A2P 10DLC Anti-Robo SMS Upcoming Telecom Regulations
We recognize the importance of making and receiving business SMS messages at the office and on the go. Telemarketers, spam callers, and fraudsters are frustrating, profit-hurting troubles that all voice providers are again working together to address regarding SMS spam messages. To adhere to legal requirements from major telecom carriers there will be changes regarding SMS policies in the upcoming future.
Does this affect me?
If you are sending or receiving SMS messages through any phone number with any carrier you will be affected. These changes will address robo SMS and the protections will raise the cost of messaging to meet surcharges and fees all carriers are adding for inbound and outbound messages based on registration and campaign monthly charges. The 10DLC program is a work in progress and not fully finalized across all cell carriers. It is subject to details changing at any time (with notice). These changes can affect how service works, fees, rules, and the upcoming registration processes.
What is A2P 10DLC?
A2P 10DLC refers to a system in the United States that allows businesses to send Application-to-Person (A2P) type messaging via standard 10-digit long code (10DLC) phone numbers. All Cell Carriers in the US got together to create this regulation and impose it on all businesses that work with SMS messaging. All cell carriers consider all Business (non-consumer) messaging to be A2P. Carriers’ A2P 10DLC offerings provide better delivery quality and lower filtering risk than long code SMS of the past, using the same phone numbers.
Direct Customers sending fewer than 3,000 messages per day (peak) to the US and using 5 or fewer long code numbers will see moderately little change to their SMS and MMS experience. There are some special use cases such as Charity, Emergency, K-12, Political, Social media websites, sweepstakes, and most importantly business brands that have multiple agents, franchises, offices in the same brand, but require individual localized numbers per agent/location/office. Anything outside of these cases would fall under marketing, customer care, or one of many other campaign types.
What do I need to do?
If you do not send any messages to users in the United States using your Ringbyname phone numbers, be prepared to 'opt out' of SMS and MMS services as we prepare an upcoming prompt for your admin/management users to confirm.
If you send messages to US customers using your own reseller account, you should be prepared to register as well for SMS and MMS. Getting estimates of clients SMS messages per day can help find what campaign is best for them.
How does A2P 10DLC work?
There are two important requirements under the new A2P 10DLC system:
- Businesses must identify who they are to the carrier networks (Brand registration).
- Businesses must register what type of messages they are sending, i.e. notifications (Campaign registration).
Registration is to be done through your Ringbyname Admin panels with upcoming integration updates. We are working to simplify the process to make it easy for businesses to continue to use SMS and MMS services in compliance with the upcoming regulations.
Do I need to register? If so, what’s the deadline?
Yes, all clients must register either opting in and providing documentation or opting out. We strongly recommend customers complete registration as soon registration is available. We will release an update that will appear for any Admins or Resellers who log into the Ringbyname Admin or Management panel.
Dates and deadlines for business registration
End of A2P registration transition period: TBD As Cell Carriers who are implementing this regulation have yet to set any hard deadlines. We will update this article as we are provided new information.
What if I am just testing, or sending a low volume of messages to the US?
If you always send fewer than 3,000 messages per day to the US using 5 or fewer long code phone numbers, you should still be prepared to register for SMS and MMS. Getting estimates of your SMS messages per day can help find what campaign is best for you. If you stay within this range of messages the most economical rates will be available to meet the new telecom guidelines.
What happens if I don't register?
At a later date (to be announced by carriers), increased message filtering will apply to messages that are sent without registration, or unregistered messaging to the US via long code numbers will cease to be supported altogether.
How does US A2P Brand registration work?
When you complete your US A2P Brand registration, your Brand will be enabled for campaign use cases to send and receive SMS messages.
What’s a campaign?
This represents a messaging use case, for example sending account notifications or conducting marketing. In carrier terminology, these are called "Campaigns." They are a means of organizing up to 49 DIDs per campaign. Larger accounts specifically ones with 49 DIDs or more will need additional campaigns for additional DIDs.
What do the campaign use case options mean?
Your campaign use case describes the type of messaging you plan to send. Use cases vary from notifications and fraud alerts to customer care to social updates. Customers can create up to 50 campaigns per use case (e.g. 50 marketing campaigns, 50 political campaigns). To create more than 50, please reach out to Ringbyname support with explanation for why more than 50 campaigns of that type are required.
General Campaign Use case:
| Campaign use case (registered on your Messaging Service) | Description |
| 2FA | Any authentication or account verification such as OTP |
| Account Notifications | Notifications about the status of an account or related to being a part of an account |
| Customer Care | Support, account management, and other avenues of customer interaction |
| Delivery Notifications | Information about the status of a delivery |
| Fraud Alert Messaging | Messaging about potential fraudulent activity such as spending alerts |
| Higher Education | Message campaigns from colleges, universities, and other education institutions |
| Marketing | Promotional content such as sales and limited time offers |
| Low Mixed | A campaign that covers multiple use cases such as Customer Care and Delivery Notifications. Note - mixed campaigns are likely to have lower throughput and a higher cost per message. This is the most common form of business text messaging. |
| Polling and voting | For conducting polling and voting, such as customer surveys. Not for political use. |
| Public Service Announcement | PSAs to raise audience awareness about a given topic |
| Security Alert | Notification of a compromised system (software or hardware related) |
Special Campaign Use Cases (These will require additional verification, verification fees, and have no guarantee of approval):
Use Case | Description | Examples | Currently Available for Registration? |
Agents; franchise; local branches | Brands that have multiple agents, franchises or offices in the same brand vertical, but require individual localized numbers per agent/location/office. | A real estate company operates offices at multiple locations with multiple real estate agents. Each real estate agent has their own number and manages their own text communication. | Yes |
Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit | Communications from a registered Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit aimed at providing help and raising money for those in need. Limited to 501(c)(3) nonprofits. | A food bank registered as a 501(c)(3) sending out appointment reminders to program beneficiaries. | Yes |
K-12 Education | For messaging platforms that support schools from grades K-12 and distance learning centers. | A messaging platform for schools. | Yes |
Proxy (formerly Conversational) | Peer-to-peer app-based group messaging with proxy/pooled numbers. Supporting personalized services and non-exposure of personal numbers for enterprise or A2P communications. | A ride sharing service that offers anonymized messaging communications between drivers and passengers. | Yes |
Emergency | Notification services designed to support public safety/health during natural disasters, armed conflicts, pandemics, and other national or regional emergencies. | A government agency sending out critical alerts to residents during a wildfire. | Yes |
Political | Part of an organized effort to influence decision making of a specific group. | A political organization sending text messages encouraging voters to vote for a specific candidate in a federal election. | Yes |
Social | Communication between public figures/influencers and their communities. | A YouTube influencer or celebrity sharing informational updates with their followers. | Yes |
Sweepstakes | All gambling and sweepstakes messaging | A car brand notifies interested visitors at a showroom about a car giveaway. | Yes |
Do I need to go directly to The Campaign Registry or any other non-Ringbyname website to complete registration?
No. Registration can be completed entirely through Ringbyname with upcoming integration.
Do I need to buy new phone numbers to use this A2P 10DLC service?
If you are already using long code numbers, there is no need to buy new numbers. You will enable your existing numbers to use the new A2P 10DLC service by following the registration process.
My company provides services to multiple other brands or companies as an ISV (independent software vendor). What do I have to do?
If your company is an ISV, you will need to register your own Business Profile and Brand, then register each of your client US A2P Brands and Campaign Use Cases. Ringbyname is continually working on ways to make this process as smooth as possible for ISV customers, especially those with many clients and resellers hosting various accounts.
First, you’ll register your own company under your Ringbyname account, then you'll be able to use the enterprise hero portal to update and register each account with its own brand/campaigns.
We understand that onboarding to A2P 10DLC may be a significant effort if you are a reseller with a large number of clients. We recommend you start by registering your larger clients, then expand registration to your smaller clients.
What information is required for registration?
In order to register businesses, brands and use cases, you will need information about each business and brand. The required info includes the business name, physical address, business type (LLC, partnership, etc.), Tax ID, EIN, or similar documentation.
Once I have completed registration, how do I make sure my phone numbers use 10DLC?
Once your Brand(s) and Campaign(s) are approved as shown in your Ringbyname Admin portal any numbers that you added to that campaign will be automatically be enabled with 10DLC, the faster delivery and improved safety SMS MMS Service.
Do I need to change the way I send outbound messages?
There is no need to change the way you send messages. If you are using Zapier to automate SMS messaging we recommend you ensure that there is no extraneous or robo-marketing mass messaging without a registered campaign. It will affect your SMS and MMS services and they may be blocked for fraud protection.
How long does it take to get registered?
Registration can typically be completed in a few minutes if you've already collected all of the required information. For example, if you are registering a US-based business, you should ensure you have your Employer Identification Number (EIN) ready when you begin registration. However, in the event that there is a discrepancy with the information you provide, a manual review may be required which can take up to 7 days.
Is MMS messaging affected by A2P 10DLC?
Yes, once released MMS messaging via long code is subject to carrier fees as part of A2P 10DLC. We also expect registered MMS traffic to ultimately benefit from reduced carrier filtering.
What message sending throughput (MPS) do I get?
Message throughput (MPS) will be allocated per registered Campaign Use Case. For many customers, A2P 10DLC will offer much higher throughput than the traditional 1 MPS for long code messaging. It varies further based on company size, ownership type, and use case.
What mobile networks are making this change in the US?
All mobile networks and their subsidiaries are involved in the 10DLC program. Please note that the T-Mobile network includes Sprint and MetroPCS, as those networks were acquired by T-Mobile previously. All information above related to T-Mobile also applies to these networks. US Cellular (the 4th largest mobile carrier in the US) has not announced specific A2P 10DLC plans as of August 2021. While various carriers have different standards and qualifiers they all collectively came together to implement the A2P 10DLC program. The program is an all opt-in for SMS/MMS use or opt-out to disable all SMS/MMS messaging.
Read on for details about other types of mobile networks.
Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)
Many smaller branded mobile providers in the US are actually Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), who utilize one or more of the major mobile networks for their service. A list of US MVNOs is available on Wikipedia. Any numbers on an MVNO who primarily utilizes AT&T's network will also be affected by these changes.
Other independent mobile networks
Small independent mobile networks in the US are a small percentage of the mobile market, and are not affected by upcoming A2P 10DLC changes. A list of mobile networks in the US who own and operate their own network infrastructure is available on Wikipedia for reference.
Is messaging to Canada or any other countries also affected by these changes?
No. Canadian mobile carriers may introduce registered A2P 10DLC solutions in the future, but at this time carriers have not announced any plans to do so.
Is WhatsApp messaging affected by A2P 10DLC?
No. WhatsApp messaging is unaffected by any of these changes. WhatsApp messages are transmitted over the Internet, rather than through carrier networks like SMS and MMS.