Overview
Wireless Carriers have decided they do not want non-wireless numbers to easily send messages to mobile numbers anymore. So they have come up with a new concept of 10DLC, which stands for 10 Digit Long Code, which is any ten-digit number that is not a wireless carrier number.
The main carriers have started passing through surcharges for all messages sent from a 10DLC number to their wireless numbers based on the chart below. This change has been in effect since early 2021. However, since October 1, 2021, AT & T and T-Mobile are now requiring additional hurdles called Campaign Registration. They now require any 10DLC sender to register their company's "Brand" and register one or more campaigns outlining what type of messages they send and linking the phone numbers that you plan on sending messages from to a campaign that you have registered.
Below, we try to break down this highly complex process, including; all surcharges per message, price to register a brand, and monthly price to register a campaign, along with various rate limits that each Carrier imposes. The sanctioned company Carriers have chosen to handle all these changes in campaign registration and branding is The Campaign Registry (TCR). Therefore, we have been set up as a Campaign Service Provider (CSP) from TCR to act on behalf of our customers to set up their Brands and Campaigns.
Campaign Registration is only required for Local US and most Canada Numbers.
Surcharges Per Carrier for Sending or Receiving Messages
- The following grid attempts to outline the different surcharges each wireless Carrier has, which we will add to your standard messaging costs as an additional cost. Please note we do not guarantee this pricing moving forward, as carriers can and will change surcharges, and we are at the mercy of each Carrier.
| Carrier | Per SMS Surcharge (USD) | Per MMS Surcharge (USD) | Surcharge Direction | Requires Campaign
Registry | Last Price Update |
| AT&T | 0.003 | 0.004 | Outbound to Carrier | Yes | 11-15-22 |
| Bell Canada and Virgin | 0.01 | 0.035 | Outbound to Carrier | No | 11-15-22 |
| Cellular South | 0.004 | 0.015 | Outbound to Carrier | No | 11-15-22 |
| Claro | 0.005 | 0.01 | Outbound to Carrier | No | 11-15-22 |
| Digicel Caribbean | 0.003 | 0.005 | Outbound to Carrier | No | 11-15-22 |
| Eastlink Inc | 0.008 | 0.01 | Outbound to Carrier | No | 11-15-22 |
| Freedom Mobile | 0.006 | 0.0012 | Outbound to Carrier | No | 11-15-22 |
| Fido Solutions | 0.01 | 0.020 | Outbound to Carrier | No | 11-15-22 |
| Saskatel | 0.008 | 0.008 | Outbound to Carrier | No | 11-15-22 |
| T-Mobile | 0.004 | 0.012 | Inbound and Outbound | Yes | 11-15-22 |
| Telus | 0.008 | 0.015 | Outbound to Carrier | No | 11-15-22 |
| TextNow | 0.003 | 0.003 | Outbound to Carrier | No | 11-15-22 |
| Rogers | 0.01 | 0.020 | Outbound to Carrier | No | 11-15-22 |
| US Cellular | 0.005 | 0.01 | Outbound to Carrier | No | 11-15-22 |
| Verizon | 0.004 | 0.006 | Outbound to Carrier | No | 11-15-22 |
| Videotron | 0.008 | 0.008 | Outbound to Carrier | No | 11-15-22 |
Brand and Campaign Registry
As described in the surcharge table mentioned above, some carriers require you to register your company, also known as a brand. Once registered, you must then register one or more campaigns and link the sending numbers to a campaign.
- If you do not set up a brand and campaign, we will have to prevent you from enabling SMS on any Number until the Campaign is setup and numbers are associated with the Campaign.
Below is an outline of the fees for creating a Brand and Campaign.
Brand registration has a one-time fee of $4.00 charges to us from The Campaign Registry (TCR).
- We also include a $4.00 1 time charge for processing your request to create a Brand on your behalf with TCR.
- The total brand registration fee you will be charged for your brand submission is $8.00 as a one-time fee for each new brand or re-submission of a brand if the information changes.
- If the information you provide for your brand can not be verified by TCR or is incorrect and we have to resubmit the Brand for verification you will be charged the $8.00 one-time fee. This is mandated to us by TCR and not something we can control.
- When we register your brand through TCR, TCR determines a score. It uses that score to determine how many messages your brand is allowed to send per day. See the section below, Throughput Per Carrier, for more information.
- We will inform you when the brand submission is completed, what score you have received, and how this score can be challenged for a higher score through a third-party verification process.
Campaign Registration has a monthly fee charged by the Campaign Registry to register your Campaign. This fee depends on the type of campaign that is registered, as described in the table below. The Campaign Registry also requires you to agree to a three-month contract period for each Campaign, and each renewal period is also three months. Meaning that if you cancel service with us partially during your campaign period, we will still have to charge you for the remaining months of the three-month contract for your campaign.
Campaign Types supported by Clearly IP
- Standard Campaigns - $10.00 a month TCR Fee plus $2.00 Fee from Clearly IP for a total of $12.00 a month
- Depending on the Carrier outlined below, you have either a day or a minute limit on the number of messages that can be sent.
- Low Volume Mixed Campaigns - $2.00 per month TCR Fee plus $1.00 Fee from Clearly IP for a total of $3.00 per month.
- Low-volume campaigns are designed for non-time sensitive messages. Choose a Low Volume use case if you don’t exceed 15,000 messages/ month or if you don’t have a need for high throughput. Low volume mixed campaigns are restricted to 75 messages a minute on the AT&T network.
Beginning December 1, 2022, Clearly IP's downstream messaging vendor will begin implementing a $15.00 (USD) one time vetting fee for each campaign submission that is being required by the wireless carriers.
AT&T assigns a Class Rating to each campaign to determine the number of messages you can send per minute, as described in the Throughput Per Carrier section below. This score is determined per campaign basis at the time of submission of your campaign, and we will inform you of the assigned class.
Best Practice for Campaign Submission
The following recommendations can be applied to all campaigns and their usage purposes.
Campaigns are all manually reviewed individually by third parties agreed upon by the mobile carriers. This process does take time as there are multiple places where these campaigns need to be approved by. We have no direct contact with these multiple approval teams and cannot push them to approve. They are reviewed on a first come, first serve basis. To keep your wait time for approval short, you must be as descriptive and detailed as possible in how you are using this campaign to communicate with your customers. The more clear and detailed your descriptions and example messages, the more likely it is to be approved by these 3rd parties.
Campaign Descriptions:
This must show the intended purposes of overall messages you will be sending out. It should answer the following questions:
Good Example: Messages aimed at customers of a dentist office. Appoint reminders or rescheduling, online bill pay, satisfaction follow ups, 2-way conversations.
Bad Example: Texting used to communicate with our customers, team members, and vendors.
- Messaging frequency needs to be disclosed.
- Example: Message frequency varies/as needed
- Example: 2 alert messages per week
- Example: 1 Marketing Message sent out per month
- If donations are collected, it must be clearly stated.
- If donations are a part of the campaign, the statement “Donations will be secured through ____ and Accreditation listing is _____” should be provided.
Call to Action/Message Flow
You are required to provide a clear and detailed description of how your customer’s sign up to receive messages. Opt-in must be 1 to 1, can't be shared with third parties, and can't be implied. It also can't be obscured within your company's Terms & Conditions and/or other agreement(s).
Examples of how to get users to opt in:
Entering a phone number through a website
Clicking a button on a mobile webpage
Sending a message from the consumer’s mobile device that contains an advertising keyword.
Example: Consumers opt-in by texting START to (111) 222-3333.
Important: If consumers can opt in by texting a keyword, the response should include the company/brand name, confirmation of opt-in enrollment to a recurring message campaign, how to get help, and a clear description of how to opt out. (HELP, STOP, MORE… as keywords that trigger other responses)
Initiating the text message exchange in which the message sender replies to the consumer only with responsive information. (HELP, STOP, MORE… as keywords that trigger other responses)
Signing up at a point-of-sale (POS) or another message sender on-site location.
- If the opt-in is collected verbally, you must provide a copy of the opt-in script read to the consumer
Opting in over the phone using interactive voice response (IVR) technology.
It can be written into contracts you have with your customers
It can be written into contracts you have with your customers
Provide the specific link, written form, or screenshot of the CRM used to collect opt-ins.
The Call to Action may only apply to text messaging. If your customer also uses emails or voice calls, their opt-in should be collected separately. Phone Numbers cannot be a required field on the website where opt-in is collected. This is considered a forced opt-in. Please ensure that this field is optional on the website. Or provide the Opt in as a check box so they have the option to opt in and are not forced to opt in.
Privacy Policy and Terms of Service
All message senders must have an acceptable Privacy Policy when registering 10DLC campaigns. The most important aspect of the Privacy Policy mandates clearly describing how consumer data will be used and shared (if applicable), and how consumers can contact the message sender. A compliant Privacy Policy for 10DLC messaging should include the points below to help ensure that campaign registration and vetting are successful.
- Privacy Policy must include a disclaimer that no mobile opt-in will be shared with third parties for marketing purposes.
- “Mobile information will not be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes”
- “We do not share any of your information to third party services, vendors, or other service providers. For more information on this please reach out to us at [generic company email or phone number the customer can reach you at for further information]”
- Terms of Service must have an SMS disclosure that includes the types of messages consumers can expect to receive, texting cadence, message and data rate notices, privacy policy links, and opt-out instructions.
- The Terms & Conditions page must contain the following details:
- Brand name
- Types of messages the consumer can expect to receive
- Message frequency disclosure
- "Message and data rates may apply" disclosure
- Customer care contact information (Text HELP for help, contact [email address] for support, etc.)
- Opt-out information (Text STOP to cancel)
- An example might look like this:
- Messaging Terms & Conditions:
- "You agree to receive informational messages (appointment reminders, account notifications, etc.) from [Company Name]. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. For help, reply HELP or email us at [email address]. You can opt out at any time by replying STOP."
Sample messages
You must display messages that are unique and provide a thorough example of content you may send so we can tell what the interactions between you and your customers may look like. The sample messages should align with the overall campaign description. TCR wants to see the identification of who is sending the message (a brand/company name or sender name), meaning it shouldn’t be a generic description along with generic sample messages where the use case can’t be determined without additional research. Please make sure at least one sample message has Opt-Out language.
Good examples:
Hello [Customer Name], this is a reminder about your appointment with Family Dentist Practice on May 24th, 2023 at 11:00 AM. Please reply YES to confirm your appointment or NO if you reschedule and to let us know when you would like to reschedule your appointment. Thank you!
Good evening Church family, we are having an in-person worship service tomorrow at 10:30 am. We will also be streaming the service over Facebook Live for those unable to attend. Reminder: tomorrow is the day to bring the donation boxes.
Hi %FirstName%! This is Todd with Clearly IP. We’d love to invite you to visit our booth at the upcoming Conference, which is taking place virtually and in person from Nov 9-13! Tickets are available now. There will be panels relating to voice, messaging, and 911! Register at www.clearlyip.com. Will we see you at the conference this year?
Reminder from Dave’s Car Detailing: Hi Jim, we look forward to seeing you at 3:00 pm tomorrow for your scheduled car detailing. Reply OPTIONS for Notification Options, or STOP to disable SMS notifications.
Visit https://brandedurl.com/optout/ for options or reply with STOP to disable SMS notifications.
Bad examples:
Thanks for leaving a rating on Google Business. We would like to learn more about your experience. I will contact you soon.
I received your question. I will get back to you as soon as possible.
There’s a little favor I would like you to help me with, please.
Opt-out message
Acceptable opt-out language is: STOP, END, UNSUBSCRIBE, and ARRET (French) must be separated by spaces.
Unacceptable opt-out language: Stop2End
- The response message to STOP must include the brand name (company name from the Brand) and confirmation they will receive no further messages
- Example: ClearlyIP has received your request to opt-out of text messaging. No further messages will be sent by us. If you have any questions or need further assistance please reply with HELP or reach out to us at customerservice@clearlyip.com
Subscriber Help
The Help Message must contain the following details:
- Brand name and an email address, phone number, or website link the consumer can use for assistance.
- Example: "Thank you for reaching out to [Company Name]. Please call us at [phone number] or email us at [email address] for support. Reply STOP to opt-out."
Prohibited SHAFT-C content
The following types of content are not allowed on 10DLC: Sex, Hate, Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco (cannabis, CBD, etc.)
Example: If a chiropractor's office has CDB Oils on its website, this is prohibited, and the campaign will be denied, even if not directly related to CBD marketing.Throughput Per Carrier
AT&T
| Message Class | Use Case | Campaign Type | AT&T Messages Per Minute (MPM) |
| A&B | Russell 3000 | Standard | 4,500 |
| C&D | Large Business (Vetting required to move from E & F to a higher class) | Standard | 2,400 |
| E&F | Medium Business | Standard | 240 |
| T | Small Business | Standard | 75 |
* To qualify for a different class beyond the default, you will have to pay a third party a vetting fee to review information about your campaign. Please get in touch with ClearlyIP for more information on AT&T costs and processes.
T-Mobile
| Risk Score Qualification | Vetting Type | Brand Score | Daily Limit* |
| High-Performance | Automated on Brand Submission | 75 | 200,000 |
| Low-Performance | Automated on Brand Submission | 0-24 | 2,000 |
| High | 3rd Party Vetting | 75-100 | 200,000 |
| Upper Mid | 3rd Party Vetting | 50-74 | 40,000 |
| Lower Mid | 3rd Party Vetting | 25-49 | 10,000 |
| Low | 3rd Party Vetting | 0-24 | 2,000 |
* To qualify for a different level beyond the default 0-24, for which 95% of companies automatically qualify, you must pay a vetting fee to a third party to review information about your brand. Please get in touch with ClearlyIP for more information on the process. A $40.00 fee for each request to have a brand vetted by a third party is charged regardless of the outcome, and all checks for the TCR are currently carried out by a company called Aegis Mobile.
Effective December 1, 2022, T-Mobile is implementing a $250.00 (USD) non-use fee to ensure campaigns provisioned are active and in use. This fee will be charged at the campaign level for any campaigns that have not sent any traffic to a T-Mobile destination in a rolling two month (60 day) window. The rolling two month window begins December 1, 2022. We are currently billing this fee a month in arrears, so you will first see the charges on your March 2023 invoice.
If you have campaigns that are no longer in use and will not be used in the future, please open a support ticket to have us expire the campaigns for you. If you have a campaign that sends a minimal amount of traffic, please ensure that the campaign sends at least one message to a T-Mobile destination per month in order to keep the campaign active.
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