SMS

U.S. 10DLC A2P Messaging with Clickatell

The telecom industry has shared a variety of information throughout the past year about the new A2P 10DLC regulations initiated by U.S. carriers. As Clickatell has been driving SMS chat technology for the past 20 years, we are here to keep you and your business updated on everything you need to know to seamlessly implement your SMS transition to 10DLC. 

Registration Enforcement

All the major US carrier networks now support A2P 10DLC messaging require registration of your business. We strongly recommend that you complete your brand and campaign registration for your A2P 10DLC program with Clickatell as soon as possible. Any unregistered messaging traffic is expected to be blocked, throttled, or fined by the major carrier networks upon enforcement of 10DLC routes. 


What do I need to do? 

  1. For Clickatell customers on our new Clickatell Portal: Complete 10DLC registration application for your Brand and Campaign within your account

  2. For Clickatell customers on Clickatell Developer Central: Complete 10DLC registration application for your Brand and Campaign here.  

New regulations require that each long number be registered with the details of the Brand that is responsible for the content.  

If you have not yet started with your registration, please complete the above steps as soon as possible to ensure no disruption of your messaging services. If you are working with your account manager on this process, we highly recommend that you complete this work before the new T-Mobile and AT&T fees go into effect. 


 Clickatell Fees

Brand Registration = One Time Fee of $5

Campaign Registration = One Time Fee of $20 (includes one Campaign vetting attempt)

Long Number Subscription = $33 per quarter

What is U.S. A2P 10DLC?

A2P 10DLC (Application-to-Person 10-Digit Long Code) is the new standard mobile messaging system used by all major U.S. carriers, which enables reliable text messaging through a 10-digit long code phone number. By switching to A2P 10DLC, businesses can use this spam reduction mechanism to engage with their consumers through a verified local identity while enhancing their deliverability, reliability, and messaging throughput. U.S. Carriers, AT&T and T-Mobile are requiring a registration process so that they know who businesses are and what messages they are sending.

10DLC will affect all businesses that utilize mobile messaging to communicate with customers in the U.S., so here’s everything you need to know about the 10DLC update and how you can get ready!

Chat with our Clickatell team for further assistance in preventing disruptions to your messaging service and ensure that you keep sending engaging and time-critical messages to your customers.

Why the change to A2P 10DLC?

This is an industry-wide change required by all U.S. carriers. Any and all businesses currently using SMS text messaging to communicate with their customers should be using or switching to 10DLC. This SMS solution is aimed to help protect those on the receiving end of business text messaging by verifying the senders, providing a better and more secure customer experience, while minimizing the risk of spam messages. This regulated system of using U.S long numbers will prevent cases of misuse and is on its way of becoming the new standard of business SMS. Failure to adhere to the new rules and take action to register your number(s) may result in potential 10DLC fees and future disruption of service.

The benefits of 10DLC

Technology is constantly changing for the better. 10DLC is the newest iteration of A2P business text messaging and aims to provide an improved communication experience overall. Here are some benefits of switching to 10DLC:

  • Text from a recognized local area code

  • A cost-effective solution

  • Improved deliverability

  • Higher volume and throughput rates

  • A regulated channel protected from spam

  • Enhanced customer experience and trust

 How to register for 10DLC with Clickatell

If your business utilizes application-to-person (A2P) text messaging campaigns, it is mandatory that you register your brand and campaign and are compliant with the latest requirements. To register your business for 10DLC, please follow the “10 DLC Registration” registration process within the Clickatell portal. With our easy to use, self-service portal, you will be able to register and verify your Brand, and apply for a messaging Campaign in real time. Choose your number, and we will register your details with the operators on your behalf!

Differences of a Brand and a Campaign

When you register your business for A2P 10DLC with Clickatell, you need to register both your brand and your campaign(s) separately. The brand is the company or entity sending messages to the end customer. The campaign is a description of the actual use cases of how a company is using their messaging. Each carrier will assign different volume and throughput limits based on the type of Campaign.

As of Feb 1st, 2023 the Campaign will need to pass a vetting process (expected to take 5 days) before the 10 digit phone number can be used to send messages.

10DLC use cases for business messaging

A 10DLC number is ideal for companies wanting to cost-effectively engage with their customers on SMS. Popular use cases for customers vary from:

  • 2FA notifications

  • Account notifications

  • Delivery notifications

  • Customer care

  • Fraud Alert messaging

  • Marketing campaigns

  • Promotional messages

  • Social updates

  • Polling and surveys 

What information do I need to register for 10DLC?

You’ll want to have all the information that pertains to your business ready to go. This information is necessary to verify your business, what your business does, how it uses texting, and more. These include but aren’t limited to:

  • Legal company name

  • Country of registration

  • Business entity

  • Tax Number/ID/EIN

  • Industry

  • Full address

  • Website

  • Stock Symbol (required if a publicly-traded company)

For more information, find additional details about this registration process on our FAQs.

Please note that Mobile Network Operators can reject or suspend a campaign if it doesn’t comply with the guidelines for that campaign, resulting in the linked 10-digit long numbers being blocked.

Partnering with Clickatell on 10-Digit Long Codes

We have 20 years of experience and a product suite that will help you succeed in transitioning from shared short codes to 10DLCs.

Our expert team can support your mobile messaging campaigns:

  • Leverage our secure global network to reliably send SMS messages to your customers

  • Take advantage of our cloud-hosted, user-friendly portal and the
    wizard-driven code generation makes integration into your existing systems easy

  • Send a high volume of messages delivered reliably and on time

  • Ensure that conversations between your business and customers remain 100% private with default end-to-end encryption

Still have questions?

For more information about A2P 10DLC, check out Clickatell’s 10DLC support FAQ or contact our support department. We are happy to help you navigate through all of the changes required to implement 10DLC, ensuring you have the right business tools to leverage personalized and conversational ways to connect with your customers.

The Clickatell team will continue to keep you updated on the latest news of A2P 10DLC. Not using Clickatell yet? Start texting now! Sign up today.

 

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