|
On February 1, 2023, Plivo began charging a $15 vetting fee for each campaign submission. For details, refer to the section below on campaign vetting. |
What is 10DLC?
10DLC (10-digit long code) is a service offered by US carriers to explicitly allow application-to-person (A2P) SMS traffic over long code phone numbers. The term "10-digit long code" refers to standard US local phone numbers, which are 10 digits long, including the area code. Unlike short codes, long code numbers can be used to make and receive calls. Unlike former long code services, 10DLC has been designed specifically for commercial A2P messaging.
10DLC offers several benefits:
- High messaging throughput — up to 4,500 transactions per minute per operator
- Enhanced deliverability, because 10DLC use cases are approved by operators
- Cost savings compared to short codes
To create this sanctioned channel, US carriers require businesses to register their 10DLC numbers and the campaigns for which they use them. Registration lets carriers know who’s sending messages and what kinds of messages are being sent, so they can protect end-users from spam and unwanted messages.
Upon receipt of registration information, carriers’ verification and risk assessment evaluations are outsourced to an independent organization called The Campaign Registry. TCR evaluates each registration based on the information the registrant provides and assigns a “vetting score” to each registration. Vetting scores are calculated using an undisclosed algorithm that takes into account a brand’s past texting history, type of organization, and the type of messages the registrant plans to send. The vetting score determines the maximum throughput the carrier allows for a brand.
Do I need to register for 10DLC?
If you’re sending A2P text messages to US recipients and not using toll-free or short code source numbers, you should register your brand and campaigns for 10DLC. Not registering your A2P traffic will result in higher surcharges, lower throughput, increased filtering, and lower deliverability.
What are brands and campaigns?
The 10DLC ecosystem relies on two important declarations from the customer. A brand is the entity that a number represents. A campaign represents the type of messages the brand intends to send. The terms “campaign” and “use case” are often used interchangeably.
How are use cases classified for 10DLC?
The Campaign Registry defines several standard use cases for campaigns.
|
Category |
Details |
|
2FA |
Any two-factor authentication with passcodes used to unlock accounts |
|
Account Notifications |
Notification sent to account holders about changes in accounts |
|
Customer Care |
Customer care interactions by the support and other customer-facing teams |
|
Delivery Notifications |
Updates about the delivery of products and services |
|
Fraud Alert Messaging |
Notifications of suspicious behavior identified the business |
|
Higher Education |
Messages sent by colleges, universities, and other educational institutions |
|
Marketing |
Communications related to time-bound events and sales |
|
Polling and Voting |
Surveys, polling, and voting campaigns used for non-political purposes |
|
Public Service Announcement |
Messages aimed at creating awareness about important topics |
|
Security Alert |
Notifications that alert users about a potential breach of systems |
In addition, there are mixed-use cases — a combination of two to five standard usage cases — and low-volume mixed-use cases, for brands with low throughput requirements.
Finally, The Campaign Registry recognizes several special use cases, such as 501(c)(3) charity, emergency services, K–12 education, political campaigns, and sweepstakes. These may require additional approval, warrant additional fees, or have differences in throughput compared to standard use cases. Plivo does not support registration for special use cases yet.
How can I register my brands?
Details registrants are asked for during registration include:
|
Standard |
|
You can provide multiple sample messages during registration. Your actual messages must be close to the sample messages you provide to avoid issues with network filtering later.
How can I register my campaigns?
You can register multiple standard campaigns or one (or more) mixed campaigns. There are pros and cons to each approach.
Every single standard campaign (e.g. 2FA, account notifications) offers a high throughput and low surcharges. But since each campaign registration has a monthly fee (details below), you might incur high overall costs for registering multiple campaigns compared with the cost of a single mixed campaign.
Mixed campaigns offer the flexibility of using the same 10DLC number for many use cases. But non-compliant messaging can lead to the suspension of an entire campaign comprising multiple use cases, while in the case of dedicated campaigns, only a single use case is affected. Also, AT&T imposes higher surcharges for mixed campaigns.
A low-volume mixed campaign may be a cost-effective solution when your throughput requirement is low. Review the throughput limit tables below for more details.
What are the associated costs?
Standard registration fees
|
Fee |
Frequency |
Amount |
|
Brand registration |
One-time |
$4 |
|
Brand vetting (optional) |
One-time |
$40 |
|
Each campaign |
Monthly |
$10, or $2 for low-volume campaigns, billed quarterly |
Because operators put unvetted brands in the lowest throughput category (see table below) we recommend all customers choose vetting to get the most out of 10DLC registration.
Because of all the fees involved for registering brands and campaigns, Plivo recommends recharging your account in advance to avoid any disruption to your services.
