Business Texting Rules: 10DLC Registration and TCPA Consent

Start with the answer: if your business sends texts to customers from a regular local phone number through software, you must register as a sender with the mobile carriers, and you must have the right kind of consent from each recipient. Appointment reminders, delivery notices and marketing offers are treated differently. Skip the registration and your messages may be blocked. Skip the consent and you may face complaints and legal claims.

What 10DLC is

A long code is an ordinary 10‑digit phone number. When a business uses software to send texts to many people from such numbers, the traffic is called application-to-person (A2P) messaging. Mobile carriers created the 10DLC system to separate legitimate business texting from spam. In it, the business registers a brand (who you are) and one or more campaigns (what you send and why). Messaging providers submit these to The Campaign Registry, a neutral database that carriers use to approve and score traffic. The wireless industry's messaging principles from CTIA describe the expectations carriers apply.

What registration involves

• Brand registration: your legal business name, tax identification details, address, website and contact information, checked against public records.
• Campaign registration: the use case, such as customer care, account notifications, appointment reminders or marketing; sample messages; how people opt in and opt out; and whether the messages include links or phone numbers.
• Number assignment: the registered numbers are tied to the campaign.
• Throughput and filtering: carriers set how many messages you can send based on your registration. Unregistered or mismatched traffic is more likely to be blocked or delayed.

Plan for review time and for rejections. The most common reasons are a sample message that does not match the stated use case, an opt-in process that is not shown clearly, and a website without a privacy policy. Describe the business honestly and keep the samples close to what you actually send.

Toll-free and short codes

Toll-free numbers and short codes are other routes. Toll-free numbers have their own verification process. Short codes are five or six digits, are leased and suit high volumes. Which to use depends on volume, the use case and how fast you need to start. The consent rules are the same for all of them.

What the TCPA says in plain words

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act is a federal law implemented by FCC rules. Among other things, it limits calls and texts made with an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice, and sets rules for telemarketing. Under the FCC's rules, a text message is treated as a call. The level of consent depends on the content. In general, informational messages that the person asked for, such as a delivery update, need prior express consent, while marketing messages sent with automated technology need prior express written consent. Written consent can be an electronic form or a web checkbox, but it must be clear about what the person agrees to receive and must not be a condition of buying.

• Be specific. Say who will text, what kind of messages, roughly how often, that message and data rates may apply, and how to stop.
• Keep records. Save the wording shown, the time, the phone number, the source and the way consent was given.
• Honor revocation. People can revoke consent in reasonable ways, such as replying STOP or other plain words. The FCC has adopted rules on how quickly senders must honor such requests. Make the process automatic and fast.
• Respect timing. FCC rules restrict telemarketing calls to between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the recipient's time zone, and several states set tighter limits.
• Check numbers. People change phone numbers. Reassigned numbers are a known source of unwanted texts, and the FCC has set up a database to help check them.
• Mind the do-not-call lists. National and state lists, and your own internal list, may apply to marketing.

State laws

Several states have their own telemarketing or texting statutes, with different consent rules, timing limits and private rights to sue. Florida, Oklahoma and others have active laws. If you text customers in several states, build to the strictest standard that applies or take legal advice about each.

Common mistakes

• Buying a contact list and texting it without proof of consent.
• Collecting consent for one purpose, such as receipts, and then sending marketing.
• Hiding consent inside long terms and conditions.
• Using a personal or unregistered number for a campaign.
• Not syncing opt-outs between systems, so a person who said stop keeps getting messages.
• Sending the same campaign from many numbers to avoid filtering, which carriers treat as evasion.

A short checklist

Register your brand and campaigns. Match sample messages to real use. Write a clear consent statement and save the proof. Process stop requests automatically and everywhere. Observe time limits and state rules. Review the programme with counsel before the first marketing send. Our team can set up registered business texting alongside your phones and fax. Start with our Voice, Fax and SMS service.

Sources

• FCC, Stop Unwanted Robocalls and Texts (TCPA consumer guide)
• FCC, Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules, 47 CFR 64.1200
• The Campaign Registry
• CTIA, Messaging Principles and Best Practices

This article is general information, not legal or compliance advice. Rules and enforcement priorities change; confirm what applies to your firm with qualified counsel and your regulator's current guidance. Last reviewed November 9, 2026.

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