Understanding A2P 10DLC

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In this article, you will learn about A2P 10DLC.

What is A2P 10DLC?

A2P 10DLC is a new, standardized system in the US that allows businesses to send Application-to-Person (A2P) messages to consumers using a standard 10-digit long code (10DLC) phone number.

In 2022, major carriers across the US (e.g., T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon) adopted A2P 10DLC, which impacts the way businesses can send messages to consumers. These changes apply to companies using a software service for business messaging such as Workiz Phone. These changes are beyond Workiz’s control and are ultimately designed to protect consumers from receiving potentially unwanted, spam-like messages.

How does A2P 10DLC work?

With these new changes, carriers are differentiating between P2P and A2P.

  • P2P: Basic text message exchanges between two people using mobile phones and SIM cards is known as Person-to-Person (P2P) messages.
  • A2P: Text message exchanges between a software application (such as Workiz Phone) and mobile phones is known as Application-to-Person (A2P) messages.

With A2P 10DLC, carriers are focusing on the second of these two messaging types: A2P.

A2P and P2P are also differentiated between purpose and send volume. Where P2P messages are often used for personal reasons, A2P messages are typically used for commercial purposes. This includes SMS marketing campaigns and appointment reminder messages.

A2P 10DLC supports transactional and promotional messaging for all US area codes.

The limitations to A2P 10DLC will vary depending on the mobile carrier your recipients use, including constraints on the number of message parts that can be sent per minute (AT&T) or the number of total messages that can be sent per day (T-Mobile).

What are the benefits of A2P 10DLC?

Being set up for A2P 10DLC will provide your business with two primary benefits:

  • Mass text messaging support: Although each individual carrier has its own policy for messaging volume, businesses registered for A2P 10DLC will generally be able to send higher volumes of messages without issue.
  • Improved deliverability: Approval for A2P 10DLC comes from the mobile carriers. This means the messages you send have a higher likelihood of reaching your recipient.

Who has to register?

All businesses that wish to send text messages to US consumers must register for A2P 10DLC — even those in Canada. 

What do I need to do?

To be compliant with the new standard, you will need to register for A2P 10DLC through Workiz.

Submitting a registration request for A2P 10DLC only takes minutes. You will just need to provide some basic business information, such as your business name, tax ID (EIN or DUNS), and website.

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If your EIN was recently created, please wait at least one month after the "Date of this notice" in your EIN letter before attempting to register for A2P 10DLC.

Attempting to register too soon may result in failure due to an invalid tax ID.

After submitting, it may take a 2–3 weeks for your registration to be processed. We will notify you when your request has been approved or if we need more information.

To learn more about registering for 10DLC, please see this article.

After registering, you will be able to send messages using your existing numbers without issue.

Am I eligible to register?

To be eligible to register your business for text messages, you must:

  • Maintain an active Workiz subscription (Standard or Ultimate)
  • Have an EIN that is at least one month old (if applicable)

When do I need to register?

The deadline to register for 10DLC is Aug. 31, 2023.

We strongly recommend that you register as soon as possible.

What if I don’t register?

If you do not register your business before that deadline, your outbound messages will undergo third-party filtering that may drastically reduce the number of outbound messages that are received.

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