In addition to registration charges, each operator also imposes a termination surcharge for every message sent from a long code number that terminates in their respective networks. Surcharges are added on top of the standard cost per message as reflected on Plivo pricing page, and apply to both registered and unregistered traffic. (Unregistered traffic incurs a higher surcharge.) You can find the total surcharge amount on your Plivo invoice in the Carrier Surcharge Fee section.
How long does it take for a campaign to be approved?
Campaigns are vetted (see below) and approval can take up to a week.
Will the need to register for 10DLC affect my Plivo phone numbers?
No, 10DLC won’t cause any changes to your Plivo phone numbers. The change will only affect the cost and delivery quality for long code SMS messages.
How do I use my existing numbers for 10DLC?
Once your brand and campaign registration is successful, you can link your existing numbers to a campaign using the Plivo console. You can map up to 49 numbers to a campaign for a Standard brand registration.
What is the campaign vetting process?
As you know, long code messaging in the US now requires businesses to register brands and campaigns for 10DLC. Carriers vet those registrations in an industry-wide effort to reduce spam and unwanted messaging and thereby improve trust in the SMS messaging channel. For an overview of the registration process, refer to our documentation.
As part of 10DLC registration, you need to create campaigns for each of your use cases, which Plivo then submits to TCR and carriers for review. For best results, follow our registration guidelines.
The carriers conduct a review for each campaign by examining the submitted details (such as use case description, message flow, and sample messages) to determine whether to approve the registration. While under review, campaigns are reported to be in “processing” status.
If the carrier rejects a campaign after review, we change the status to “failed.” You may resubmit campaigns by updating existing information and/or providing additional information required by the carrier.
If a campaign satisfies the carrier’s criteria, we change the status to “approved.” At that time you can link phone numbers to the campaign for messaging.
Is there a fee for campaign vetting?
Starting February 1, 2023, carriers will charge Plivo $15 for every campaign vetted, and we’ll pass that fee along to our customers, without any markup. Already approved campaigns are not affected by this change.
If you submit a campaign that gets rejected, you can work with our support team to understand the reasons and resubmit the campaign for review. Each submission will incur a $15 fee; to avoid additional fees, follow our guidelines before your initial submission.
What throughput can I expect after registering with 10DLC?
When you register your brand, The Campaign Registry must first identify your brand; if it cannot, you will not be approved for messaging without further action on your part. If your brand is not among the Russell 3000 companies, you will be placed by default in a low throughput tier. In either of those cases, you can apply to have a vetting organization verify your brand so you can potentially be assigned to a higher throughput tier. Carriers leverage third-party vetting partners such as Aegis Mobile, Campaign Verify, and WMC Global to verify brands. Plivo lets you specify that you want to be vetted when you register your brand for a one-time fee of $40.
US operators have defined messaging throughput tiers in terms of transactions per minute (TPM) and transactions per day (TPD). Throughput is allocated to campaigns depending on their vetting score.
Standard registration — SMS
|
Use Case Type |
Vetting Score |
AT&T TPM |
T-Mobile* TPM |
Verizon TPM |
|
Dedicated, Mixed/Marketing |
75–100 |
4,500 |
4,500 |
4,500 |
|
Dedicated, Mixed/Marketing |
50–74 |
2,400 |
2,400 |
2,400 |
|
Dedicated, Mixed/Marketing |
1–49 |
240 |
240 |
240 |
|
Low-Volume |
75 |
75 |
75 |
*Including T-Mobile, Sprint, and Metro by T-Mobile
Smaller carriers (<5% of US messaging volume) have not explicitly declared their throughput assignment details but we expect them to be in similar ranges for a given vetting score.
Standard registration — MMS
Unlike SMS throughput, which depends on vetting score and campaign type, MMS throughput has been defined at a per number level by the operators. Each number linked to a campaign can send up to 50 messages per minute per operator. For a higher throughput, you can link multiple numbers in the same campaign.
T-Mobile TPD restrictions
T-Mobile (including Sprint) also has a limit on the total daily number of SMS and MMS messages (TPD) a brand can send toward its subscribers. Like TPM, this limit varies with the vetting score assigned to a brand. T-Mobile’s TPD limit takes into account both SMS and MMS messages; in other words, the daily limit is shared across SMS and MMS services.
|
Use Case Type |
Vetting Score |
T-Mobile TPD |
|
All |
75–100 |
200,000 |
|
All |
50–74 |
40,000 |
|
All |
25–49 |
10,000 |
|
All |
1–24 |
2,000 |
What happens if I reach daily T-Mobile quota for my brand?
You can check your T-Mobile TPD cap on the console. After you reach the limit T-Mobile allots to your brand, any more messages sent to T-Mobile by the same brand will fail for the rest of the day (days are defined as begin in the Pacific (PT) time zone). Once a day is over, you can again send messages towards T-Mobile.
Traffic toward AT&T, Verizon, and other operators is not affected by the T-Mobile quota.
What if the throughput I’m assigned is not sufficient for my messaging volume? Can I increase my throughput?
Plivo recommends opting for vetting during the brand registration process to unlock higher throughputs. If, even after your business is vetted, your allocated throughput (TPM) isn’t high enough, we recommend that you register additional campaigns to meet the throughput requirement for your messages.
If your daily messaging volume toward T-Mobile is higher than the TPD you’ve been allocated, you can request T-Mobile conduct a Special Business Review (SBR) to gain access to higher daily volumes.
If your campaign requires linking more than 49 numbers, T-Mobile requires you to submit a Number Pool Request (NPR).
T-Mobile charges a fee for each SBR or NPR. Plivo passes on carrier fees to its customers without any markup. Before submitting an SBR or NPR request, you must have a brand and campaign registered with TCR.
To submit an SBR or NPR, please contact your customer success manager or our support team.
What is T-Mobile non-use fee and what are Plivo’s recommendations?
T-Mobile encourages customers to send all A2P messages over 10DLC numbers. To reduce misuse of this process, T-Mobile has introduced a $250 fee for any active campaign that has not been used to send traffic to T-Mobile users over a 60-day rolling period. The first rolling period started on December 1, 2022, and the first assessment will be done on February 1, 2023. If any of your campaigns have not sent traffic to at least one T-Mobile user in the preceding 60 days, you will be charged this fee.
To avoid incurring this fee, Plivo recommends the following:
- If you intend to register a campaign, or keep one you’ve already registered, you should have at least one long code associated with it and send traffic to T-Mobile destinations. (You can use our Lookup API to determine which carrier any given number is associated with.)
- If you no longer intend to use a campaign, you should unlink all the numbers from the campaign and then deactivate it. You may not deactivate the brand for future usage as brand has no recurring fee associated with it.
- If you send very few messages from a campaign and wish to continue using that campaign, ensure you send at least one message to a T-Mobile destination each month.
- Perform a monthly audit of your messaging usage and proactively unrent numbers and deactivate campaigns that you longer intend to use.
What’s Plivo’s recommendation for resellers?
Resellers are businesses or platforms that provide services to other businesses. If you facilitate messaging for a brand or business that’s not your own, you can be classified as a reseller. If you only send messages related to your own brand, you’re not a reseller.
Resellers should register all their customers for 10DLC. Plivo does not support bulk registration on the console or through our API, so you should register each customer individually.
How to avoid 10DLC violations
Be sure that the information you provide during registration is complete and accurate, and includes a detailed description of your use case and sample messages. Operators use content-based filtering to check campaigns, so if the messages you send violate SHAFT guidelines or don’t adhere to the use case you provided during registration, your campaign may be suspended. In extreme cases, operators might decide to block an entire brand, leading to the suspension of all campaigns.
T-Mobile imposes additional fees on some violations:
|
Description |
Associated Fee |
|
10DLC Long Code Messaging Program Evasion: This fee is applied when businesses use evasion techniques like snowshoeing, unauthorized number replacement, and dynamic routing. |
$1,000 per incident |
|
Text Enablement: This fee is applied when a 10-digit NANP telephone number is provisioned for SMS and sends out messages before verification of message sender ownership is completed. |
$10,000 |
|
Content Violation: T-Mobile may charge this pass-through fee for each unique instance of the third or any subsequent notification of a content violation involving the same content provider. Content violation is defined as sending messages in violation of the rules in the Code of Conduct, and are usually SHAFT violations (sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, tobacco) but also include spam or phishing, or messaging that meets the threshold of a Severity 0 violation per the CTIA Short Code Monitoring Handbook. |
$10,000 |
Can I migrate 10DLC brands, campaigns, and phone numbers from another provider to Plivo?
TCR and mobile network operators (MNO) don't allow you to reuse a campaign you created with one CPaaS with any other one, so you'll have to register your brand and your campaigns anew on the Plivo console or by using our APIs and SDKs. If, on the other hand, you created a campaign directly with TCR and haven’t used it elsewhere, you can share it with Plivo via a support ticket and we can import it for you.
When it comes to associating numbers with your campaigns, the easiest thing to do is rent new numbers through the console and associate them with campaigns. If you want to keep the numbers you’ve already been using with your other vendor, you can port them to Plivo. When a number is ported in by a different vendor, it automatically becomes unregistered from any 10DLC campaigns it was previously associated with. Once the port-in is complete, you can associate the newly ported numbers with your campaigns.
What if I have additional questions about 10DLC?
Please contact your customer success manager or our support team.