A2P 10DLC for SMS — brand/campaign registration and why your texts vanish without it

If you're using a US 10-digit phone number to send SMS from your PBX or application, the carriers now require you to register your brand and campaign before they'll deliver your texts. Unregistered traffic gets filtered silently. This article explains what A2P 10DLC is, what you need to register, and how it shows up in each major carrier's portal.

What A2P 10DLC actually is

• A2P — Application-to-Person. Texts originated by a service or application sent to a human recipient. As opposed to P2P (person to person).
• 10DLC — 10-Digit Long Code. A standard US phone number. As opposed to short codes (5-6 digits, expensive) or toll-free.

The US mobile carriers (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile) implemented A2P 10DLC starting around 2020-2021 as a spam-filtering measure. They now require every business sending A2P traffic on 10DLC to:

1. Register the business (the Brand) with a central registry (TCR — The Campaign Registry).
2. Register each use case (the Campaign) with a description, opt-in flow, and sample message content.
3. Pay a one-time setup fee per brand and per campaign, plus ongoing monthly fees per campaign.

Carriers then assign your registered campaigns a throughput limit ("messages per second") based on the campaign's trust score and your business size.

What happens to unregistered traffic

The carriers don't return errors. They just don't deliver. Common symptoms:

• Texts work to some recipients (those on smaller carriers that don't enforce 10DLC) but fail to others.
• Delivery reports come back successful from your SMS provider but the recipient never gets the message.
• Throughput limits hit suspiciously low ceilings (one message per minute, then nothing).

If you're sending B2C texts to US numbers without 10DLC registration in 2026, assume most of them are not being delivered.

Brand registration

You'll need:

• Legal business name (matches your incorporation paperwork).
• EIN (or DUNS for non-US entities — non-US is harder).
• Business address, website, support contact.
• Business vertical (healthcare, professional services, retail, etc.).
• For Standard registration: revenue, employee count.

Two registration tiers:

• Sole Proprietor — for very small businesses without an EIN. Low throughput cap.
• Standard — for registered businesses. Higher throughput; more documentation.

Registration is handled through your SMS provider's portal — they submit it to TCR on your behalf.

Campaign registration

Per campaign, you need:

• Use case: marketing, mixed, notification, account verification, etc.
• Description: what the campaign is for, in plain language.
• Opt-in mechanism: how customers consent to receive these texts.
• Sample messages: 2-3 examples of actual text content.
• Opt-out mechanism: must support STOP to unsubscribe.
• Help mechanism: must support HELP for info.

Approval takes anywhere from minutes to days. Marketing- focused campaigns get more scrutiny than transactional ones.

Per-carrier specifics

Telnyx

• Portal → Messaging → 10DLC.
• Brand registration is a guided form. Standard brand fee applies plus an annual vetting fee for higher throughput.
• Campaigns are created per messaging profile.
• Throughput tier (T1-T4) is shown in the portal after approval.

Flowroute (Intrado)

• Portal → Messaging → A2P 10DLC Registration.
• Similar flow to Telnyx.
• Documentation is leaner than Telnyx's; expect to ask support questions.

VoIP.ms

• SMS settings → A2P Registration.
• VoIP.ms is one of the more affordable options for low- volume A2P; Sole Proprietor registration is quick.
• Throughput is generally lower than Telnyx tier 1, fine for transactional use.

What does NOT need 10DLC registration

• P2P texts from your own phone via SoftPhone client. Carriers can usually tell P2P from A2P by traffic patterns; sufficiently varied, low-volume personal traffic isn't flagged.
• Toll-free SMS (8xx numbers). Separate verification process (TFN verification) but not 10DLC.
• Short codes. Separate (expensive) process.
• Non-US traffic. 10DLC is US-specific. Other countries have their own equivalents (UK, Canada).

Costs to plan around

Approximate (changes occasionally; check current pricing):

• Brand registration: $4 one-time (Sole Prop) to $40+ one- time (Standard).
• Standard brand vetting (for higher throughput): $40+ annual.
• Campaign registration: $10-$15 per campaign per month, depending on use case.
• Pass-through carrier fees per message (varies by carrier).

For a small operation sending a few hundred texts a month, total ongoing cost is around $15-25/month plus per-message fees.

Migrating an existing number

If you have a number that's been sending SMS for years without registration, registering it doesn't grandfather past traffic — but it does immediately improve delivery rates from the registration date forward. Don't wait for delivery to "recover" on the unregistered number; it won't.

When to skip 10DLC entirely

If your SMS volume is one-way notifications to opted-in customers and you can tolerate low-volume restrictions, use toll-free SMS (TFN verification) instead — simpler process, similar deliverability for transactional traffic.

If your volume justifies it ($1000+/month of A2P traffic), short codes still beat 10DLC on throughput and deliverability but cost significantly more.