Quick access:

• Context
• Step 1 - Register your 10DLC brand
• Step 2 - Brand verification
• Step 3 - Register a 10DLC campaign
• Step 4 - Link numbers to your campaign
• Additional Information

To better understand the 10DLC registration process, please follow this guide. It will link to all the different articles which go into more details for each element of 10DLC. The guide aims to simplify the process and understanding of how 10DLC works, to allow you to get up to speed with your registration and enable you to send traffic in the USA as quickly as possible.

Please note that the process of registering for 10DLC involves many steps, some of these steps require manual reviews (by Vonage and our partners, including vetting providers and carriers). It may take several days or even weeks for the whole process to complete. Please keep this in mind when planning to send SMS or MMS to the United States.

Context

Please check our article to understand what 10DLC is, and why it is required to comply with 10DLC when sending SMS or MMS to the United States. Note that there are several messaging options for the USA.

We created a page listing all the 10DLC requirements to provide more clarity around the way 10DLC should be implemented. Read our article to understand pricing and the cost impact of the different implementation options you may choose.

Before starting, you need to figure out your messaging needs and the different use cases you will use for your brand and services. 

If you are going to register brands and campaigns on behalf of other entities, please make sure that you register as a reseller, and obtain a reseller ID. This reseller ID must be provided during the registration.

New and existing campaigns registered on behalf of another entity (reseller campaigns) will soon be required to have your reseller ID properly tagged.

Step 1 - Register your 10DLC brand

The first thing to do if you would like to send SMS or MMS traffic to the United States via a Long Virtual Number (LVN), is to declare your company as a 10DLC brand.

Determine the correct entity type for your 10DLC brand

Options available to register your brand

Please note the general guidelines around 10DLC brand registrations.

Vonage dashboard

Please check this article to register a 10DLC brand using our dashboard.

API endpoints

Please check this article to register a 10DLC brand using our API endpoints.

Step 2 - Brand verification

Once the brand has been created, The Campaign Registry (TCR - the entity designated to centralize all 10DLC brands and campaigns) will proceed to a basic verification of the brand.

Understand the vetting requirements for most campaign use cases

Brand verification

If your brand verification is successful, you can create a 10DLC campaign with the use case "Low Volume Mixed". If you would like to create a campaign with a different use case, you will be required to request an external vetting. Please check this article to know what to do if the verification of your brand fails.

Note: Sole proprietor brands require to complete an OTP verification to verify the brand.

Brand vetting

If your brand cannot be verified or you need to register a different use case than "Low Volume Mixed", please proceed to request an external vetting. 

There are three types of vets:

• Standard vetting
• Enhanced vetting
• Political vetting

Please read this article for more information on the different types of vets available, the requirements and limitation of each vets.

Options available to apply for an external vetting

Some vetting providers allow us to apply for vetting through our services, but for some providers, you will need to independently apply for a vetting and then import the vetting ID to link it to your brand.

Vonage dashboard

Please check this article to request an external vet via our dashboard.

API endpoints

Please check this article to leverage our API to request an external vet. - coming soon

Import an existing vet

This article will explain how to import an existing vet and link it to your brand. - coming soon

Step 3 - Register a 10DLC campaign

When you have completed the registration of your brand, you may register as many campaigns as you need for your different messaging programs. Please note that the "Sole Proprietor" brand only allows for a single campaign (using the "Sole Proprietor" use case).

10DLC campaigns are billed on a subscription model, based on a monthly fee. The minimum duration of a campaign is three months.

Note that T-Mobile requires that customers link at least one number to every campaign, they will apply a recurring fine to any campaign without number linked for over 60 days.

Understand the different use cases

Please review this article, which describes in detail the different use cases that exist under the 10DLC regulation, as well as the specifics of each of these campaigns, their requirements and examples of campaigns that should be used for each of the use cases.

When you know which type of campaign you want to create, you need to gather all the information you will need to provide during the registration to allow for a smooth and timely review and approval of the application. Please review this article to understand all the latest requirements for 10DLC campaigns.

Note: Currently there are some delays to get campaigns reviewed and approved; we estimate an average of 3 to 5 weeks for the campaigns to be fully activated in order to allow linking numbers and sending traffic on those numbers.

Options available to register your campaign

Please read our campaign registration guide before proceeding.

Vonage dashboard

Please follow this article for the steps by step registration of your campaign via our dashboard.

API endpoints

This article will provide the detail on how to register campaigns via our APIs.

TCR direct (partner campaigns)

Some of our customers may have an account to handle the registrations of brands and campaigns directly with TCR (The Campaign Registry), and choose to use our services to provision the numbers for those campaigns. This article provides the requirements and different options to import a campaign into your Vonage account after having registered the campaign with TCR and shared it with us. Please note that our review and approval requirements may differ slightly from the TCR guidelines due to some requirements imposed by carriers or other suppliers, therefore, we recommend you to make sure your campaigns adhere to our 10DLC campaign requirements.

What happens after the application is sent?

Please check this article to understand the different statuses of a 10DLC campaign, when they require an action from the applicant (e.g. to provide additional or corrected information).

Step 4 - Link numbers to your campaign

Once the campaign has been approved by Vonage and all the carriers, you can start linking numbers to the campaign and sending traffic.

Considerations

• Any '+1' 10-Digit Long Code (10DLC) may be linked to a 10DLC campaign.
• HIPAA enabled accounts can buy and link HIPAA compatible numbers to 10DLC campaigns.
• Short Codes (SC) and Toll-Free Numbers (TFN) are not compatible.

Throughput

Note that the carriers consider throughput at a campaign or a brand level depending on the carriers. T-Mobile allows customers a fixed amount of messages per day, across all campaigns under the same brand. For AT&T and Verizon, the throughput is considered at the campaign level, expressed as a limit of messages allowed per minute. Note that some special use case campaigns allow a dedicated throughput per number.

Number pools

If you would like to enable the number pool feature for your 10DLC campaign, please follow those instructions. If possible, we recommend you request the number pool feature before starting to link numbers to your campaign. 

Options available to link / unlink numbers to your campaign

Please check our number linking guide before continuing.

Vonage dashboard

This article explains the process to link and unlink numbers to your campaign using our dashboard.

API endpoints

The process to link or unlink numbers to a campaign via our API is described here.

Registration complete

You have now completed your 10DLC registration.

Additional information

Below are some additional information that may become useful when using our 10DLC services:

What is Opt-Out Assist?

Opt-Out Assist is a service that automatically leverages the opt-in, opt-out and help keywords set at the campaign registration to automatically reply with the associated message defined, as well as prevent any further messages to be sent to subscribers that have opted out of the campaign. For more information on this service, please check this article. 

Traffic monitoring

Vonage, our partners and US carriers have traffic monitoring systems in place to ensure that the messages sent to campaign subscribers align with the campaign as registered. Campaigns in violation may be suspended or terminated. Please check this article for more information on 10DLC violations.

Cancelling a brand or a campaign

If you would like to know how to cancel a 10DLC campaign, please check this article.

If you have no active campaign under a specific brand, you can cancel that brand following these steps. - coming soon

FAQs & troubleshooting

If you are experiencing issues or have further questions related to 10DLC please make sure to check out the rest of our 10DLC Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).