Registering to use A2P 10 DLC for text messaging

Until recently, most business sent SMS messages to customers using the A2P (Application to Person) protocol. This enables Zendesk Text to automatically send single or bulk SMS messages to customers. However, A2P comes with disadvantages including:

• Until recently, most phone numbers were not designed to send bulk text messages
• Phone numbers that are designed for bulk texting can be prohibitively expensive
• A2P messaging is unsanctioned route for business texts. For this reason, messages were often subject to blocking and throttling

All Zendesk U.S. local number text message traffic is considered to be A2P as it involves businesses sending messages to consumers.

To help solve this problem, A2P 10DLC (Application-to-Person 10-Digit Long Code) was designed as a messaging solution that enables businesses to send text messages from a local 10DLC number. A2P 10DLC is designed and sanctioned for business messaging. It offers upgraded stability, delivery reliability, and security to businesses and their audiences. It also supports the volume of messaging throughput that many businesses need.

In this article, you'll learn some background information about A2P 10DLC and find out how you can use it in your organization.

This article contains the following sections:

• A2P 10DLC Background
• What’s changing? 
• What are the registration requirements for A2P 10DLC?
• Are there any pricing changes?
• What are the different types of Zendesk Text use cases?

A2P 10DLC Background

The U.S. long codes widely used by businesses in previous years were designed for person-to-person (P2P) communications only. They have low volume throughput and lack necessary security standards resulting in many spam messages getting sent to consumers. Phone carriers consider them to be an unsanctioned route for business texts. For this reason, messages are often subject to blocking and throttling.

Verizon was the first U.S. carrier to introduce A2P 10DLC messaging in 2019. Increased demand for high throughput text messaging for legitimate use cases spurred other carriers to also launch their version of 10DLC in 2021.

What are the registration requirements for A2P 10DLC?

U.S. carriers have implemented A2P 10DLC. All Zendesk customers with high volume SMS usage must register their business information and use cases to avoid carrier filtering. High volume usage is classified as one of the following:

• Owning five or more phone numbers used for outbound SMS messages
• Sending more than 2,000 SMS per day.

To register, use this form.

If you send fewer than 2,000 SMS messages a day and/or use fewer than five phone numbers for messaging then you do not need to register.

Are there any pricing changes?

No. Zendesk will not be changing the prices for Zendesk Text inbound or outbound messaging. 

What are the different types of Zendesk Text use cases?

If you are required to register for A2P 10DLC, you'll need to let us know your specific use case for using Zendesk Text. The following table lists the different use cases: 

Use case	Description
Two-factor authentication (2FA)	Any authentication or account verification such as One-time password (OTP)
Account notifications	Notifications about the status of an account or related to being a part of an account
Customer care	Support, account management, and other avenues of customer interaction
Delivery notifications	Information about the status of a delivery
Fraud alert messaging	Messaging about potential fraudulent activity such as spending alerts
Higher education	Message campaigns from colleges, universities, and other education institutions
Marketing	Promotional content such as sales and limited time offers
Mixed	A campaign that covers multiple use cases such as customer care and delivery notifications.
Polling and voting	For conducting polling and voting, such as customer surveys. Not for political use.
Public service announcement	PSAs to raise audience awareness about a given topic
Security alert	Notification of a compromised system (software or hardware related)