Heads up, gang: all active OpenPhone users that send business texts to US phone numbers must complete a US carrier registration form to satisfy new A2P 10DLC requirements.
Heard of A2P 10DLC but still trying to figure out what it entails?
In this article, we’ll break down what A2P 10DLC is, how these carrier requirements may impact your business texting, and how to get your OpenPhone numbers registered.
What is A2P (Application-to-Person) text messaging?
A2P stands for application to person. The concept refers to any kind of text message from a business entity through a virtual phone service like OpenPhone that’s sent to a real customer. Think feedback messages, appointment confirmations, or any other text.
What is 10DLC (10-Digit Long Code Phone Number)?
10DLC, or 10-digit long code, is a phone number with a local area code. Historically traditional carriers limited texting to peer-to-peer messages when reaching local numbers, meaning back-and-forth conversations between a business and a customer. New carrier guidelines have emerged to reduce spam and have a clearer line of sight when someone is attempting to text multiple recipients in a business use case.
What is A2P 10DLC?
A2P 10DLC is a system designed specifically for business text messaging from a local virtual number. The major US cell carriers pushed for new guidelines around virtual phone services, aiming to minimize the amount of spam their customers receive. This new requirement helps improve your text message deliverability rates and eliminates the risk of carriers filtering your outbound messages on their network.
All major US carriers, including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint, are working towards A2P 10DLC support for 10-digit local numbers.
Businesses have two options moving forward: A2P Low Volume Standard and A2P Standard. Companies sending a lower amount of marketing messages per day (6,000 messages per day) fall under the A2P Low Volume Category. A2P Standard is for larger businesses with a much higher daily message volume.
Keep in mind 10DLC doesn’t impact toll-free numbers currently. There are no announced regulations for toll-free numbers. But if you’re currently an OpenPhone customer, we strongly encourage using a local number to text to reap all the benefits that A2P 10DLC can offer.
If you send business SMS and MMS messages to anyone in the US from a local phone number using OpenPhone, we recommend registering as soon as possible.
Does A2P 10DLC impact messaging to Canada or other countries?
Not at this time. If you’re not messaging customers in the US, 10DLC won’t be impacting your campaigns or texts.
We get it — this is a lot to take in all at once. Here’s everything you need to know about A2P 10DLC registration.
How does A2P 10DLC impact current business texting practices?
A2P 10DLC requires businesses using a virtual phone service like OpenPhone to register their phone numbers, brand, and campaigns with a third-party organization, The Campaign Registry. Here’s how this breaks down:
- With brand registration, businesses identify who they are to all carrier networks.
- For campaign registration, brands must specify the type of messages they plan to send.
If you have business phone numbers with OpenPhone, you don’t need to register specific campaigns. However, you do need to register your brand (more on how to do this here) and share specific examples of texts you typically send. All brands that register through our app fall under the Low Volume Mixed Use case for any campaigns through our carrier.
Once brands update their information with major carriers, they are assigned a trust score on a scale of 0 to 100 per campaign. These scores will determine the maximum number of sent messages allowed by your campaign according to use case, type, and size.
Vetting scores are separated into multiple categories and let you send out more texts. For example, a promotional campaign may have a lower trust score than an appointment confirmation text.
Additionally, carriers can assign a lower trust score if the business information (including the address) you provide in your carrier registration form doesn’t match the details on file with your business tax identification.
Carriers may also decrease an organization’s trust score if they discover spam originating from a specific party — as A2P 10DLC is all about preventing bad actors.
Keep in mind these message limits might change according to the carrier and campaign in question. These are just general guidelines to help guide your future decisions.
If you’re already using 10-digit local phone numbers, you won’t have to purchase a new number for 10DLC. However, you must register your business to minimize the odds of message filtering, blocking, or dropping by major carriers.
Better deliverability, higher trust scores, and stronger functionality overall — it’s a win-win, especially for those sending higher volumes of texts.
Businesses that send SMS and MMS messages from local numbers are required to complete the registration process ASAP. But don’t worry too much: OpenPhone makes it easy to get signed up.
What OpenPhone is doing to implement A2P 10DLC for customers
At OpenPhone, we’re serious about helping customers make the most of their business communications. To comply with new A2P 10DLC requirements, our company is moving forward with a clear strategy to help everyone thrive. This includes a fast and relatively simple process to register for A2P 10DLC.
As an added perk, we’ll also help you clear STIR/SHAKEN protocols when you register. If you complete regular outbound calls, this can help legitimate businesses not be flagged as “scam likely” or “spam” on their outgoing caller ID.
How to register for A2P 10DLC and STIR/SHAKEN
All active workspace owner and admin users in OpenPhone (that are not trialing our platform) can access our US carrier registration form to meet A2P Low Volume Standard and STIR/SHAKEN guidelines through the web or desktop app:
1. Open “Settings” from the left-hand menu.
2. Select “Trust”.
3. Click “Register” under “US carrier registration”.
4. Fill out the form with your business details based on your EIN or other business documentation. Keep in mind If you’re an individual, small business, or sole proprietor without a business ID and not prepared to get one, we’ll share additional registration paths from our carrier soon.
After you’ve submitted the form, OpenPhone passes your registration details along to the third-party organization the major US carriers approved to review your application, The Campaign Registry. The carriers will also manually vet every registration.
At a high level, you pay a $19 one-time registration fee and then a $1.50 monthly campaign fee. 100% of these fees go directly to The Campaign Registry and other third-party entities to help review and register your brand and campaigns.
Here is more information on how these fees break down:
- A one-time $4 fee covers the registration of your brand. A brand is your company information like name, address, business ID, etc.
- A third-party entity collects a $15 fee to manually review the text samples and other campaign information you provide in your carrier registration application.
- Maintaining good standing with the carriers after your campaign is approved requires a $1.50 monthly fee that goes directly to The Campaign Registry.
- If The Campaign Registry finds an issue after reviewing your application, you’ll need to pay a $15 resubmission fee.
We know these fees are surprising, but if it helps, think of them as a small tax to keep fraud out of texting, helping to make it a trusted channel of communication.
The most common reason The Campaign Registry may reject your application can occur due to an information mismatch. This typically occurs due to details you provide in your form being different than your EIN or other business documentation including:
- Legal business name
- Business ID
- Company address
Be sure to check out our Help Center guide to US carrier registration for more information on completing the form. Or watch the webinar below to learn more about 10DLC and the registration process:
Due to the amount of businesses across the world registering for A2P 10DLC, The Campaign Registry currently has a backlog of requests. So keep in mind that your registration may take weeks to process. However, we recommend you register as soon as possible.
You can check your registration status at any time in the Trust section of the app. Unless your registration status shows as rejected or failed, no additional action is needed once you’ve filled out the form.
The situation with A2P 10DLC is an evolving one — and likely to change over time as the digital landscape grows. And remember: a friendly face is always just a message away. Feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions or comments.
Meagan is a professional writer in VA that has covered business phone communication since 2021. If she’s not helping companies navigate VoIP technology, she’s helping companies craft their own stories.
