“Why are my business texts not getting delivered?” When the messages go out from a local ten-digit number through software, the first thing to check is registration. A2P means application-to-person, a message sent by software; 10DLC means a ten-digit long code, an ordinary local number. Twilio describes A2P 10DLC as “the standard that United States telecom carriers have put in place to ensure that SMS traffic to US end users through long code phone numbers is verified and consensual.” It is a carrier rule, not a law, and it applies whether or not you send marketing.
Who has to register
The Campaign Registry (TCR), the hub where registrations are filed, puts it plainly: any business that wants to use SMS on 10DLC to reach customers or employees is required to register, “as well as businesses that send individual messages, even if it is not for marketing purposes.” You do not file with TCR yourself. TCR says a business should go through its messaging service provider, the company whose app, phone system or software sends the texts.
What about the cell phone in your pocket? CTIA, the wireless industry’s trade group, separates consumer messaging, sent by a person to a few other people and generally conversational, from non-consumer messaging, which includes messages from a business. It adds that automation used by a business to send messages “is not typical Consumer operation.” Twilio says US carriers “consider any messages sent from a Twilio number (or any other messaging provider) to be application to person.” If texts go out from a business texting app, a VoIP phone system, scheduling software or a website tool on a local number, registration lives with that provider. Toll-free numbers and short codes are separate; Twilio notes they are not part of A2P 10DLC.
What happens if you skip it
Twilio’s documentation says it “blocks messages to U.S. numbers when you send from a +1 10DLC number that is not associated with an approved A2P 10DLC Campaign.” Twilio records each blocked message as error 30034, so the provider’s delivery log is the place to look when texts go missing. Where unregistered traffic is carried, the carriers charge more for it: Bandwidth’s surcharge table (checked October 2026) lists $0.012 per outbound unregistered text on T-Mobile against $0.0045 registered.
Step 1: the brand
The brand is your business’s identity. For a privately owned company, TCR’s CSP User Guide requires the legal company name, country of registration, EIN, address, vertical (your industry) and contact details, and strongly recommends a website. The guide gives the “number one reason” a brand comes back unverified: “the Legal Company Name and EIN do not match what is filed with the Federal Government.” It points to the IRS’s EIN confirmation letter for the right name and address. Use the name on that letter exactly, not the name on the truck, and the address you registered with the IRS. A brand must be verified before any campaign can be filed, and each resubmission costs another fee.
The sole-proprietor path
TCR has a separate path for small businesses and individuals in the US and Canada that do not have an EIN. It asks for a business or DBA name, an address, the owner’s first and last name, an email address and a telephone number, and verifies the person with a one-time password. The limits are tight: one campaign per brand, one phone number on it, and per campaign 1,000 messages a day on T-Mobile and 15 a minute on AT&T. Not every provider offers it: TCR requires a separate contract before a provider can register sole proprietors. If you have an EIN, this path is not for you.
Step 2: the campaign
A campaign is a use case: what you send and why. TCR’s examples are a Marketing campaign for promotions and a Customer Care campaign for two-way support. The campaign form asks for:
Write the samples as the messages you will actually send. Twilio’s guidance: “Sample messages should reflect actual messages to be sent under campaign and indicate templated fields with brackets. At least one of the sample messages needs to include your business name.” Say a roofer registers a Customer Care campaign. One sample might read: “[Business name]: Hi [first name], this is [tech name] confirming your roof inspection on [date] between [time window]. Reply STOP to opt out.”
Why submissions get rejected
TCR says it does not approve or reject campaigns itself; that is done by the service providers, connectivity partners and aggregators in the chain. Twilio’s rejection codes show what they look for:
Prohibited content, such as sex, hate speech or alcohol, is a different kind of rejection. Twilio says it cannot be remedied by improving the submission; the routes left are an appeal or a materially different campaign.
The fees
| Fee | Amount | Who lists it |
|---|---|---|
| Brand registration (company) | $4.50 once | TCR |
| Brand registration (sole proprietor) | $4.00 once | TCR |
| Brand identity resubmission | $4.50 each | TCR |
| Campaign review | $15 per review | Telnyx |
| Campaign, most standard use cases | $10 a month | TCR |
| Campaign, Low Volume Mixed | $1.50 a month | TCR |
| Campaign, Sole Proprietor | $2 a month | TCR |
| Registered outbound text, AT&T / T-Mobile / Verizon | $0.0035 / $0.0045 / $0.0050 | Bandwidth |
Three details change the total. TCR’s guide says every campaign except political ones has a minimum three-month commitment, then renews month to month. Telnyx describes the $15 as a manual review fee passed through from the carriers and warns a campaign may be submitted for review more than once. Twilio says it charges its vetting fee once per campaign, and that editing and resubmitting a failed campaign avoids a second fee while deleting it and creating a new one does not. Bandwidth lists the Verizon rate as effective October 1, 2026; these per-message rates move.
How long it takes
TCR’s overview says campaign review times “can range from 1-4 weeks,” and that complete, accurate business details and the right use case speed things up. Twilio adds that sole-proprietor campaigns tend to get a decision most quickly, while standard campaigns go through several layers of vetting that can take up to several weeks. So register before you need it: before the missed-call text-back, the appointment reminders or the hiring keyword go live, not the week you turn them on.
After approval
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and vary by state; check with the agency named above or a professional for your situation.