What is A2P 10DLC? How to get registered in 2026

In this article, we break down how these carrier requirements can impact your business texting and how to register your Quo numbers.

What is A2P 10DLC?

A2P 10DLC is the 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 spam. This new requirement helps improve your text message deliverability rates and eliminates the risk of carriers filtering your outbound messages on their network.

The name breaks down into two parts:

• A2P stands for application-to-person. It means any text sent by a business through a platform — like Quo — on your behalf. If you’re not hand-typing a message from your personal phone, it’s A2P messaging.
• 10DLC stands for 10-digit long code. It refers to standard local phone numbers in the same 415-555-1234 format your customers already recognize and trust.

Unlike person-to-person or P2P texting — where both sender and recipient are using a phone — A2P messages originate from an application. Because applications can be used at scale by bad actors, carriers require businesses to register before sending A2P messages. Registration is how carriers verify you’re a legitimate business, not a spammer.

All major US carriers, including AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, require A2P 10DLC support for 10-digit local numbers. These rules follow the CTIA’s Messaging Principles and Best Practices, the industry guidelines carriers use to govern business messaging, and are administered through The Campaign Registry, or TCR, which vets A2P 10DLC applications.  

Once you register, you can use 10DLC numbers — standard-looking phone numbers — to build trust with customers while unlocking features like auto-replies and scheduled messages.

How to register for A2P 10DLC with Quo

Before you start, gather the following:

• EIN or business tax ID — sole proprietors can use an SSN
• Legal business name as it appears on your tax documents
• Business address
• Website URL
• The type of messages you’ll send, like appointment confirmations or customer support help, with examples
• SMS messages consent process: how you get consent and show compliant opt-in mechanisms
• Estimated monthly message volume

Registration happens through your phone provider’s app. Under the hood, A2P 10DLC has two layers: brand registration, which verifies your business identity, and campaign registration, which approves the specific use case you’re texting for. 

With Quo, you can complete brand registration in Settings under Trust Center, and Quo registers your campaign under a standard business use case automatically once your brand is approved  Just make sure you’re an owner or admin user of an active workspace — not a free trial. 

Step 1: Open the Trust Center

Open Settings from the left-hand menu and select Trust Center. Click Register Now to go through a short questionnaire to confirm your eligibility, then follow one of the two registration paths depending on whether you have an EIN or business tax ID number.

Step 2: Choose your registration path

There are two paths depending on your business type:

• Business with an EIN: Unlocks full Low Volume Standard registration, letting you text from all business phone numbers in your workspace and send up to 6,000 message segments per day, including up to 2,000 segments to T-Mobile numbers — subject to our Fair use policy.
• Sole proprietor without an EIN: Simpler process, but only one of your Quo numbers can text US recipients, with a limit of 3,000 message segments per day including up to 1,000 segments to T-Mobile numbers.

Registering for businesses with an EIN or equivalent tax ID number

To complete registration on behalf of a company, keep in mind that you’ll need an EIN or another valid business identification number to register. See a walkthrough below:

In the application, you’ll need to fill out: 

1. Business details: Select your ID type, e.g., USA: EIN, and fill out the registration number.
2. Business details from your tax documents: Enter the legal business name and full business address, including the country, city, state, and postal code.
3. Additional business details: Enter information for the business type, company type, industry, website, business listing, other online presence, and regions of operation. You’ll also need to enter your estimated daily call volume.
4. Point of contact: Enter their first and last name, email, job title, job position, and phone number.
5. Choose the type of messages you’ll be sending, such as support, appointments, updates, orders, notifications, or all of the above. We’ll auto generate compliant examples for your registration.
6. Forbidden message topics: Confirm you will not send messages in these categories. 
7. Confirm registration fees: Accept carrier review and setup fees: $19.50 one-time and messaging fee: $1.50 a month.

Once you pay and submit your application, you can go to the Trust Center at any time to check its status. Unless your registration status shows as rejected or failed, no additional action is needed once you’ve filled out the form.

Registering for businesses and other users that don’t have an EIN or other tax ID number

For businesses or other users without an EIN, or another form of business ID if you’re based outside the US, that wish to text any US number through Quo, you’ll need the following to register through our sole proprietor path:

• A US or Canadian address
• A working mobile number with a country code of +1

Here is a look at the steps you’ll complete during registration: 

1. Your details: Enter your first name, last name, business or DBA name, email, carrier-based US or Canadian mobile number, and work industry.
2. Your address: Enter the country, address, city, state, and postal code.
3. How will your business use text messaging? Add messaging descriptions, such as:
   – Appointment confirmation
   – Nurturing relationships with potential customers
   – Providing support via text message to current customers
4. Message samples: Add at least two examples of real text messages you send, e.g., “Hi [name], this is Amy from the Orangy team. Thank you for requesting a sales quote. How can I help? Reply STOP to unsubscribe.” or “To view appointment times visit www.orangy.com. Please let our team know if we can help you with anything else!”
5. Ensure your Privacy Policy is compliant. Agree to add an SMS clause to every section in your online privacy policy that describes how you manage personal data. 
6. How do you collect consent to send text messages? Choose from verbal, written, or digital consent or text-to-subscribe opt-in methods.  
7. Your consent collection requirements: Upload a screenshot of your SMS consent method or a verbal consent script. 
8. Select a phone number for US messaging: You can only have one phone number with US text-sending capabilities.
9. Forbidden message topics: Confirm you will not send messages in these categories. 
10. Confirm registration fees: Accept the one-time carrier review and setup fees for $19.50 along with the messaging fee, which is $2 a month.

