Intro to 10DLC

Introduction

Learn all about SMS and MMS on local phone numbers using A2P 10DLC.

What is 10DLC?

Short for Ten Digit Long Code, 10DLC is an industry-led standard for sending sanctioned Application-to-Person (A2P) SMS traffic over traditional local numbers, or “long codes”. Established as part of the broader effort by telecom providers to Know Your Customer and move away from unsanctioned messages on long code, 10DLC provides a trusted and effective messaging channel while maintaining a more local connection with your customers.

At the moment, 10DLC is only applicable on messaging campaigns within the United States.


Why should I use it?

10DLC delivers a higher percentage of messages at a faster rate than traditional long code SMS. Prior to 10DLC, A2P messaging over long codes experienced slow delivery speeds and heavy filtering due to the high volume of unsanctioned messages. This left senders with only Short Codes, and more recently Toll-Free SMS, as reliable options for A2P messaging. With the new 10DLC standard in place, trusted senders on long codes now experience drastically higher messaging throughput and reduced carrier filtering.

Unlike Short Codes, which are 5-6 digit numbers issued by the Common Short Code Administration for A2P messaging, 10DLC numbers can also support voice calls in addition to messaging.


10DLC Compliance

The industry standards for 10DLC compliance are governed by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) as well as the industry-led CTIA. Be sure to review the regulations outlined in the TCPA with your own legal counsel. You should also familiarize yourself with CTIA’s Messaging Principles and Best Practices as the carriers will look to see if they are being followed if your messages are flagged for any reason.


How It Works

Getting Registered

Any company wanting to use 10DLC must register as a trusted sender through The Campaign Registry (TCR), the third party authority on 10DLC registration. Each sender on 10DLC must have both a Brand and Campaign registered. Companies register with TCR through a Campaign Service Provider (CSP) such as Voxology. The Getting Started section below walks through the required steps to register for 10DLC through Voxology.


Selecting a CSP

The simplest path to 10DLC registration is to register through an established CSP such as Voxology. For more complex use cases, where companies plan to register many Brands and Campaigns or work with multiple messaging providers, it may make sense to work directly with TCR by registering your company as a CSP. This allows you to register and manage Brands and Campaigns through TCR’s dashboard or by integrating with their API.

Once your Brands and Campaigns are set up in TCR, you’ll need to share the Brand and Campaign details with Voxology along with the phone numbers you want to be used for each campaign. Phone numbers can be added to Campaigns through the Voxology API or by emailing our CX team.


Brand Registration

The first step in registering your company, or your customer’s company, for 10DLC is creating a verified Brand. This registration will go through third-party vetting and establishes your company as a trusted sender over 10DLC routes.

Upon registration, each 10DLC Brand receives a Trust Score; a rating from 0-100 determined by a reputation algorithm defined by TCR’s vetting partners.

If you’re unsure whether to register your company or your customer’s, it’s best to think about who the recipient of each message believes the sender is. If they believe a message was sent from your customer, then you’ll need to register your customer’s company and not your own. Likewise, if the recipient believes your company sent the message, then you need to register your own company as the Brand.


Entity Types

The type of organizations being registered for 10DLC.

Entity TypeDescription
Private CompanyA company held under private ownership.
Publicly Traded CompanyA company whose ownership is freely traded via shares of stock on a stock exchange.
Non-Profit OrganizationAn organization operating for collective, public or social benefit, opposed to for profit.
GovernmentA U.S. Government entity.
Sole ProprietorA small business or individual without an EIN with limited traffic needs.

Brand Relationship Types

All CSP’s must declare the type of relationship they have with the Brand being registered for 10DLC. The options are listed below. Please note that if you are a reseller of SMS services and you are not registered as your own CSP, Voxology will use Basic Account as the relationship type by default.

Relationship TypeDescription
Basic AccountAccounts with no prior business history with the CSP.
Small AccountSmall Accounts or accounts with some business history with the CSP.
Medium AccountMedium Accounts with good standing with the CSP and solid business history.
Large AccountLarge Accounts with a dedicated account manager, highly trusted.
Key AccountAccounts with strategic value and a dedicated account team.

External Brand Vetting

After registration, you can request external vetting for a 10DLC Brand to receive a Trust Score; a rating from 0-100 determined by a reputation algorithm defined by TCR’s vetting partners. This will determine the volume and throughput available to your Brand. An unvetted Brand is given the lowest throughput and volume configuration. Please read our 10DLC Messaging Throughput section below for more detail.

There are different types of vetting and vetting providers available to 10DLC Brands. Currently only standard vetting is offered through Voxology’s API.

Vetting ClassVetting ProvidersDetails
StandardAegis Mobile, WMC GlobalStandard automated vetting to receive a Trust Score. Typically receive results in ~30 seconds.
EnhancedAegis MobileA more thorough investigation of your brand that requires manual work to review elements such as court records, legal disputes and tax declarations. Takes significantly longer to complete and must be done directly with a vetting provider and imported to your Brand.
PoliticalAegis Mobile, Campaign VerifyAvailable for nonprofit and political organizations to gain access to the Political use case for 10DLC. Must be done directly with a vetting provider and imported to your Brand.

Campaign Registration

After creating a 10DLC Brand, each sender must define their messaging use case(s) through Campaign Registration. A Brand with multiple messaging use cases may need more than one registered 10DLC campaign. There are two buckets of 10DLC campaign “types” - Standard Campaigns and Special Campaigns.

Standard Campaign Types

The Standard Campaign types listed below are messaging use cases available to all registered Brands. Further vetting or approval is not necessary in most cases.

Campaign Use CasesDescription
2FAAny two-factor authentication, verification, or one-time passcode
Account NotificationsStandard notifications for account holders, relating to and being about a user’s account
Customer CareAll customer care interaction, including but not limited to account management and customer support
Delivery NotificationsNotification about the status of the delivery of a product or service
Fraud Alert MessagingNotifications regarding potential fraudulent activity on a user’s account
Higher EducationMessaging created on behalf of Colleges or Universities, including School Districts and education institutions. This use case is NOT for the “free to the consumer” messaging model
MarketingAny communication that includes marketing and/or promotional content
MixedAny messaging campaign containing 2 to 5 standard use cases. Note that mixed campaigns may receive poorer service depending on the carrier. Declared use cases are preferred.
Polling and votingThe sending of surveys and polling/voting campaigns for non political arenas
Public Service AnnouncementInformational messaging to raise an audience’s awareness about important issues
Security AlertA notification that the security of a system, either software or hardware, has been compromised

Special Campaign Types

In addition to the standard campaign types, there are some use cases that receive special consideration under 10DLC. These special campaign types are sensitive or critical in nature and often require additional vetting and approval from Mobile Network Operators.

Special Use CasesDescriptionAdditional Requirements
Agents; franchise; local branchesBrands that have multiple agents, franchises or offices in the same brand vertical, but require individual localized numbers per agent/location/office. Must all use the same EIN. Max 5000 Numbers per Campaign.Post Campaign Registration approval required with: AT&T
CharityCommunications from a registered charity aimed at providing help and raising money for those in need. Limited to 501(c)3 Charity.N/A
K-12 EducationFor messaging platforms that support schools from grades K-12 and distance learning centers. This is not for Post-Secondary schools.N/A
ProxyPeer-to-peer app-based group messaging with proxy/pooled numbers. Supporting personalized services and non-exposure of personal numbers for enterprise or A2P communications. E.g. call masking for ride-sharing drivers and passengers.Post Campaign Registration approval required with: AT&T
EmergencyNotification services designed to support public safety/health during natural disasters, armed conflicts, pandemics, and other national or regional emergencies.Post Campaign Registration approval required with: AT&T
PoliticalPart of an organized effort to influence decision making of a specific group. Available only to registered 501(c)(3/4/5/6) and 527 Orgs.Third-party vetting required through Campaign Verify or Aegis Mobile
SocialCommunication between public figures/influencers and their communities. Examples include: YouTube Influencers’ alerts or Celebrity alerts.Post Campaign Registration approval required with: AT&T
SweepstakesAll sweepstakes messaging.Post Campaign Registration approval required with: AT&T, T-Mobile
Sole ProprietorLimited to entities without EIN/Tax ID, requires a separate contract.N/A
UCaaS (Low Volume)UCaaS companies provide cloud delivered communication services for businesses. Each number assigned to a UCaaS campaign is typically assigned to a different employee of that business and use cases are varied. This is not for any API/automated messaging and is only available to UCaaS businesses. This use case has the same volume restrictions as the Low Volume Mixed Campaign Type.Pre-approval required on: AT&T, T-Mobile.
UCaaS (High Volume)The same as above, but for UCaaS campaigns that require higher volume.Pre-approval required on: AT&T, T-Mobile.
Platform Free TrialN/A

Low Volume Mixed Campaigns

For 10DLC Brands sending less than 6,000 total SMS segments or MMS messages per day, there is a Low Volume Mixed use case available for a lower monthly fee. This campaign type supports multiple use cases, but is capped at the lowest message throughput available through 10DLC regardless of Trust Score.


10DLC Messaging Throughput

As mentioned above, each vetted 10DLC Brand receives a Trust Score from 0-100, a numerical representation of your brand’s reputation. The Trust Score determines each Brand’s peak message delivery speed as well as the max daily message volume they can send over certain mobile carriers.

Please note that calculating throughput is different for SMS and MMS for both Delivery Speed and Daily Message Volume. With SMS, messages are counted by segment, meaning longer messages impact your delivery speed and max volume. Since message segments do not apply to MMS, only each unique MMS message is counted.

Delivery Speed

The three major mobile carriers in the U.S. each cap the Message per Second (MPS) throughput for 10DLC brands according to their Trust Score. The table below shows the available MPS by Trust Score.

Trust ScoreTotal MPSVerizon MPSAT&T MPST-Mobile MPS
75-100225757575
50-75120404040
1-4912444
Low Volume3.751.251.251.25

Daily Message Volume

T-Mobile enforces a daily cap on message volume over 10DLC routes according to each Brand’s Trust Score. This limit applies to all messages sent by a Brand regardless of the campaign use case. For example, consider a brand with three separate campaign use cases. Messages sent on all three campaigns will count toward the daily maximum on T-Mobile.

Trust ScoreT-Mobile Daily Maximum per Brand
75-100200,000
50-7440,000
25-4910,000
1-242,000


10DLC Fee Structure

There are various one time, recurring, and usage-based fees associated with registering and using 10DLC for A2P messaging. The fees outlined below are set by TCR, the mobile carriers and your messaging provider. Prices were last updated on April 10, 2023 and are subject to change at any time.

One Time Fees

TCR Registration Fees
ItemFeeFrequency
CSP Registration$200One Time
Brand Registration$4One Time
Sole Proprietor Brand Registration$4One Time

TCR Vetting Fees
Vetting TypeFeeFrequency
Standard Brand Vetting$40One Time Per Request
Standard Campaign Vetting$15One Time Per Request

Recurring Fees

TCR Campaign Fees
Campaign TypeFeeFrequency
Standard$10Monthly
Low Volume Mixed$1.50Monthly
Political$10Monthly
Charity$3Monthly
UCaaS (Low Volume)$1.50Monthly
UCaaS (High Volume)$10Monthly
Sole Proprietor$2Monthly
K-12 Education$10Monthly
Conversational$10Monthly
Emergency$5Monthly
Sweepstakes$10Monthly
Agents and Franchises$30Monthly
Social$10Monthly

Phone Number Fees

Fees charged by the messaging provider for a messaging-enabled phone number, which are typically charged per phone number per month/day.

See Voxology’s phone number rates on our pricing page.


Usage Fees

Carrier Fees
CarrierSMS InboundSMS OutboundMMS InboundMMS Outbound
AT&T$0.00$0.003$0.00$0.005
T-Mobile$0.003$0.003$0.010$0.010
TextNow$0.00$0.002$0.00$0.002
US Cellular$0.00$0.005$0.00$0.01
Verizon$0.00$0.003$0.00$0.005

Messaging Fees

Fees charged by the messaging provider for each SMS or MMS message part sent and received.

See Voxology’s SMS and MMS rates on our pricing page.


Getting Started

To get started, Speak with a Voxologist or register now in the Voxology Portal.