Text messaging registration

Carriers block texts from numbers that have not been registered to a business. Until yours clears, the AI cannot text and neither can you.

Calls are never affected. Your number takes calls throughout.

The part that catches people out is that a blocked message fails silently: it is accepted and then dropped by the carrier, with nothing reported back. If your Messages screen is empty and you cannot work out why, this is usually the reason.

Registration lives at Settings → Organization → Text messaging. Any member of your organization can complete it.

Which registration you need#

You do not choose. The page works it out from the country and type of your number and shows only that form.

The page registers against one number: the one marked primary, or your oldest if none is. If you hold both a US local number and a US toll-free number, you will see only the regime that one number implies.

Before you start#

You need an active phone number. Without one the page says No phone number yet, because what you need depends on the number you will send from.

For A2P 10DLC, have ready:

• Your legal business name, exactly as registered.
• Your tax ID: an EIN in the US, a Business Number in Canada.
• Your registered business address.
• A live website URL, including https://.
• An authorized representative: name, email, phone in +15551234567 form, job title and position.

For a sender ID country, have that country's documents. They differ: Spain asks for four, including proof the sender name belongs to your business and a signed declaration.

A2P 10DLC#

Save your address first#

The Submit for registration button stays disabled until you have saved a registered business address for the selected country. This is the single most common place people get stuck, because the button gives no reason. The form says "Save your address before submitting your registration", naming your country, and that line is the only hint.

The address is where your business is registered, not where your number is. A Canadian business with a US number saves a Canadian address. Changing the country in the address form deliberately does not carry your street across, because a US street on a Canadian address is a rejection rather than a head start.

The badge on the address tells you how far it has been checked:

• Saved: held, but not checked by anyone.
• Matched to postal records: matched against a postal database.
• Verified: confirmed.

An ordinary US or Canadian address gets neither check here. The carriers check it days later, when they vet your brand, and an address that does not match public records is a common rejection.

Do you have a tax ID?#

The first question decides everything after it.

Yes registers a standard brand. No registers a sole proprietor brand, which is only possible in the US and Canada.

Answer this accurately. A business that holds an EIN and registers as a sole proprietor is rejected by the registry, and you are billed for the attempt.

Filling in the rest#

• Business type: Partnership, Corporation, Co-operative, Non-profit corporation (use this for a government organisation) or Limited liability company. Sole proprietorships take the other path.
• Registration ID: an EIN is nine digits and is stored as 12-3456789. Ten authorities are supported, including DUNS and the Canadian Business Number.
• Regions of operation: continents, not countries. USA and Canada count as one region.
• Industry: 33 options.
• Website: a full URL with https://, live, and describing your business.
• Authorized representative: someone carriers can call. They do sometimes call.
• Company structure: private, publicly traded, non-profit or government. A publicly traded company must give its exchange and ticker, and the registry checks them.

What you will send#

This is the section that gets registrations rejected, so it is worth slowing down on.

• Use case: Customer care is the usual choice for a receptionist. Once your messaging service exists, the list comes from your brand's trust score, so some options may not be offered.
• Campaign description: at least 40 characters. Carriers reject one-liners.
• Opt-in description: at least 40 characters, describing the moment a customer agrees to be texted. This is the most common reason registrations are rejected. Describe the actual moment, for example that the customer gave their number on a booking call and was told they would get a confirmation by text.
• Sample messages: one to five, each at least 20 characters. Two are required for a sole proprietor. Double-brace placeholders such as a customer's first name are fine.
• Links and phone numbers: tick these accurately. Carriers scan your traffic and block a campaign that does not match what it registered.
• Opt-in keywords: START, YES and UNSTOP by default. Never register STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL or HELP, which are handled automatically on every campaign.

Save for later, and submit#

Save for later stores anything you have typed with no validation, so a half-finished form survives. It does not file anything and it does not start the clock.

Submit for registration is what validates and files. Once you submit, the form locks. You cannot correct it, and re-submitting does not file again.

What happens after you submit#

Four things are created in order, each vetted separately:

1. A customer profile, your business's legal identity.
2. A messaging trust product, your messaging profile.
3. A brand, submitted to The Campaign Registry.
4. A campaign, describing what you will send.

The first two are usually approved within seconds for a well-formed submission. The brand goes to the registry. The campaign can only be created once the brand is approved, and it happens automatically.

Brand approved does not mean you can text yet. Texting switches on when the campaign is approved, one stage further on. The badge on the card reflects the campaign, so trust the badge.

Status updates arrive by webhook from the provider. Nothing polls, so a stage changes when the provider calls back rather than on a schedule.

If you registered as a sole proprietor#

There is one extra step, and it is easy to miss. After the brand is created you receive a text from +1 915 278 2000. Reply YES to it.

• The text is valid for 24 hours.
• The whole verification expires 30 days after registration.
• Nothing tells the app when you have replied. It re-checks when you open the page, so come back to this page afterwards.

A sole proprietor brand is capped: one campaign, one phone number, 1,000 message segments a day on T-Mobile and 15 messages a minute on AT&T. There is no trust score to build and no way to raise those without a tax ID.

Toll-free verification#

Toll-free numbers are verified with the carriers directly rather than registered under A2P 10DLC. Unverified toll-free traffic is blocked the same way.

Verification is per number. Two toll-free numbers means filing twice, and a Number to verify selector appears once you have more than one.

Sender ID countries#

Where a regulator vets sender names, you register the name your customers will see rather than a number, and you supply the documents that country asks for. The page lists exactly what yours needs.

In the Netherlands, Japan and the UAE you choose and save a sender name but nothing is filed.

Statuses#

Not started, Not submitted, Submitted, Being reviewed, Approved, Rejected.

You will also see these alerts when they apply: Registration problem, Registration is not available yet, Reply to the text to finish registering, and You will register as a sole proprietor.

While you wait#

Calls work normally. The AI answers, books appointments and transfers callers exactly as it would otherwise. What it cannot do is send the confirmation text after a booking, so callers get the confirmation by email instead where you have their address.

The Messages screen shows a notice with a link straight back to this page.

Why registrations get rejected#

In rough order of how often it happens:

1. The opt-in description does not describe a real moment of consent.
2. The business address does not match public records.
3. The legal business name is not exactly the registered one.
4. The website is not live, or does not obviously belong to the business.
5. A business with a tax ID registered as a sole proprietor.
6. Sample messages that do not match what the campaign says it will send.

A rejection is not the end of it. The failure reason is shown on the card, and once rejected the form unlocks so you can fix and resubmit.