Once you pay the fees and submit your application, you can go to the Trust Center at any time to check its status. Unless your registration status shows as rejected or failed, no additional action is needed once you’ve filled out the form.

What to expect after you register for A2P 10DLC

Once you submit your registration, mobile carriers review your application through The Campaign Registry.

How long does A2P 10DLC registration take? 

Here’s a timeline of what to expect:

• ✅ Standard approval: 5-7 business days for the majority of cases
• ⏸️ Additional review needed: 7-10+ days for some applications
• ❌ Rejection: Immediate with reason code for some applications

If your registration is rejected

Check the reason code provided by TCR. Common issues include vague campaign descriptions, missing tax IDs, or campaigns that violate carrier guidelines, like loan solicitations or cannabis. Fix the flagged issue and resubmit — most rejections are easily corrected. If your submission is not approved, you’ll need to pay a $15 resubmission fee.

Ongoing compliance

A2P 10DLC campaign registration isn’t a one-and-done deal. Keep your campaign details current — if you change your messaging use case or business information, update your registration. Carriers monitor message content, so stick to your registered campaign type to avoid filtering or suspension.

Good news: once your brand and campaign are registered, you can add new 10DLC numbers without going through the full process again.

“10DLC registration — which has historically been one of the most painful parts of setting up any business phone system — was completely painless. You get approved once, they handle all the carrier compliance behind the scenes, and you’re up and running.” — Quo user on G2 

10DLC vs toll-free vs short code

We get it — this is a lot to take in all at once. Here’s how A2P 10DLC compares to other business texting options:

Does A2P 10DLC apply to toll-free numbers?

10DLC doesn’t currently impact toll-free numbers. However, if you have a toll-free number and use Quo, you must complete toll-free number verification.

Does A2P 10DLC apply to short codes?

A2P 10DLC does not apply to short codes, which are primarily used for mass marketing campaigns. They’re significantly more expensive than 10DLC numbers, starting at $3,000 per month with business texting services like EZ Texting.

They’re also more likely to be filtered out by carriers as promotional or spam messages. While short codes can be effective for large-scale business messaging, they lack the versatility and trust-building potential of 10DLC numbers for everyday business texting.

Here’s a breakdown:

Features	Local number - A2P 10DLC	Toll-free number	Short code
Number format	415-555-1234	800-555-1234	12345
Registration required	Requires A2P 10DLC registration	Requires toll-free verification	Requires carrier approval and vetting
Registration costs	$19.50 one-time fee + $1.50 monthly fee + $15 resubmission fee if rejected	Included in Quo subscription	$1,000 one-time fee + setup costs
Registration timeline	5–7 business days	2–3 weeks	6–10 weeks
Message throughput	3–180 messages per second*	3–100 messages per second*	100+ messages per second
SMS/MMS messages	Yes	Yes	Yes
Voice support	Yes	Yes	No
Best for	Local businesses, two-way conversations	National brands, large-scale customer support	High-volume SMS marketing campaigns

*Higher throughput depends on trust score

Still deciding? Here’s a quick guideline: 

• Most small businesses: 10DLC for local presence and standard message volume
• High-volume marketing: Toll-free or short code
• National presence without local branding: Toll-free
• Enterprise-scale campaigns: Short code

Trust scores and throughput: How carriers keep track of compliance

Once you’re registered, carriers assign your account a trust score between 0 and 100. These scores will determine the maximum number of sent messages allowed by your campaign according to use case, type, and size. 

What affects your trust score

Some factors are set at registration, others you can influence over time:

• Use case type: Carriers treat some use cases as inherently more trustworthy than others. Appointment reminders and customer support messages score higher because recipients expect them. Promotional campaigns score lower because they’re more likely to be flagged as spam.
• EIN verification: Your business information must match your tax documents exactly — name, address, and ID number. Any mismatch can result in a lower score.
• Business legitimacy: Carriers check that your website exists, is active, and reflects the business you registered.
• Sending history: Spam complaints or high opt-out rates tied to your number can lower your score over time.

How to improve your trust score

• Make sure your registration details match your tax documents exactly.
• Write a specific, clear use case description — “appointment reminders for a dental practice” scores better than “general marketing.”
• Start with lower send volumes and ramp up gradually — sudden high-volume sending from a new number raises flags with carriers.
• Keep opt-out rates low by only texting people who’ve explicitly consented to hear from you.

What your score means in practice: throughput is measured in messages per second (MPS) and scales with your trust score. As a rough guide, an unvetted or low-volume brand sends around 1 MPS per carrier, a mid-range score (50 to 74) around 40 MPS per carrier, and a high score (75 to 100) up to 75 MPS per carrier. 

Scores are assigned at brand registration through The Campaign Registry and are static, so they only change if you re-register or request re-vetting. These limits are set by the carriers and can change, so treat them as current guidance rather than fixed rules. 

Trust Score	Total SMS MPS	Per carrier SMS (AT&T / T-Mobile / Verizon)
75-100	225	75
50-74	120	40
1-49	12	4
Low volume / unvetted	3.75	1.25

Get started with compliant business texting on Quo

Ready to get your business texting compliant? The situation with A2P 10DLC is an evolving one — and likely to change over time as the digital landscape grows. But don’t stress — our team is here to help if you have questions or run into snags. Consider us your compliance co-pilot.

Frequently asked questions about A2P 10DLC