10DLC: definition and how it works
Published and updated
10DLC (ten-digit long code) is the United States system for sending application-to-person SMS from ordinary ten-digit phone numbers, with the sending brand and its campaign registered and verified in advance.
How it works
A long code is a regular ten-digit United States phone number. For years businesses used them for automated texting without any registration, and carriers filtered the results unpredictably. 10DLC replaced that with a sanctioned channel: the same ten-digit numbers, but with the sender known in advance.
Registration happens in The Campaign Registry. It describes 10DLC as an A2P messaging channel in which brands and campaign service providers are verified before they are allowed to send. A brand is the business that wants to text its customers. A campaign is the use case, such as account notifications or marketing, with sample messages. Brands do not register directly; they go through a registered campaign service provider, which is usually the cloud SMS platform they buy from. Once approved, the brand's traffic gets carrier throughput tied to its trust score, and unregistered traffic on the same carriers is throttled or blocked.
The registry's own framing is that the who and the what of a campaign are traceable. That is the point: carriers can attribute every A2P message to a verified sender.
10DLC applies to A2P traffic delivered through the carriers' A2P routes. A consumer phone on a consumer plan is a P2P endpoint and is not registered in the system, which is exactly why it must not be used as a substitute for registration when the traffic is bulk marketing.
- The Campaign Registry describes 10DLC as an A2P messaging channel in which Brands and Campaign Service Providers are verified prior to being allowed to send messages, and says brands register through a registered messaging service provider. campaignregistry.com, checked on September 5, 2026
How this applies with textbee
Sending from an Android phone with a United States SIM does not go through 10DLC, because the SIM is a consumer line and the network treats it as one. That suits low-volume transactional and two-way messaging. If you need to send marketing at scale in the United States, register a campaign with a cloud provider and use textbee for the conversational side.
Related terms
- Long code: A long code is a standard full-length phone number, such as a ten-digit United States number, used as the sender of SMS.
- A2P and P2P messaging: P2P is a text one person sends to another; A2P is a text an application sends to a person, and carriers apply different rules, filters and prices to each.
- TCPA: The TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) is the United States law, implemented by the FCC in 47 CFR 64.1200, that requires prior express consent before automated calls or texts and written consent before marketing ones.
- Short code: A short code is a five or six digit phone number leased for high-volume application-to-person SMS within a single country.
Frequently asked questions
Is 10DLC required for a personal phone number?
No. 10DLC registers application traffic that carriers deliver over their A2P routes. A personal phone sending texts over its own SIM is person-to-person traffic. That is not a licence to send bulk marketing from it, since carriers filter A2P patterns on consumer lines and consent rules still apply.
Sources
- 10DLC, campaignregistry.com, checked on September 5, 2026