Important deadlines for 10DLC compliance (must read)

To Aloware Customers,

As you know, mobile carrier restrictions have been increasing over the past few months, limiting the ability to send outbound SMS and MMS messages with 10-digit long code (10DLC) phone numbers. You may recall seeing the banners like the one below on Aloware.

In this article we’ll cover the following: 

1. What the 10DLC  industry regulation is 
2. Aloware’s timeline to implement message blocking
3. What you MUST do to register (it’s easier than you think) 

Industry Regulation Timeline

In the past 3 months, we have encouraged you to submit your brand and campaign registrations, and we appreciate that many of you have complied with our requests. In fact, carriers have begun blocking SMS traffic but we have been largely unaffected so far – a strong testament to your efforts.

The 3 major carriers in the US (Verizon, TMobile, and AT&T) as well as our underlying carrier partner Twilio have communicated a concrete deadline to register all SMS traffic or face blocking. You can review Twilio’s announcement here. 

In short, carriers have started gradually blocking unregistered traffic starting July 5th, 2023, with full 100% blocking happening on Aug 31st. This is exacerbated by the fact that there is currently at least an 8-week delay approving campaigns. 

To that end, and in our journey toward 100% compliant business messaging traffic, we are requiring all of our clients to register their business (aka brand registration) as well as ALL of their phone numbers (aka campaigns), to have an approved campaign registration in adherence to these industry standards. 

Please note that these dates are set by the carriers, and they have strongly communicated that the dates will not change. It is imperative that we work together (Aloware + You) to get fully registered and approved as soon as possible. 

Terms – a quick review

• Brand: Your company as it is registered with Aloware. We will need your incorporation documents (for the most part), you can read more here.
• Campaign (Line): Your “lines” in Aloware that have one or more than one phone number. You just need to give examples of your messaging traffic to register. More, here.
• 10DLC: Any 10-digit phone number that is not a toll-free line. 
• Automated SMS traffic: Any text message or MMS sent using our API, Sequence+ product, Broadcast, HubSpot workflows, and AlohaBot chatBot. 
• Manual SMS traffic: Any text message or MMS that is typed by hand in our Talk or Classic Contact’s interface. 

Aloware’s Timeline

To achieve our goal of 100% registration, full compliance, reduce the impact on your business, and avoid hefty fees by the carriers, Aloware will be implementing the following schedule for blocking SMS from unregistered 10DLC lines.

Deadline	Who is blocked	What is blocked	What to do
July 20th, 2023	All unregistered brands	Sending any SMS/MMS traffic	Register your brand!
Aug 1st, 2023	All unregistered lines	Sending automated SMS/MMS traffic	Register your lines!
Aug 20th, 2023	All unregistered lines	Sending any SMS/MMS traffic, automated or manual	Register your lines!

1. July 20th – All unregistered brands will be blocked from sending any outbound SMS on 10DLC lines. This includes manually sent and automatically sent SMS
2. August 1st – All unregistered lines will be blocked for automated outbound SMS and MMS traffic. This will include SMS and MMS on sequences, broadcast, SMS API, AlohaBot and via Integration like HubSpot workflows.
3. August 10th – All unregistered lines will be blocked for all outbound SMS and MMS traffic.
   1. The good news is that the minute a campaign is submitted, even during review, outbound SMS and MMS will be allowed. There will not be any restriction during the pending review phase at this point.
   2. Anywhere that a customer can select an unregistered line, they will see a message that looks something like what is shown below example shown for bulk messaging.
4. August 30th – We will indefinitely be blocking all outbound SMS and MMS traffic for all trial accounts AND lines will continue to be blocked until after the campaign has been approved, not during review.

How to know your lines are unregistered and you’re subject to blocking

We have added the following warning message to Aloware to show you a line is unregistered and will be subject to blocking by the dates mentioned above. The screenshot is an example of how a broadcast or bulk SMS would be blocked from sending on an unregistered line. 

Registering a line will take 2-3 minutes and doesn’t require any paper documentation. We strongly encourage you to take the time and register ALL OF YOUR LINES as soon as possible. 

How to register, and is it easy?

If you recall, a campaign means that the business justifies the reasons for the use of the phone number(s). It takes less than 5 minutes to register. Refer to the sample below to see what is asked in the form.

If you haven’t already, please take the time to register here. 

Critical Note: All lines must be registered to a campaign, even if a brand has been successfully registered. Once you have an approved campaign, you’re able to add lines phone number(s) to that approved campaign easily.

Do you have a do-it-for-me package? 

Carrier regulations specify that YOU (end client) need to be the one submitting the registration and accompanying documentation. With that being said, for our larger clients, we understand this is cumbersome and time-consuming. We have created a specialized team that can work with you to push your registration through if you have more than 20 lines or campaigns. Please contact your customer success manager for more information. 

What happens if I don’t register?

If you don’t register your brand AND all of your campaigns, Aloware will block all outbound SMS and MMS for unregistered 10DLC lines, including to registered brands, on August 1st for automated messaging and August 10th for all messaging. Unfortunately, this is not something that we can control and there won’t be any exceptions. 

Do note that this is an industry standard. All vendors in our space are implementing the same measure, and moving to any other vendor will have the same effect, with the added pain of not being able to register online [it’s mostly by submitting tickets] and therefore not as quickly as Aloware allows you to. 

We’re excited to be on the journey to full compliance with you and wish you the best in your (fully registered) outbound SMS campaigns.