SMS registration (US texting)

To text from a US business number, carriers require your business to be registered — a program called A2P 10DLC. It’s not a Vocal rule; it applies to every business phone provider. Registered traffic gets delivered reliably; unregistered traffic gets filtered as suspected spam.

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Set it up

1. Open Settings → Compliance.
2. Fill in your business details — legal name, EIN or business registration, address, website, and a short description of what you text customers (appointment confirmations, follow-ups, replies to inquiries).
3. Submit. We prepare and file the registration with the carriers and review it before it goes out, which avoids the most common rejection reasons.

There’s a one-time $99 registration fee that covers the carriers’ brand and campaign registration costs plus our review.

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How long it takes

Carrier approval typically takes anywhere from a few business days to a couple of weeks — it’s their queue, not ours. We’ll let you know as soon as you’re approved. Calling is unaffected the whole time; expect US texting to be unreliable until approval, because carriers filter unregistered senders.

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The consent rules that keep you deliverable

Carriers care most about opt-in — that people agreed to hear from you by text:

• Only text people who gave you their number and agreed to be contacted.
• Vocal’s built-in forms include carrier-compliant consent language automatically (unchecked-by-default checkbox, message rates disclosure, privacy policy link) — use them for lead capture and you’re covered.
• STOP always works. When someone replies STOP, they’re unsubscribed per carrier rules; HELP returns assistance info. Don’t text someone who opted out.