A2P 10DLC

A2P 10DLC for B2C Marketing Teams

The short answer

For promotional SMS, yes. Any brand sending marketing texts from a 10-digit number has to register with The Campaign Registry, and carriers have blocked unregistered traffic since February 1, 2025. Promotional campaigns also carry the strictest content rules and the tightest filtering. iMessage is a different channel. It runs over Apple's servers instead of the carrier network, so there's no A2P registration required and no per-message carrier surcharge on the send.

$249 per line per month, published No A2P registration required 50 opted-in / 30 cold new contacts a day, unlimited replies

Key takeaways

  • Registration is cheap; volume is where the meter runs.
  • Promotional messages need prior express written consent, clear sender ID, and present opt-out language.
  • Federal rules restrict marketing contact to 8 a.m.
  • No campaign registration, no per-segment surcharge, no MMS surcharge on image-led sends.
  • Yes, fully. TCPA governs the message and consent behind it, not the channel.

Time to first message

Time to first messageAn A2P 10DLC launch runs brand vetting, then campaign review, then carrier approval, and lands in the three to six week range. An iMessage line needs no registration, and most teams send inside a week.A2P 10DLCBrand vettingCampaign reviewCarrier approval3 to 6 weeks, longer on a rejectionBlue ReacherSetupMost teams send inside a week
An A2P 10DLC launch runs brand vetting, then campaign review, then carrier approval, and lands in the three to six week range. An iMessage line needs no registration, and most teams send inside a week.

What promotional SMS costs

Registration is cheap; volume is where the meter runs. A brand pushing 100,000 promotional segments a month pays roughly $350-$450 in carrier surcharges before platform rates.

  • MMS carries higher surcharge per message. Every emoji-heavy message that tips past one segment doubles surcharge, so real bill scales with copy length as much as list size.

Brand registration

Current cost
$4.50 one-time
Notes
The Campaign Registry raised it from $4.00 in August 2025

Standard brand vetting

Current cost
$41.50
Notes
Enhanced vetting runs $101.50; an appeal costs $11.00

Campaign registration

Current cost
$24.50 to $71.91
Notes
Low Volume Standard to High Volume Standard; each extra campaign adds $15.00

Monthly campaign fee

Current cost
$10.00 standard
Notes
Three-month minimum commitment

Carrier surcharge per SMS segment

Current cost
$0.0035 AT&T, $0.0045 T-Mobile, $0.0045 Verizon
Notes
$0.005 on US Cellular; rates current as of August 1, 2025

MMS surcharge

Current cost
$0.0090 AT&T, $0.0100 T-Mobile and US Cellular
Notes
Image-led promos pay this on every send

T-Mobile content violation

Current cost
Up to $10,000
Notes
Third offense; long code evasion is fined $1,000 per incident

What counts as promotional

Promotional messages need prior express written consent, clear sender ID, and present opt-out language. Carriers filter every message independent of campaign approval.

  • The requirements that trip marketing teams most often:
  • Prior express written consent for marketing texts, not the softer consent that covers transactional messages
  • Sender identification in the message, so the recipient knows which brand is texting
  • Working opt-out honored immediately, with STOP and its siblings recognized every time
  • No prohibited content: sweepstakes-style urgency, loan and debt offers, and anything on the carriers' restricted lists
  • URL shorteners flagged as spam infrastructure; branded full-domain links pass where bit.ly-style links get filtered

Quiet hours and opt-out throttling

Federal rules restrict marketing contact to 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. recipient local time. Time-zone-aware scheduling is the compliance floor, not optional.

  • Carriers throttle campaigns at 1% opt-out rate. Promotional traffic runs the highest opt-out rates of any class, so big promos inherit damage from prior campaigns.

Everything above describes the mechanism. The Blue Funnel Map marks the stages where your own funnel is losing replies, and you keep the map whether or not you buy.

Map this against your funnel

The iMessage path

No campaign registration, no per-segment surcharge, no MMS surcharge on image-led sends. iMessages are unlimited per line, with no A2P registration required.

  • Read receipts show a promo was actually seen, not just accepted by a gateway. Availability checking and scheduled sends handle time zones; contacts outside iMessage fall back to RCS then SMS automatically.
Does TCPA apply to iMessage?

Does TCPA apply to iMessage?

Yes, fully. TCPA governs the message and consent behind it, not the channel. Changing channels removes carrier registration burden and none of the consent burden.

  • FCC consent revocation order took effect April 11, 2025: a consumer can revoke consent by any means, you have 10 business days to honor it. Keep written consent records, honor quiet hours by recipient time zone, and let STOP auto-detection do its job. A consumer texting program at scale should be reviewed by a TCPA attorney. This is not legal advice.

Frequently asked questions

Does promotional SMS require A2P 10DLC registration?

Yes. Any brand sending marketing texts from a 10-digit number needs a registered brand and campaign. Carriers have blocked unregistered traffic since February 1, 2025. iMessage sits outside the registry, so no A2P registration is required on that channel.

What are SMS quiet hours for marketing texts?

Federal telemarketing rules restrict marketing contact to 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the recipient's local time, and some states are tighter, Florida cuts off at 8 p.m. The clock runs on the recipient's time zone, not yours, so national sends need time-zone-aware scheduling to stay inside the window.

Why is my approved marketing campaign suddenly delivering worse?

Almost certainly opt-out throttling. Carriers keep scoring approved campaigns and throttle throughput as opt-out rates approach 1%, and promotional traffic runs the highest opt-out rates of any class. The platform keeps reporting sends while deliverability decays, which reads as list fatigue but is actually filtering.

Do image promos cost more to send over SMS?

Yes. MMS carries its own carrier surcharge, $0.0090 on AT&T and $0.0100 on T-Mobile and US Cellular, on top of the platform's higher MMS rate. Over iMessage, images ride the same unlimited line as text, so image-led creative doesn't carry a per-send penalty.

Does the customer need an iPhone to get a Blue Reacher message?

Apple devices get the blue bubble with read receipts, typing indicators, and full-resolution media. Everyone else still gets the message through RCS and then SMS fallback, so the list gets full coverage. Availability checking shows the blue-bubble share of your list before you send.

Related pages

Send promos without the surcharge meter

Blue Reacher sends campaigns from your CRM with no A2P registration required, unlimited iMessages (lines pace at 50 opted-in / 30 cold new contacts a day to stay deliverable; replies never metered), images without MMS surcharges, and read receipts. From $199 per line per month. White-glove setup, GoHighLevel native, activation waived on annual billing.

Get StartedSee pricing