Compliance & Regulatory

Learn which regulatory rules apply to SMS and phone numbers by country, and how dialnote handles registration and verification for you.

Sending SMS and buying phone numbers in certain countries comes with regulatory requirements. dialnote handles most of this for you, but there are a few steps you'll need to complete depending on your use case.

This section covers the three main compliance areas: A2P 10DLC registration for messaging from US local numbers, regulatory bundles for international numbers, and recording consent settings.

If you just want your US numbers texting as fast as possible, go straight to the A2P quickstart.

A2P 10DLC Registration#

A2P (Application-to-Person) 10DLC is a carrier-mandated system for business SMS in the United States. It requires two things: a brand registration (your business identity) and at least one campaign registration (your messaging use case).

Brand registration verifies your business with carriers. You'll provide your business name, tax ID, website, and privacy policy URL. Approval usually takes about an hour.

Campaign registration tells carriers what you're texting about. You'll pick a use case, provide sample messages, and describe how recipients opt in. Campaign approval usually takes about a day, and occasionally a week or more.

The A2P quickstart in Settings → A2P Compliance does both from a single form and advances the stages for you, which is the route most businesses should take. See A2P registration for the concepts underneath, plus limits, statuses, and how to write your own campaign.

Registration isn't free. It costs $19.50 per campaign registration and $2.00 a month per approved campaign, broken down on what A2P registration costs.

Five use cases are available self-serve:

  • Customer care
  • Account notifications
  • Delivery notifications
  • Two-factor authentication
  • Low volume, mixed use cases

Marketing campaigns, along with charity, political, emergency, K-12 and sweepstakes messaging, need a vetted Standard Brand through support.

Once both halves are approved, your US numbers can send SMS. Until then, messages won't go through.

Regulatory Bundles#

Some numbers require identity verification before you can buy them. Today that's UK mobile numbers, while UK local numbers need a verified address from Settings → Addresses instead. dialnote manages this through regulatory bundles — packages of identity documents and address verification submitted to your carrier.

You can create and manage bundles in Settings → Regulatory Bundles. Each bundle includes:

  • End user type — individual or business
  • Identity details — first name, last name, email, and phone number (individuals) or business name and registration number (businesses)
  • Address verification — street address, city, region, and postal code
  • Supporting documents — a government-issued ID (individual bundles)

After you submit a bundle, it goes through review. Possible statuses are: Draft, Pending Review, In Review, Approved, Rejected, or Provisionally Approved. Once approved, you can use it to buy numbers in that country. See Regulatory Bundles for the full process.

Many regions legally require that all parties on a call know when they're being recorded. dialnote gives you per-number controls for this in the Recording section of a phone number's settings.

When the recording notification is on, you pick one of two announcement styles:

  • Voice-based — a spoken message tells callers they're being recorded
  • Audio tone — a beep plays at the start of the recording

To skip the announcement (only where single-party consent applies), turn the notification toggle off. The toggle covers both directions, but you can pick the announcement style separately for inbound and outbound calls. Only organization owners and admins, or members with Owner access on that number, can change these settings. It's your responsibility to check the recording consent laws in your jurisdiction. For the full setup, see Call Recording.

SMS Opt-Out Compliance#

dialnote automatically handles TCPA-compliant keyword responses for SMS. When someone texts a recognized keyword, the system responds with the right compliance message:

  • STOP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT — opts the person out and confirms they won't receive more messages
  • START, UNSTOP, SUBSCRIBE, YES — opts them back in
  • HELP, INFO — sends instructions on how to opt out or get support

This happens automatically, so there's nothing to configure. The keyword detection is case-insensitive and works on exact matches only. For what an opt-out changes, how someone opts back in, and how do-not-call requests differ from blocking, see SMS Opt-Outs and Do-Not-Call.

The line added to your first reply#

If your texting registration says customers text you first, carriers expect your first reply to each new contact to say who you are and how to opt out. dialnote adds that line for you, on its own line at the end of the first message you send to that contact:

Your Registered Business Name: Msg frequency varies. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help.

A few things people ask about:

  • The name is your registered legal name. It comes from your texting registration, so it can differ from the brand you show elsewhere. Carriers check that the line matches what you registered word for word.
  • It's added once per contact. Later messages in the same conversation go out as you wrote them.
  • You can send your own version instead. If your first reply already includes the word STOP and a "Msg & data rates may apply" phrase, dialnote doesn't add its line.

What's Next#

For texting plans and what each one includes, see business texting.