A2P and 10DLC

A2P means application-to-person: any message sent by software (TextBay included) instead of a thumb on a phone. US carriers require A2P traffic to identify itself, and 10DLC is the route most businesses use: sending from a normal 10-digit local number that has been registered.

The registration #

The registration happens once, in the Twilio console, and has two parts:

• A brand: who is sending. Your business identity, verified against registries.
• A campaign: what you send. A use case (marketing, notifications, and so on) with sample messages, attached to a Messaging Service that holds your numbers.

The sending number must be associated with an approved A2P campaign. Twilio blocks unregistered US local-number traffic with error 30034; TextBay shows these messages as Failed with Number not registered, and when it is clear the rest would fail the same way, it stops the send early so you don’t keep paying for it. A brand approval alone is not enough.

The tiers (“which package am I on?”) #

• Sole Proprietor: for individuals without a tax ID. Subject to eligibility, registration and volume limits.
• Low-Volume Standard: a registered business (EIN) with modest volume needs. Same registration shape as Standard with lower fees and lower throughput.
• Standard: full business verification, optional vetting, throughput based on registration and vetting results.

Check the status in TextBay #

The screenshot shows an account that still needs registration. An approved account-level status does not prove that every sender is linked to an approved campaign; confirm the specific number in Twilio.

When 10DLC is not your problem #

• Toll-free numbers skip 10DLC and use their own one-time verification: Toll-free numbers.
• Short codes are approved per use case when you lease them: Short codes.
• Texting outside the US does not involve 10DLC at all.

The full registration walkthrough lives at Twilio: Twilio’s A2P 10DLC guide.