A2P 10DLC Compliance: The Complete Checklist
What carriers, the CTIA and the TCPA require before and after you text a customer, and which parts TheBigBot handles for you.
A2P SMS compliance means four things: your brand and campaign are registered for A2P 10DLC with The Campaign Registry, every recipient gave documented opt-in consent, your messages stay within carrier content rules, and every opt-out such as “STOP” is honored. Registration lets carriers deliver your texts. The other three keep you out of TCPA trouble and keep the campaign alive.
What is A2P 10DLC?
A2P (Application-to-Person) 10DLC is the US carrier framework for sending business SMS from ordinary 10-digit local numbers. Since 2021, AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and the other US carriers require brand and campaign registration before a local number can send automated texts. Unregistered traffic is filtered: your dashboard says delivered, and the message never reaches the phone.
It covers any message your software sends, not only marketing: appointment reminders, missed-call text-backs, lead follow-up, review requests and alerts all count. For every registration step in order, see our A2P 10DLC registration guide.
The A2P SMS compliance checklist
Eight requirements, who enforces each one, and what it takes in practice. Miss any of them and carriers filter your texts, reject your campaign, or leave you exposed under the TCPA.
| Requirement | Enforced by | What it means in practice | With TheBigBot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand registration | US carriers, via The Campaign Registry | Your legal business name and EIN, exactly as the IRS has them, plus address, website and a contact | We submit it and monitor approval |
| Campaign registration | US carriers, via The Campaign Registry | A use case, a description of what you send, at least two sample messages and a description of how people opt in | We submit it; you supply the business details |
| Privacy policy with an SMS clause | Carrier reviewers | A public privacy policy stating that phone numbers and SMS consent are not sold or shared with third parties for marketing | You publish it on your website |
| Documented opt-in consent | TCPA (federal law) and CTIA guidelines | Explicit consent from every recipient that names the type of messages, says “Msg & data rates may apply”, explains how to opt out, and is recorded | Consent tracking is built in; you collect the consent |
| Opt-out handling | CTIA guidelines and FCC rules | STOP, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE and QUIT stop all messaging to that number until the person opts back in | STOP keywords handled automatically, with opt-out logs |
| Content rules | US carriers | No SHAFT content (sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, tobacco) without the right campaign type, no public link shorteners, and messages that match your registered use case | Spam filtering on our side; message content is yours |
| Quiet hours | TCPA and state laws | Marketing texts only between 8am and 9pm in the recipient’s local time zone; several states set narrower windows | You set the send schedule |
| Throughput limits | US carriers | Your trust tier sets a daily message cap and a send rate; going over means queued or dropped messages | Throughput managed for you |
Carrier rules, fees and limits change periodically. This page describes how A2P messaging compliance works and is not legal advice.
Registered is not the same as compliant
A2P 10DLC registration is a carrier requirement. It tells AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon who you are, so they deliver your texts instead of filtering them. Being A2P 10DLC compliant goes further: consent you can prove, opt-outs honored every time, content that matches your registered use case, and sends inside quiet hours.
The difference matters because the TCPA is a federal law with private lawsuits behind it. Violations can cost $500 to $1,500 per message. A registered campaign that texts people without documented consent is delivered perfectly and is still a liability.
What a 10DLC compliance platform should do
If you text customers from a CRM, the platform carries part of the compliance load. At minimum it should:
- Submit your brand and campaign registration and monitor carrier approval
- Process STOP and the other opt-out keywords automatically, and keep an opt-out log
- Record consent so you can show who agreed, when and how
- Manage throughput so campaigns stay inside your trust tier’s limits
- Filter spam patterns before they reach the carrier
TheBigBot does all five on every plan, alongside the SMS marketing tools and database reactivation campaigns that depend on them.
Registration fees
A2P 10DLC has two fees charged by carriers, billed transparently on your monthly statement:
- Brand registration: $4-44 one-time, depending on brand tier
- Campaign registration: $1.50-10/month, per use case
Full pricing on our Usage Fees page.
Who handles what
Compliance is shared. We run the infrastructure; you control who you text and what you say.
TheBigBot handles
- Brand registration with The Campaign Registry
- Campaign use-case registration and trust score submission
- Carrier approval and queue management
- STOP keyword handling and opt-out logs
- Throughput management and spam filtering
You handle
- Business details for registration: EIN, legal name, website, use case
- Collecting and keeping valid opt-in consent
- A privacy policy that covers SMS
- Message content that fits your registered use case
- Following the TCPA, and not using TheBigBot for prohibited SMS campaigns
International SMS
Each country has its own SMS regulations. We support 180+ countries at different rates. High-risk corridors (UK, France, Germany) may require additional registration. See your dashboard for per-country rates.
Contact
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