A2P Twilio Registration

Note: For the most current pricing information, please review Twilio's Pricing and Fees documentation.

A2P Twilio Registration

Why do I need to register?

Carriers and Twilio require A2P 10DLC registration for any SMS traffic sent from US ten digit long code (10DLC) numbers. This process verifies who is sending messages (your institution) and what kind of program students are opting into, to reduce spam and protect end users.

If your institution does not complete A2P 10DLC registration for its Brand and Campaigns, TX SMS messages sent through Twilio from US 10DLC numbers may be blocked or heavily filtered, resulting in failures or poor deliverability.

What do I need to register?

Twilio’s A2P 10DLC registration has two parts:

  • Brand – identifies your institution as the sender
    • Legal business name
    • Tax ID (EIN)
    • Website URL
    • Physical address and contact information
  • Campaign – describes each messaging program
    • Campaign use case (e.g., HIGHER_EDUCATION informational alerts, reminders)
    • Message flow / Call to Action (how students opt in)
    • Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions URLs
    • Sample messages showing branding and STOP/HELP handling

Twilio uses this information to vet your program and assign a Trust Score, which affects how many messages you can send and how quickly carriers accept them.

What do I need to do? 

Starting March 1st (due before June 1st), you’ll need to follow the steps at the bottom of this article to register information about your institution to comply with new A2P (application to person) carrier regulations from AT&T, and some forthcoming regulations from T-Mobile. We encourage you to read the full FAQ on Twilio’s site, though we’ll give you the basics here and give you guidance on what you’ll need to complete. 

  1. Gather required information
  • Confirm your legal name, EIN, website, address, and contact details.
  • Identify one or more Campaign use cases (e.g., application status updates, event reminders, financial aid notifications) and who will receive them.
  • Document your opt in message flow: where students see disclosures and how they give consent (forms, portals, event registrations, paper forms, verbal scripts, SMS keywords).
  • Ensure your Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions URLs are public and match your Brand name (these are now required for Campaign registration).
  • Draft sample messages that include your institution name and show STOP and HELP keywords, aligned with your described use case.
  1. Have your Twilio admin complete registration in Twilio

In the Twilio Console, your Twilio admin will:

  • Create or verify a Customer/Compliance Profile in Trust Hub using your institution’s identity.
  • Register your US A2P Brand.
  • Register one or more A2P 10DLC Campaigns with the message flow, policy URLs, and sample messages you’ve provided. 
  • Associate your US 10DLC numbers with the approved Campaigns via a Messaging Service so TX SMS traffic uses the registered routes. 

TX SMS admins and communications staff typically own the content (opt in language, sample messages, policy links), while the Twilio admin owns the Console work.

I only send 1:1 messages, do I still need to register?

Yes, carriers consider all messages that originate from Twilio to be A2P, even if your use case is strictly Person to Person in execution.

Does registration cost anything?

For the most current pricing information, please review Twilio's Pricing and Fees documentation.

What happens if I don’t register?

If registration is not completed, or if the information provided is incomplete or inconsistent:

  • Messages from unregistered US 10DLC numbers may be blocked or heavily filtered by carriers.
  • Campaign approvals can be delayed or rejected, most often because the opt in flow is unclear, the Privacy Policy/Terms URLs are missing, or Brand details do not match public records.

Review the following if you encounter problems:

  • Does your Brand’s legal name, EIN, and website match your institutional records and public site?
  • Is your opt in flow clearly described, and can a reviewer see it (including a screenshot URL if it’s behind a login)?
  • Do your sample messages reflect the same use case described in the Campaign and include STOP/HELP handling?

Will I get any benefits for registering?

Yes! Carriers intend to increase the message per second limit for registered users in the future. By virtue of being registered, as soon as carriers make those upgrades, your bulk messages should send faster! They also might change max messages per number per day, meaning that you’ll be able to scale down the number of phone numbers in a messaging service without encountering filtering limits. 
 

Once you register, you should see your allowed throughput limits in Twilio, and can adjust your phone numbers per inbox accordingly. You may wish to keep all numbers you’ve already purchased to maintain ongoing conversations with students (instead of picking them up from another phone number in that inbox), but you can adjust phone numbers in new inboxes down.

How do I register? 

For detailed, screen level instructions in the Twilio Console, refer to: