Simple Registration
There are three simple steps to registering for A2P 10DLC within the Trust Center:
Create a business profile for your company in the Trust Center (one time)
Register your brand(s) for A2P texting (one time)
Select an A2P Plan: Low Volume or Standard Brand (one time) and register your phone numbers to campaigns/use cases (ongoing)
🚨 If you would like to send SMS text messages to prospects and clients from a 10-digit local phone number, you must register for A2P 10DLC.
Two Types of A2P 10DLC Plans
There are two types of A2P Plans available to smrtPhone customers:
Any client who was previously registered for a Starter Brand plan had to switch to one of these two plans by November 3, 2022, since the Starter Plan was no longer available.
It's important to read through the options so you understand the benefits and limitations of each. Once you're registered and your campaign use cases are approved, you will be able to connect your existing phone numbers to your A2P profile. There is no need to purchase additional phone numbers to become A2P compliant.
Low Volume (LV)
The Low Volume Standard Brand plan is for small businesses and businesses that use text messaging similar to a P2P fashion (personalized conversations, for negotiation and follow-ups) rather than high volumes of templated messages. Low Volume can be used for mixed messaging campaigns, multiple numbers per campaign, higher throughput, and lower filtering.
You can send up to 6,000 messages a day across all registered phone numbers (T-Mobile limits only 2,000 messages per day). Throughput is lower than Standard campaigns.
There is a limit of 50 phone numbers per campaign. LV plan has the option of one campaign type: Mixed Use, which covers conversational campaigns. You must provide sample messages as part of your registration process.
There is a one-time brand registration fee - of $4, a one-time campaign registration fee of $15, and ongoing campaign fees - of $1.50/month/campaign, both of which are significantly less expensive than regular Standard Plans. Fees are accrued upon registration approval, and are deducted from your credit balance.
Standard Brand Plan
A Standard Brand is a "full" registration for any business that needs to send more than 6,000 SMS segments and MMS per day to the United States or more than 2,000 per day to T-Mobile users.
This plan is for businesses with larger volumes of communication. You can have as many phone numbers registered as you like and the message limits per day are set based on your personalized Trust Score (calculated at the time of registration) but are commonly set to 200,000 messages per day.
Under the Standard Plan, you have many options for campaign types (including 2FA, account alerts, marketing promotions, and mixed-use/conversational.) You must announce the use case for each campaign and submit sample messages for approval.
The Standard Plan will require a registration fee (one-time) of $44, a campaign registration fee of $15, and ongoing campaign maintenance fees - of $1.50 up to $10/month/campaign depending on the type of campaign you choose.
You can have multiple types of campaigns underneath one Standard Brand Plan, including a Low Volume campaign.
Low Volume vs. Standard Brand
Here is a summary breakdown of the difference between the Low Volume and Standard A2P Plans, including fees.
Message Volume | Fewer than 6,000 outbound SMS/MMS to US local phone numbers per day.
Max of 2,000/day to T-mobile recipients | Up to 200,000 outbound SMS/MMS to U.S. local phone numbers per day.
T-Mobile daily max dependent on Trust Score. |
Phone Numbers Allowed | 50 phone numbers by default, with an option for more with a valid business case. | 50 phone numbers per campaign by default, with an option to go up to 10,000 phone numbers based upon request. |
Minimum Business Profile Requirements (Note: You must register a business profile in the Trust Center to gain access to A2P) | Business Name, Business Tax Info (EIN), Address, Operating Regions, Website URL, Social Media URL, Two Authorized Representatives. | Business Name, Business Tax Info (EIN), Address, Operating Regions, Website URL, Social Media URL, Two Authorized Representatives. |
Single campaign option: Mixed Use. Phone number(s) to be used | Multiple campaign use case options, phone number(s) to be used, use case description, 2 sample messages. | |
Throughput | 3.75 MPS | Up to 225 MPS depending on Trust Score |
Registration Fees All fees are deducted from your smrtPhone Credit Balance. | $4 Brand registration (one time) Billed upon approval.
$1.50/mo. campaign use case maintenance fee. First monthly fee billed upon approval and charged once per month thereafter.
$15 campaign verification fee at the time of registration. | $44 Brand registration (one time). Billed upon approval.
$1.50 - $10 per month Campaign use case maintenance fee ($35/mo for franchise use cases.) First monthly fee billed upon approval and charged once per month thereafter.
$15 campaign verification fee at the time of registration. |
Every time that you will submit a campaign for review, you will be charged a $15 fee.
A2P Per Message Carrier Fees
Per message carrier fees for A2P 10DLC are in addition to standard text messaging fees, and this is an industry-wide impact. These fees are determined and required by the receiving carriers and vary depending on which one your contact uses. Because smrtPhone clients usually do not know the cell phone provider of their contacts, we cannot state a set price per message.
The most important thing to know is that Unregistered Messages will incur a higher per-message rate for AT&T, T-Mobile/Sprint, and any messages that use their network. Verizon has not currently voiced how they will handle unregistered traffic, but it is expected they will eventually announce a change in fee structure as well.
A2P Carrier fees per message, as of August 1, 2023:
| AT&T | T-Mobile/Sprint | Verizon |
Registered SMS | $0.002 | $0.003 | $0.003 |
Registered MMS | $0.0035 | $0.01 | $0.005 |
Unregistered SMS | $0.01 | $0.006 | $0.01 |
Unregistered MMS | $0.015 | $0.015 | $0.005 |
This chart shows you will incur between $0.002 - $0.003 for registered SMS and $0.0035 - $0.01 for registered MMS.
You will incur between $0.006 - $0.01 for unregistered SMS and $0.005 - $0.015 for unregistered MMS - with the added possibility of your messages not being delivered.
💰 We pass through these carrier costs to you, with a small 5% mark up to cover our administrative fees in managing registration and validation effectively. All fees related to registering and sustaining campaigns are exclusively handled and processed by carriers, and smrtPhone makes no profits from these services.
Important Reminders about A2P 10DLC Fees
Additional fees are always difficult to swallow, but there are benefits to A2P 10DLC. While it may take a while to reach critical mass, the purpose of A2P 10DLC is to weed out spammers and scammers - which will make your legitimate business communications stand out and get noticed.
Verified messages will be funneled through separate, priority channels, improving delivery.
Verified messages are more likely to be read, trusted, and acted upon by consumers, improving response rates.
We are all consumers ourselves, and it will ultimately improve our own quality of life.
These fees are not singular to smrtPhone, but rather will be incurred on any technology platform that is used for business messaging. All VoIP and cloud-based phone systems are considered A2P.
❗Don't forget: Unregistered traffic is not guaranteed to be delivered or delivered in a timely manner, and it will incur higher per-message fees than registered traffic.
When can I Register for A2P 10DLC?
Once you know which plan is the right one for you, registering for A2P 10DLC will happen in the smrtPhone Trust Center.
Similar to registering your business in the Trust Center, you will complete a form with the necessary information, including Plan and Campaign information (if applicable.)
Next Steps:
How to register for:
