twilio handles STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, END, QUIT, STOPALL, REVOKE, OPTOUT and CANCEL by default (Twilio opt-out docs); anything else you build has to as well.

Rules registration doesn't cover

Registration gets your texts delivered. It doesn't make them legal. The TCPA still applies: get consent before sending marketing texts, and don't send telephone solicitations before 8 AM or after 9 PM in the recipient's time zone (47 CFR 64.1200). Some states are stricter.

What changed recently

We check the FCC, The Campaign Registry, carrier notices and Twilio every week and add changes here with the date they take effect.

• November 19, 2026 to January 4, 2027: Twilio's holiday Heightened Awareness Period. Twilio watches US sending rates for toll-free, short code and 10DLC traffic and may limit them at the account level. 10DLC numbers keep their usual throughput, but expect closer scrutiny of volume spikes from Black Friday through early January (Twilio, September 17, 2026).

If you use Out Nurture

Out Nurture files your brand and messaging registration from inside the app, as low volume without secondary vetting, and passes the carrier fees through at cost. Before you pay, it reads your website's signup form and policy pages and flags what carriers commonly refuse. If a filing comes back refused, the app shows the fix for that code, with a link to forward to whoever edits your website. It honors STOP and every other Twilio opt-out word across every campaign, and only sends follow-ups between 8 AM and 9 PM in the lead's time zone. You still collect consent on your own forms and ads, using the two checkboxes above.