10DLC (10-digit long code) is the US mobile-industry regime for application-to-person SMS and MMS sent from ordinary 10-digit local numbers. The number itself is a normal NANP DID. What changed is the path onto wireless networks: carriers expect the traffic to be declared at The Campaign Registry (TCR) as a brand with one or more campaigns, rather than passing as person-to-person texting.
10DLC is a United States messaging compliance system, with closely related programs on some North American interconnects. It is not how Canada, the UK, or other markets register A2P. It is not short code leasing, and it is not Toll-free texting verification. Unregistered or grey-route long-code A2P is filtered or blocked by the major US wireless providers.
Brand, campaign, vetting, and throughput
The phrase “we registered 10DLC” usually covers four different operations. They happen in sequence, they are decided by different parties, and only the last one is a sending limit.
| Layer | What is submitted | Who decides | What it buys you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand registration | Legal entity: name, EIN or tax ID, address, vertical, website, contact, entity type (US private, public, non-profit, government, sole proprietor, and so on) | The Campaign Registry verifies the brand record (and whether it is Russell 3000, 501(c), etc.) | An identity in TCR that campaigns can be attached to. Without a brand, there is no campaign. |
| Campaign registration | A use case, description, sample messages, call-to-action / opt-in flow, STOP/HELP behavior, affiliate-marketing attestation, and the 10-digit numbers assigned | TCR records it; some use cases then go to MNOs for pre- or post-approval | Permission to send that class of A2P traffic from those numbers toward participating US wireless networks. |
| Vetting | A third-party review of the brand (TCR external vetting partners). Separate political vetting exists for election use cases (Campaign Verify / Aegis). | The vetting vendor returns a score (commonly 0-100) that TCR stores on the brand | Eligibility for higher MNO classes/tiers and for some special use cases. Vetting is not campaign approval. |
| Throughput | Nothing extra: carriers read brand score, Russell 3000 status, and campaign use case / message class | Each MNO: AT&T typically per campaign (TPM by message class); T-Mobile typically a daily cap per brand EIN, shared across campaigns | How many segments you can send before the carrier queues or blocks. Limits change; the mechanism does not. |
Brand registration
The brand is the legal sender. CSPs (Campaign Service Providers) file it in TCR. Public companies on the Russell 3000 index are treated as high-trust by default when AT&T classes and T-Mobile tiers are assigned. Other legal entities start at the entry tier until they pass external vetting. Sole proprietor is a constrained entity type: no EIN, limited volume, and the CSP must be enabled to file it.
Campaign registration
A campaign is one messaging program under one brand: one declared use case, one consent story, one set of sample texts. TCR does not allow the use case to be changed after the campaign is created. Standard use cases are available to qualified brands without MNO pre-approval. Special use cases (charity, political, emergency, K-12, sweepstakes, agents and franchises, social, and others) can require vetting and MNO pre- or post-approval. Numbers on the campaign must be 10-digit long codes the brand is authorized to use. See The Campaign Registry for CSP vs DCA roles.
Vetting
External brand vetting is an optional third-party review that produces a score. In practice it is hard to do without: T-Mobile tier and AT&T message-class assignment both depend on it. A low or missing score is why two otherwise identical campaigns send at very different rates. Political campaigns use a different token (Campaign Verify or Aegis political vet). Vetting does not replace consent, sample-message review, or TCPA rules.
Throughput (AT&T and T-Mobile models)
AT&T assigns a message class per campaign and expresses throughput in messages per minute (SMS and MMS separately). Class depends on use case (dedicated vs mixed/marketing vs special) and on vetting score. T-Mobile instead assigns a daily segment cap to the brand’s EIN and shares it across every campaign on that EIN. Unvetted, non-Russell-3000 brands sit at the bottom of that ladder.
| T-Mobile brand tier (standard use cases) | Typical vetting score band | Daily cap (segments, shared on the EIN) |
|---|---|---|
| Top | 75-100 | 200,000 |
| High mid | 50-74 | 40,000 |
| Low mid | 25-49 | 10,000 |
| Low / unvetted default | 1-24, or no score | 2,000 |
Common campaign use-case types
TCR requires a use case at campaign create. Standard use cases do not need MNO pre-approval for qualified brands. Special use cases may. The use case must match the actual traffic; mixed and low-volume mixed exist so that a brand with combined traffic does not need to misdeclare a marketing program as 2FA.
| Use case | Class in TCR | What it covers | Typical extra control |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2FA | Standard | Authentication, verification, one-time passcodes | STOP processing is not required the same way as promotional campaigns. |
| Account notification | Standard | Notices to account holders about their account | Consent still required; content must stay on-account. |
| Customer care | Standard | Support and account management back-and-forth | Often two-way, but still A2P, not a grey P2P route. |
| Delivery notifications | Standard | Status of a product or service delivery | Transactional in character, not a promotional channel. |
| Fraud alert messaging | Standard | Possible fraud on a user’s account | Security-related; sample messages should match this use. |
| Marketing | Standard | Marketing or promotional content | Prior express written consent under TCPA for autodialed marketing to mobiles. STOP/HELP required. |
| Mixed | Standard | Two to five sub use cases on one campaign | Cannot be used to hide a use case that should be special. |
| Low volume mixed | Standard | Several standard use cases at very low throughput (small offices, tests) | Throughput is capped by design. |
| Higher education | Standard | Colleges, universities, school districts (not the free-to-consumer messaging model) | Not K-12 (that is special). |
| Polling and voting | Standard | Surveys and polling campaigns | Political electioneering is a different, special use case. |
| Public service announcement | Standard | Informational awareness messaging | Not a substitute for emergency alerting. |
| Security alert | Standard | Compromise of a software or hardware system and an action to take | Distinct from 2FA OTPs. |
| Charity | Special | 501(c)(3) fundraising and help | Tax-exempt status; MNO post-approval. |
| Political (election campaigns) | Special | Organized effort to influence a defined group’s decisions | Campaign Verify or Aegis political vet, or specified 501(c) statuses. |
| Agents and franchises | Special | Localized numbers per agent or office under one brand vertical | MNO post-approval; number-count limits. |
| K-12 education | Special | Grade-school messaging platforms (not post-secondary) | MNO post-approval. |
| Sweepstakes | Special | Sweepstakes messaging | MNO post-approval. |
| Emergency | Special | Public safety / health notification during disasters and similar events | MNO post-approval; not a marketing label. |
SHAFT content and CTIA rules
US wireless A2P follows CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices: expressed consent appropriate to the traffic type, a working STOP (and HELP) experience for promotional and mixed programs, sender identification, and honest campaign descriptions. SHAFT is the usual shorthand for content categories that are prohibited or heavily restricted on A2P routes: sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, and tobacco. Cannabis, high-risk financial schemes, and some lead-generation patterns are treated similarly even when a state has legalized the underlying product. Carrier codes of conduct sit on top of TCR and can block a campaign that is “registered” but out of policy.
10DLC vs other US A2P senders
| Sender | Number shape | Registry | Typical role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10DLC | 10-digit local DID | TCR brand + campaign | Default US A2P on geographic numbers. |
| Short code | 5- or 6-digit code | Short-code provisioning with MNOs / aggregators | High throughput, long lead time, lease fees. |
| Toll-free texting | 8XX | Toll-free verification (not 10DLC) | Verified 8XX SMS/MMS after the Unregistered Toll-Free sunset. |
| RCS Business Messaging | RCS agent / brand, not a long code | Google RBM / GSMA paths; not TCR 10DLC | Rich branded sessions where both ends support RCS. |