📱US SMS Compliance (A2P 10DLC)
Register your business, brand, and messaging campaign so your US phone numbers can legally send SMS through Dapta. A step-by-step guide to the A2P 10DLC compliance wizard.
A2P 10DLC (Application-to-Person, 10-Digit Long Code) is the registration standard that US mobile carriers require for any business sending SMS from a 10-digit US phone number.
If you send US SMS without registering, carriers filter or block your messages and apply extra fees. Dapta gives you a self-service wizard that walks you through the full registration so your numbers are approved to send.
💡 Note: A2P 10DLC is US-only. The wizard locks the country to the United States, the tax identifier to EIN, and the regions of operation to USA and Canada. If you only send outside the US, you do not need this.
How registration works
Dapta handles the carrier registration behind the scenes (powered by Twilio and The Campaign Registry). There are four steps, and each one unlocks the next:
Business profile — who your business is
Brand registration — verifies your business with the carriers
Campaign — describes the messages you will send
Phone numbers — links your US numbers to the approved campaign
You complete the steps in order. A submitted business profile unlocks the brand, an approved or pending brand unlocks the campaign, and a created campaign unlocks number association.
Tip: The accuracy of your information drives your Trust Score with the carriers, which sets your daily message limits and throughput. Carrier review currently takes around 10 to 15 days.
Before you begin
Have these ready:
A purchased US phone number in Dapta (see Buying Phone Numbers through Dapta)
Your legal business name and EIN exactly as they appear on your IRS CP 575 letter
An authorized representative (name, business email, business title, phone)
Your business address
A public website, privacy policy URL, and terms and conditions URL
Where to find it
Go to Voice Agents → Phone Numbers
Open the Compliance tab
Click US SMS (A2P 10DLC)
Step 1: Business profile
This step creates the verification bundles (a Customer Profile and an A2P Trust Product) that confirm your business identity with the carriers.
Fill in the following:
Friendly name
A label for your own reference
Notification email
Where Dapta sends status updates (use a business email, not a free address)
Legal business name
Must match your registered legal business name exactly
Business type
Corporation, LLC, Partnership, Sole Proprietorship, Co-operative, or Non-profit
Business registration number (EIN)
Your EIN in 00-0000000 format
Business identity
Direct Customer, or reseller/partner
Industry
The closest match to your business
Website URL
A live, public site that matches your business name
Authorized representative
First and last name, business email, phone, title, and job position
Business address
Street, city, state, postal code (the country is locked to US)
Company type
Private, Public, Non-profit, or Government
⚠️ Important: Your legal business name and EIN must match your IRS CP 575 letter exactly. A mismatch is the number one cause of rejection.
You can Save draft at any time to keep your progress, or Submit for review when the form is complete. Submitting sends your profile for carrier verification.
Step 2: Brand registration
Once your business profile is submitted, the brand step unlocks. Registering a brand tells the carriers who you are. Choose a brand type:
Low-Volume Standard
Most businesses. Up to roughly 1,000 messages per day across campaigns
~5,400 credits
Standard
Higher throughput and a higher trust score. Includes external vetting
~55,200 credits
After you register, the brand moves through these statuses: Pending → In review → Approved (or Failed / Suspended). You can refresh the status from the wizard. An approved or pending brand unlocks the campaign step.
Step 3: Campaign
The campaign describes the messages you send and how people consent to receive them. This is the step carriers scrutinize most, so Dapta runs a pre-submit validation check that flags blocking issues before you submit.
Fill in:
Use case — the category of messages (for example 2FA, Marketing, Customer Care). It must match what you actually send.
Campaign description — a plain-language explanation of what the campaign does and who receives it (40 to 4096 characters).
Message flow (opt-in description) — exactly how people opt in to receive messages. It must match the consent wording on your website. This is the number one cause of rejection (40 to 2048 characters).
Sample messages — 2 to 5 real examples (20 to 1024 characters each). Include your brand name and at least one with "Reply STOP to unsubscribe".
Privacy policy URL and Terms and conditions URL — both are mandatory for new campaigns.
Embedded content flags — declare whether messages contain links or phone numbers.
Opt-in / opt-out / help keywords (optional) — the words users text and the replies they receive. Opt-out must include STOP.
Cost: ~18,000 credits one-time for vetting, plus a monthly fee per use case (~1,800 credits/month for the Low-Volume use case, or ~12,000 credits/month for other use cases).
💡 Note: Run Validate first. If the check passes you can create the campaign. If it finds blocking issues, fix them and validate again. Advisories are warnings that do not block submission.
The campaign moves through Pending → In progress → Verified (or Failed). If a campaign is rejected, you can adjust the editable fields and resubmit. On resubmit the use case and keywords are locked; only the description, message flow, samples, embedded-content flags, privacy policy, and terms can change.
Step 4: Phone numbers
Once the campaign exists, associate your US phone numbers with it. Select the numbers you want to register and click Associate.
⚠️ Important: A number can only send US SMS once the campaign is Verified. Sending earlier returns error 30034, and you are still charged for the attempt.
Cost summary
All amounts are in Dapta credits.
Low-Volume Standard brand
~5,400 (one-time)
Standard brand
~55,200 (one-time)
Campaign vetting
~18,000 (one-time)
Campaign monthly (Low-Volume use case)
~1,800 / month
Campaign monthly (other use cases)
~12,000 / month
Common reasons campaigns get rejected
Legal business name or EIN does not match your registered details
The opt-in description does not match the consent wording on your website
Sample messages do not match the selected use case, or omit "Reply STOP to unsubscribe"
Missing or unreachable privacy policy / terms URLs
A website that is parked, login-gated, or unrelated to the business
A personal or free email for the authorized representative
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