Inkbox

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---

# 10DLC registration
description: Register your brand and campaign so your local US numbers can send SMS at higher throughput under your own identity

---

# 10DLC registration

10DLC ("10-digit long code") is the US carrier program that decides which businesses are allowed to send SMS from local phone numbers, and how fast. Every business that sends application-to-person (A2P) SMS in the US has to be on file with [The Campaign Registry](https://www.campaignregistry.com/) (TCR) as a **brand** running one or more **campaigns**. Carriers then use that registration to set rate limits and to decide whether to deliver, throttle, or block your messages.

When you provision a local number on Inkbox, it's automatically attached to **Inkbox's own brand and campaign** so it can send right away — but on tight rate limits. To unlock your own throughput, register your own brand and campaign, then route your numbers through them. The whole flow is configurable from the [Console](https://inkbox.ai/console/config?tab=10dlc).

## Do you need to register?

| You should… | If… |
| --- | --- |
| **Stay on the Inkbox campaign** | You're prototyping, sending low volume from a single number, or only need a few notification-style messages per day. |
| **Register your own brand + campaign** | You're going to production, you want recipients to see your business associated with the sender, you've been hitting `429 sender_rate_limited`, or you need throughput beyond what the Inkbox campaign allows. |

Toll-free numbers do **not** use 10DLC and don't need this flow. SMS on toll-free numbers is not currently supported on Inkbox at all (voice still works). To send SMS, provision a local number.

## Before you start

Have these on hand before you open the form. You can save a draft and come back, but the registry will reject submissions that don't match official records exactly.

**For the brand** (your business identity):

- Legal entity type — private/public for-profit, non-profit, government, or sole proprietor.
- Legal company name **as filed with the IRS** and your **EIN** (or the equivalent if non-US).
- Registered business address (street, city, state, ZIP, country).
- Business contact email and phone.
- Public website URL.
- Your industry vertical (e.g. retail, healthcare, financial, communication).
- For public companies: stock ticker and exchange.
- For sole proprietors: a mobile phone you can receive an SMS verification code on.

**For the campaign** (what your messages are for):

- A use case (e.g. customer care, account notification, 2FA, marketing, mixed).
- A short description of what your agents will text recipients about.
- A short description of how recipients opt in (the "message flow").
- **Four sample messages** that look like the real thing your agents will send — TCR reviewers compare submitted samples against actual traffic.
- The exact opt-in / opt-out / help keywords and auto-replies you want to use. Defaults are pre-filled (`STOP`, `HELP`, etc.) and follow [CTIA messaging best practices](https://api.ctia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/190719-CTIA-Messaging-Principles-and-Best-Practices-FINAL.pdf) — leave them as-is unless you have a reason to change them.
- Public URLs for your **privacy policy** and **terms & conditions**. Both pages must mention SMS, that message and data rates may apply, and that recipients can opt out by replying STOP.

## Step 1: Register your brand

1. Open the [Console → Configuration → 10DLC tab](https://inkbox.ai/console/config?tab=10dlc).
2. Click **Register brand** and fill out the form using the details above.
3. Submit. The brand status will move to **Verifying** while the registry runs identity checks.
4. Most brands reach **Verified** within a few hours; some take 1–2 business days. Sole-proprietor brands need an extra step (see below).

### Sole proprietors: SMS verification

If you registered as a sole proprietor, the brand stays in **Verifying** until you confirm the mobile number you registered. After submission, the page shows a **Verify mobile phone** button. Click it, the registry texts a 6-digit PIN to that number, paste the PIN back into the dialog. Once verified, the brand flips to **Verified** and you can move on.

### Brand statuses

| Status | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| **Verifying** | Submitted; the registry is running identity checks. |
| **Verified** | Identity confirmed. You can register a campaign. |
| **Vetted** | Passed enhanced vetting — your campaign will be eligible for higher SMS throughput tiers. |
| **Failed** | The registry could not match your business. Delete the brand, correct any mismatches against your IRS/registry filings, and re-register. |

## Step 2: Register your campaign

You can only register a campaign once your brand is **Verified** (or **Vetted**).

1. Back on the [10DLC tab](https://inkbox.ai/console/config?tab=10dlc), click **Register campaign**.
2. Pick the use case that matches what your agents will actually send. Picking the wrong use case is the most common cause of carrier rejection.
3. Fill in the description, sample messages, and opt-in/keywords/auto-replies. Provide your privacy policy and terms & conditions URLs.
4. Submit. The campaign goes through two reviews — the registry first, then each major US mobile carrier.

### Campaign statuses

| Status | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| **TCR review** | The Campaign Registry is reviewing the campaign metadata. Usually clears in minutes. |
| **Awaiting carriers** | Registry approved; queued for carrier review. |
| **Carrier review** | At least one carrier is still reviewing. Usually clears within a few business days. |
| **Approved** | Live with all carriers — you can route your numbers through it. |
| **Rejected by registry** / **Carrier rejected** | The submission did not pass. The rejection reason is shown on the campaign card. Delete the campaign, fix the issue, and re-register. Common causes: sample messages don't match the use case, missing opt-in language, privacy policy or terms URLs that don't mention SMS. |

For a deeper explanation of how carriers score campaigns and assign throughput tiers, [The Campaign Registry's resource center](https://www.campaignregistry.com/resources/) is the authoritative public reference.

## Step 3: Route your numbers through your campaign

Once the campaign is **Approved**, switch your local numbers over.

1. On the [10DLC tab](https://inkbox.ai/console/config?tab=10dlc), find the **Default SMS campaign** dropdown at the top of the page.
2. Switch it from **Inkbox** to **Your 10DLC profile**.
3. All of your local US numbers move onto your campaign within a few minutes. Toll-free numbers are unaffected.

You can flip back to **Inkbox** at any time — your campaign stays registered.

### Per-number propagation window

A number takes about **10–15 minutes** to fully attach to a new campaign downstream. Sends during that window return `409 sender_sms_pending`. The Console flags affected numbers with a **SMS pending** badge until they're ready. See [Texts](/docs/api/phone/texts) for the full error reference.

## Rate limits

A "send" is one outbound `POST /api/v1/phone/numbers/{phone_number_id}/texts` request, regardless of whether the message gets split into multiple SMS segments downstream.

| Profile | Per-number limit |
| --- | --- |
| **Inkbox** (default for new numbers) | **20 texts per rolling 24 hours**, per sender number. |
| **Your 10DLC profile** (Approved) | No Inkbox-side per-number cap — you're on the carrier-assigned throughput tier for your campaign. Tier depends on use case, brand vetting, and carrier policy. |

Every send response — success or failure — includes `X-RateLimit-Limit`, `X-RateLimit-Remaining`, and `X-RateLimit-Reset` so you can pace traffic. On a `429`, you'll also get `Retry-After` (seconds).

The error body when you hit the shared-profile limit:

```json
{
  "error": "sender_rate_limited",
  "message": "This phone number has reached the 24-hour SMS send limit (20). Register your own 10DLC brand and campaign to lift this limit."
}
```

If your traffic is bursty, slow it to under one send every few minutes per number on the Inkbox campaign, or register your own.

## Deleting and starting over

The Console doesn't support editing a submitted brand or campaign — to change anything, delete and re-register.

- **Delete a brand** to start over from scratch. Deleting a brand cascades to its campaign and reverts every local number to the Inkbox campaign. The Console asks you to type the brand name to confirm.
- **Delete a campaign** if it was rejected and you want to resubmit with different metadata. The Console asks you to type `DELETE CAMPAIGN` to confirm.

## Troubleshooting

<Accordion title="My brand is stuck on Verifying for more than a day">

The registry is matching the legal name + EIN you submitted against IRS records. The most common cause of a delay is a mismatch — even a trailing "Inc." or a wrong EIN digit fails the match.

If yours is past 24 hours, **email [support@inkbox.ai](mailto:support@inkbox.ai)** with your organization name and the brand display name — we can pull the registry-side state for you and tell you exactly what's wrong. In most cases the fix is to delete the brand, correct the mismatched field against your most recent IRS filing, and re-register.

</Accordion>

<Accordion title="My campaign was rejected — what next?">

The rejection reason is shown on the campaign card on the 10DLC tab, verbatim from the carrier. The most common reasons:

- **Sample messages don't match the use case.** If you picked "customer care" but your samples look promotional, carriers reject. Either change the use case or rewrite the samples to fit.
- **Missing opt-in language.** Your opt-in flow has to be described in the **message flow** field, *and* your privacy policy / terms pages have to mention SMS, message and data rates, and STOP-to-opt-out.
- **Public URLs aren't reachable.** Make sure the privacy policy and terms URLs you submitted are live and don't require login.

Editing a submitted campaign isn't supported — delete it and re-register with the corrected metadata.

</Accordion>

<Accordion title="I sent a text right after switching to my own campaign and got 409 sender_sms_pending">

That's expected. Routing changes take ~10–15 minutes per number to propagate downstream. Wait for the **SMS pending** badge in the Console to clear and try again.

</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Can I have multiple campaigns?">

Each Inkbox organization can have one brand and one campaign at a time today. If you need to send for materially different use cases (e.g. one-time-password traffic alongside marketing), email [support@inkbox.ai](mailto:support@inkbox.ai).

</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Does this apply to toll-free numbers?">

No — 10DLC only applies to local US numbers. Toll-free SMS isn't currently supported on Inkbox in either direction; voice on toll-free still works. If you need SMS, provision a local number. To discuss toll-free SMS, email [support@inkbox.ai](mailto:support@inkbox.ai).

</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Where can I learn more about 10DLC in general?">

Vendor-neutral references:

- [The Campaign Registry — Resources](https://www.campaignregistry.com/resources/) — the registry that operates 10DLC; explains brand vetting, campaign use cases, and trust scores.
- [CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices](https://api.ctia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/190719-CTIA-Messaging-Principles-and-Best-Practices-FINAL.pdf) — the wireless industry's published rules for what is and isn't acceptable A2P traffic.
- [Wikipedia: Application-to-person SMS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS#Application-to-person_(A2P)_SMS) — broader background on how A2P SMS differs from person-to-person.

</Accordion>