A2P and CASL in plain English

Two different rule books

Texting a business number is not like texting a friend. Two sets of rules apply, and they are about different things.

• ✓A2P 10DLC is a US carrier registration. It is about who you are. Without it, US carriers block or throttle your messages.
• ✓CASL is Canadian law about consent. It is about whether the person agreed to hear from you.

If you only ever text Canadian numbers, you do not need the A2P registration. The wizard will tell you so and stop.

Registering for A2P

Go to Settings, then SMS, then A2P 10DLC registration. It is five steps and you can come back to a half-finished one.

1. Business identity. Your legal name and your tax number, which is an EIN in the US or a BN in Canada.
2. Business address.
3. A named contact who can answer questions about the account.
4. Campaign details. What you use texting for, how people opt in, and five example messages.
5. Review and pay. There is a one-time fee, taken by card.

At least one of your example messages has to include the words "Reply STOP to opt out". The wizard will not let you past that step without it, because the registry rejects submissions that do not have it.

What happens after you submit

We pass your details to our telephony provider, who submits them to the US registry. From then on it is out of our hands.

The status on the page updates by itself as the registry moves. You do not have to keep asking us.

If it comes back needing changes, fix what they flagged and resubmit. Resubmitting does not cost anything more.

We cannot tell you when a decision will land. The registry and the carriers set that pace, and it is not something we can promise on their behalf. Start early if you have a date in mind.

What we do about consent

Consent is checked before every automatic text leaves the system. If there is no record, the message does not go.

• ✓A record means one of three things: the person messaged you first, a consent event was recorded for them, or you have flagged that you hold their verbal consent.
• ✓STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT and ARRET all stop messages, in any capitalisation. HELP asks for help. START turns them back on.
• ✓Someone who has opted out stays opted out. We keep the record even after they come back, so there is always a history.
• ✓Automatic texts are held between 9pm and 8am in the recipient’s own local time. A reply typed by a person is not held, because that is a conversation, not a campaign.
• ✓The first text we send to a new number carries your business name and a way to reach you, so nobody gets an anonymous message. That is your website if we have one, otherwise your contact email, otherwise the number the text is coming from.

The one thing we will not send without is your business name. If it is missing from your account we refuse the text rather than send something a recipient cannot trace. Fill it in under Settings.

What stays your job

You are the sender. We move the messages; the relationship with the person receiving them is yours.

• ✓Getting consent in the first place, and being able to show how you got it.
• ✓Keeping your own records of who agreed to what, and when.
• ✓Honouring an opt-out everywhere you contact that person, not just here.
• ✓Making sure what you send matches what you told the registry you would send.

This page is a plain summary of what the product does. It is not legal advice, and it says nothing about whether your own setup meets the rules. Read the terms and the acceptable use policy, and talk to your own adviser if you are unsure.