The landscape has been changing quickly over the years and within the SMS industry the carriers have instituted new regulations for messaging in the United States. As more organizations use text messaging services to reach people, wireless carriers have created a new messaging standard known as 10DLC.

As a part of this, businesses that want to send texts from a local number will need to register it first. The goal is to limit unauthorized or spam messages while providing businesses with higher throughput (more messages delivered faster) and better delivery rates.

For messaging using local 10-digit phone numbers, the carriers now require A2P 10DLC (10-digit long code) registration for your Brand and Use Cases.

For messaging using toll-free numbers, the carriers now require that you go through the Toll-Free Verification to verify your Brand and Use Cases.

10DLC is the industry nickname for the local messaging standard upheld by mobile carriers, and it stands for 10 digit long code.

As texting becomes an increasingly popular channel for businesses, carriers want to prevent spam from going out on their networks—while still making it easy for businesses to text. 10DLC is designed to do just that.

Similar to 10DLC, if you are sending SMS messages from a Toll-Free number, you are required to register your Brand and Use Case with the carriers.

If you are sending SMS traffic to/from United States numbers, it is required and there is no way around this. Non-registered accounts will have the following consequences: