US Phone Number Registration: A2P 10DLC in Sparkforge

A2P 10DLC is a US registration system run by The Campaign Registry (TCR) that every business sending SMS to US recipients has to complete. A2P stands for Application-to-Person; 10DLC is the 10-digit long-code number standard. Sparkforge handles registration in-app — you don't go to TCR directly.

Who has to register

• Sending to US recipients (including from Canadian numbers): A2P registration required.
• Canada-only sending from numbers purchased before March 26, 2025: not required.
• Canada-only sending from numbers purchased on or after March 26, 2025: complete A2P or Persona verification.
• Not sending to US/Canada at all: nothing to do.

Four registration types

Toll-Free

• No Tax ID, no registration fees, no daily sending limit
• Open to all users — no business address required
• Lower open and pickup rates than local numbers

Sole Prop

• For one-person businesses without an EIN
• US or Canada business address required
• Not eligible if you have an EIN or 2+ employees
• 3,000 segments/day limit (1,000 to T-Mobile)
• Only one phone number permitted; no SHAKEN/STIR or CNAM

Low Volume Standard

• Tax ID required
• Up to 6,000 segments/day (2,000 to T-Mobile)
• Multiple phone numbers allowed

Standard

• Tax ID required
• No daily limit (200,000/day cap to T-Mobile)
• Most expensive registration fees
• For businesses sending more than 6,000 segments/day

Fees at a glance

Prices subject to change. Phone, voice, SMS, and MMS charges are billed separately.

The three-step registration process

1. Brand Registration: submit your business info. It must be approved before campaign vetting starts.
2. Campaign Registration: describe what you're texting (notifications, marketing, customer care, etc.).
3. Carrier Propagation: after approval, allow up to 3 business days for carriers to update. Some early messages may fail with a no-A2P-approval error — that's normal. If it persists past 4 business days, contact Sparkforge support.

Faster path

Toll-Free approval can come in as little as 2 days. Standard registration typically takes 4–6 weeks. Submit Toll-Free first to start sending sooner, then move to your local number when Sole Prop, Low Volume Standard, or Standard clears.

Information you'll need

Standard and Low Volume Standard

• Business name and physical address
• Business identity (Direct Customer or ISV/Reseller/Partner)
• Business type (Sole Prop, LLC, Corporation, etc.) and status (Private/Public)
• Stock ticker and exchange (if Public)
• EIN (US) or international business registration number
• Industry, website, regions of operation
• One required authorized rep: name, email, title, phone, job role

Sole Proprietor

• No EIN — businesses with an EIN aren't eligible
• US or Canada only
• Brand or business name, first/last name, email
• Mobile phone number (US/CA, used for OTP — cannot be a Sparkforge or Twilio number)
• Physical address (US or CA)

Limits: each mobile phone number can validate up to 3 brands. Each email or address can validate up to 10 brands. Limits apply across the whole A2P ecosystem, not just Sparkforge.

Campaign use cases

A campaign use case describes what you're texting — account notifications, marketing, fraud alerts, customer care, social updates. The use case affects per-message pricing. Many businesses register multiple use cases (e.g., one for auth codes, one for marketing).

Trust Score

After Brand registration, TCR runs a reputation algorithm to set a Trust Score across three levels. The score combined with your campaign type sets your message throughput (MPS) and T-Mobile daily limits.

Stay compliant

• No cold texting. Send only to recipients who explicitly opted in.
• Keep opt-out rate under 3%. Above that, sending is suspended for 24 hours.
• Avoid forbidden content categories. Submitting one will get you rejected; sending one can revoke approved campaigns and trigger carrier fines.

After approval

Link each approved Campaign Use Case to a Messaging Service and add your numbers. Numbers in the Messaging Service automatically use the linked campaign. Existing long-code numbers don't need to be replaced — they switch to A2P after approval.