ACTION REQUIRED: Every Broadvoice customer must register all b-hive phone numbers that send text messages.
What is the 10 DLC TCR rule?
A lot has recently changed when it comes to business text messaging. The influx of A2P Messaging (Application-to-Person Messaging), which refers to SMS or MMS messages sent from a business to a person, has led to increased regulation by the U.S. wireless carrier industry due to high “open rates” and a deluge of spam and unwanted messages being sent to consumers.
Following the new 10 DLC TCR rule, U.S. carriers have implemented a 10-digit long code, or 10 DLC, to protect consumers. This rule requires businesses that send A2P messaging over local phone numbers to register their brands and campaigns with The Campaign Registry (TCR), which is a third-party company that handles registering brands and campaigns via campaign service providers. We handle the registration process for you through the registry. Please see TCR Registration user guide for details.
As of October 1, 2024, U.S. mobile carriers will require all businesses to register brand-specific campaigns for all numbers that send SMS and MMS messages. This will ensure the effectiveness of personalized marketing outreach and prevent messages from being blocked or mistaken for spam.
IMPORTANT: Failure to register will cause delivery delays, content to be blocked, and additional charges for SMS and MMS messages sent from your business account.
SMS Registration FAQs
What do I need to do?
Broadvoice customers need to register all b-hive business phone numbers that send text messages to comply with the new U.S. wireless service provider regulations.
Why do I need to register my business phone number?
Registering your b-hive phone number ensures your text messages will be delivered and prevents your caller ID from showing up as spam.
How do I register?
TCR Registration user guide.
What is a brand ID?
A brand ID serves as your unique business registration and incorporates your legal business name and federal registration number (EIN or Corporation Number). It identifies your business as responsible for the SMS messages sent to customers.
Most companies only require one brand ID, which equals a legally registered company name. For example, if the dental office, Dental Wellness, sends SMS appointment reminders to customers using Broadvoice, the brand would be identified as Dental Wellness.
What is a campaign?
A campaign is a collection of information used to identify customer use cases that are assigned to a phone number, such as SMS and MMS messages under a brand. Campaigns require CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association) guideline compliance for wireless service provider evaluation.
A brand can have multiple campaigns associated with it depending on its SMS usage. For example, if the HVAC company, Cool Air, wants to send appointment reminders to customers via text, the campaign ID would be “appointment reminders.”
The CTIA is a wireless service provider trade organization responsible for messaging guidelines and best practices in the U.S. For more information, please see CTIA Messaging Principles & Best Practices.
What if I don’t register my phone number?
If you fail to register your campaign and phone numbers, your messages and phone numbers can be blocked as non-compliant or non-registered by mobile carriers or the TCR.
What happens after I register?
The registration process takes 3 to 5 business days. During that time, you can continue using SMS messaging. Once the registration is complete, you will receive an email confirmation, and your status in b-hive will be updated for the registered campaign.
What are messaging guidelines?
Broadvoice wants our b-hive customers to be active participants in the SMS ecosystem, which follows CTIA messaging principles and best practices.
Broadvoice customers should monitor and prevent unwanted message content, which includes:
- Unlawful, harassing, violent, abusive, or defamatory language
- Deceptive or misleading messages and links, such as phishing
- Dangers to public safety
- Threats or intimidation messages
- Messages that threaten harm, violence, hate, or discrimination
- References to illegal activity
- Messages that contain malware
Does Broadvoice charge any fees for campaign registration and SMS campaigns?
TCR charges various fees to manage these registrations, as do SMS aggregators, mobile carriers, and third-party vetting services required by the carriers for specific use cases or SMS traffic volumes. Broadvoice does not charge additional fees or more than the cost that TCR and carriers charge when you register.
- Brand Registrations / Re-vetting: (one time per submissions) $4
- Campaign Registrations (one time per submission): $15
- Campaign Maintenance: (monthly) $10
What types of use cases are not allowed by the TCR?
Controlled Substances:
- All Schedule 1 and 2 drugs
- Cannabis, CBD, and hemp products
- Tobacco and vape
Debt Forgiveness:
- Credit repair programs
- Debt consolidation
- Debt reduction
Get Rich Quick Schemes:
- Deceptive work-from-home programs
- Multi-level marketing
- Risk investment opportunities
High-Risk Financial Services:
- Auto/mortgage/student loans
- Cryptocurrency
- Debt collection
- Gambling/sweepstakes
- Payday loans
- Short-term – high-interest loans
- Stock alerts
Job Postings:
- Exceptions are allowed if the sender is the one hiring
Other Disallowed Use Cases:
- Deceptive marketing
- Frauds or scams
- Lead generation (all affiliate marketing must be carrier approved)
- Phishing
- Pornography
- Profanity or hate speech
- Referral or reseller campaign
Why was my registration rejected?
As 10DLC continues to evolve, the wireless carriers have identified a gap in the registration process – campaigns are not being registered appropriately and do not adhere to the carriers’ codes of conduct. As a result, every newly created 10DLC campaign must go through manual vetting. If a campaign is not approved, it will be given one of the following rejection reasons. Please do not resubmit the campaign until the rejection is fully resolved, as there is a $15 fee for every vetting event.
Vetting Rejection Errors:
Error Description
Error Code
Action to Resolve
Campaign Attributes do not match website and/or sample message content.
601
Please re-create the campaign making sure to select the correct campaign and content attributes under campaign and content attributes. Currently, these fields are not editable in existing campaigns. Example: If a customer selects “no” for the embedded link, but the sample content provided clearly shows links. They will need to resubmit their campaign with “yes” selected for the embedded link.
Inaccurate Registration. Inconsistency between sample message and use-case.
602
Ensure that the selected use case is consistent with the sample messages. Example: If they select charity as their use case but are sending appointment reminders, they would be rejected. They either need to update their sample messages or change their use case to better align with the content they are sending.
Inaccurate Registration. Inconsistency between website, brand name, and/or sample messages or inconsistent sample messages.
603
Ensure that the content on the website, sample messages, and brand are all consistent. Example: If the Brand name is ABC Physicians, they would be rejected if they had sample content sent out regarding sales for a clothing shop, or had a website for a marketing firm. A good example would be the brand ABC Physicians, sending appointment reminders, and a link to their practice’s webpage.
Prohibited Content; Cannabis.
701
Do NOT resubmit. Cannabis/hemp/CBD is not allowed over 10DLC, and campaigns related to this content will be rejected. Please note: This content is not allowed to be on the customer’s website at all. Example: If a chiropractor’s office has CBD Oils on its website, this is prohibited, and the campaign will be denied, even if not directly related to CBD marketing.
Prohibited Content; Guns/Ammo {Failure to age gate}.
702
Please only resubmit once there is proper proof of age gating. The best practice would be a manual entry of MM/DD/YYYY collected prior to accessing the opt-in page. The website will be checked for age-gating.
Prohibited Content; Explicit sexual.
703
Do NOT resubmit. Explicit sexual content is not allowed over 10DLC, and campaigns related to this content will be rejected.
Prohibited Content; Gambling.
704
Do NOT resubmit. Gambling content is not allowed over 10DLC, and campaigns related to this content will be rejected.
Prohibited Content; Hate.
705
Do NOT resubmit. Hate speech is not allowed over 10DLC, and campaigns related to this content will be rejected.
Prohibited Content; Alcohol {Failure to age gate}.
706
Please only resubmit once there is proper proof of age gating. The best practice would be a manual entry of MM/DD/YYYY collected prior to accessing the opt-in page. The website will be checked for age-gating.
Prohibited Content; Tobacco / Vape {Failure to age gate}.
707
Please only resubmit once there is proper proof of age gating. The best practice would be a manual entry of MM/DD/YYYY collected prior to accessing the opt-in page. The website will be checked for age-gating.
Lead Gen/Affiliate Marketing prohibited; other.
708
Do NOT resubmit. Lead generation and affiliate marketing are not allowed over 10DLC, and campaigns related to this content will be rejected.
Lead Gen/Affiliate Marketing prohibited; high-risk financial services.
709
Do NOT resubmit. High-risk financial services are not allowed over 10DLC, and campaigns related to this content will be rejected.
Reseller / Non-compliant KYC. Register the brand info, not the agency or software provider behind the brand.
710
Make sure that Know Your Customer (KYC) is clearly laid out in the campaign. Remember the brand is the message sender – the EIN and company information should reflect the message sender, not necessarily you as the reseller. Example: If the brand name is ABC Wireless Reseller, but their sample content is all appointment reminders for a doctor’s office, they will be rejected. Instead of the software company (ABC Wireless Reseller), the brand should be the doctor’s office sending appointment reminders.
Repeated use of the same EIN for multiple different brands.
711
Only register one brand per EIN. Do not resubmit unless the brand has been updated to reflect the actual sender (EIN, legal company name, etc) and the EIN and is not a duplicate of other brands.
Misleading Registration. Based on the details submitted, Campaign appears to be a Direct Lending Arrangement but the appropriate Content Attribute was not selected.
712
Please re-create the campaign making sure to select “direct lending or loan agreement” under campaign and content attributes. Currently, these fields are not editable in existing campaigns. Please note that any campaign for a lender will need this attribute checked. Example: If the campaign type is Marketing but the sample messages ask questions about qualifying someone for a loan and the campaign/content attributes do not indicate lending (i.e., sample message that asks “Can you please provide your first and last name, and either the year, make and model of your vehicle or the last 4 digits of your SSN?”).
Appears to be a large company or company that would have an official email domain. Check for fraud, and use the official/working email domain.
713
Please check to make sure that the correct email address was added. It is expected if the legal company name is well-known and recognized that it will have an official company email domain. Example: A large bank (ABC BANK) would not be using an email address like
[email protected], we would expect the email to match the business such as
[email protected]
Invalid Opt-In. Permission to text users via Court Order does not meet carrier code of conduct.
714
If you can obtain opt-in via another method, this can be resubmitted. If not, please do not resubmit as opt-in will never be compliant.
Not Sole Proprietor. Does not meet small business Sole Prop (EIN) criteria set by TCR and mobile carriers.
801
At this time new Sole Proprietor campaigns are not being accepted. Please find another use case for the campaign.
Sole Proprietor. Not yet authorized.
802
Bandwidth is not supporting Sole Proprietor use cases at this time, please reach out to your Bandwidth Support Team with any questions.
Opt-in language is required on the website if used to collect mobile numbers.
803
The website provided did not include opt-in language where the customer provided a phone number. Please add this language to the website before resubmitting.
Unable to verify, need a website / working website or complete CTA information if opt-in occurs outside of the website.
804
We have often seen campaigns rejected for insufficient call-to-action sections. Please provide a working website link and a clear and concise description of how an end user signs up to receive messages. Opt-in must be 1 to 1, can’t be shared with third parties, and can’t be implied. For examples of acceptable CTA please see our article on 10DLC registration best practices.
Compliant privacy policy is required on website.
805
Per 5.2.1 of the CTIA Guidelines, message senders are to maintain a privacy policy that is easily accessed by the consumer. It should be referenced in the call-to-action/opt-in. You may receive this denial if there is no privacy policy present OR if the privacy policy is non-compliant. The non-compliance generally would be around the sharing of consumer information with third parties for marketing purposes. Steps toward approval would be adding a compliant privacy policy or editing the non-compliant privacy policy.
Unable to verify, needs compliant and accurate CTA information.
806
Either the CTA is inaccurate and doesn’t explain where the customers opt into the campaign (website, verbal, written, etc.), or the opt-in is on the website but there is no phone field to add the phone number.
Unable to verify inauthentic website.
807
Please ensure any references to websites in your brand and campaign registration are working links and pertain to the specific business being registered.
Campaign has been declined 5+ times.
808
The campaign has been declined 5+ times without sufficient updates. Each denial incurs a vetting fee. For questions, please reach out to your Direct Connect Aggregator (DCA).
Compliant privacy policy is required to be attached to registration if not available on website.
809
Compliant privacy policy example is required to be attached to registration in TCR or emailed to your Direct Connect Aggregator (DCA) when opt-in is collected either in person or over the phone and not via a website.
Add link and/or verbiage for compliant
851
Ensure there is a compliant privacy policy available in the privacy policy link field, CTA/Message Flow field, or attached as a document. Opt-in message/confirmation message must contain HELP, opt-out, message frequency, and associated fee disclosure. Opt-out message must contain brand name and indicate that no further messages will be sent. HELP message must contain brand name and support contact information.
Needs a compliant privacy policy
852
Add link and/or verbiage for compliant Privacy Policy disclosures (state that no mobile opt-in data will be shared with third-parties). Include instructions on how the end user can receive further support from the brand regarding the message program (for example, ‘Reply HELP for help), or this information must be present in the brand’s terms and conditions.
Needs compliant and accurate CTA information
861
Opt-in/Confirmation message must contain brand name, HELP, opt-out message, frequency, and associated fee disclosures. Opt-out message must contain brand name and indicate that no further messages will be sent. HELP message must contain brand name and support contact. Ensure your CTA/Message Flow field explains exactly how the brand collects consent. It must include a link to the Terms and Conditions (or the link can be provided in the Terms Link field). Please ensure your keyword responses are compliant with the requirements listed in rejection code 611.
What can I use to prove my online presence?
As part of your registration, you’ll need to include any website or online presence. This can be a social media page as long as an aggregator can access it and verify the business is, indeed, who they say they are. Even if you avoid putting a website, an aggregator will search for the business to see if there are any associated websites. If there is and it holds prohibited content, the campaign will be rejected. Here’s what else will be accepted or rejected:
