The A2P quickstart is the fastest way to get approved for business texting in the US. It collects your business details in a single form, then registers your brand and your first campaign with the carriers for you. You won't need to learn what a brand or a campaign is, and you won't touch Twilio.
This guide covers the eligibility questions, what the form asks for, and what happens after you submit.
This is the main path
Most businesses should use the quickstart. The separate brand and campaign wizards still exist for organizations that started that way, but new workspaces are pointed straight here. See A2P registration if you need the manual route.
Starting the quickstart#
You'll need a paid plan
A2P registration isn't available during a free trial, so trial workspaces can't text from a US local number. Start a paid plan before you register.
Go to Settings → A2P Compliance and click Set up business texting. You'll also see prompts in a few other places:
- Right after you buy a US phone number
- In the message composer, when texting is blocked on a number
- From any "verification required" link on a phone number card
Checking your eligibility first#
Before any form opens, dialnote asks up to two questions to work out which registration you qualify for. Each answer reveals the next step, so this takes seconds.
Question 1: Do you have a business tax ID? In the US that's an EIN. In Canada it's a BN-9, in India a CIN, and other countries vary.
If you answer no, you'll get Question 2: Do you have a US or Canadian address and mobile number? Your mobile has to be from a traditional carrier. VoIP numbers, including dialnote numbers, won't work because you'll get a one-time verification text.
What you'll qualify for#
| Registered business | Sole proprietor | |
|---|---|---|
| Requires | A tax ID issued 30+ days ago | US or Canadian address plus a carrier mobile number |
| Numbers that can text US customers | Multiple | 1 |
| Carrier daily limit | Around 2,000 messages | Around 1,000 messages |
| Messages per second | 15 | 1 |
Both paths cost the same, so if you have a tax ID, register as a business. You'll get more numbers and more volume for the same fee.
If you answer no to both questions, US carriers can't approve you through self-serve registration. The triage screen hands you off to support, who can walk you through Standard Brand registration.
Daily limits are per brand, not per campaign
The carrier limit applies to your whole registration. A registered business gets around 2,000 messages a day total, whether it runs one campaign or three. Normal message rates apply on top of the registration fees.
Filling in the form#
The quickstart is one form split into a few short steps. What you see depends on which path you qualified for.
Step 1, Your Business. Business type (Sole Proprietor or Standard Business), your legal business name exactly as it appears on your IRS EIN letter, legal structure, business country, your tax ID, a business contact email, and your registered business address.
Step 2, Contact. Your business industry, the regions you operate in, company type (private, public, non-profit or government), and an authorized representative: a real person at your company who can vouch for the registration. You'll give their name, email, phone in E.164 format, job position, and business title.
Step 3, Website & Policies. Your website URL, which has to be publicly reachable rather than behind a login, and your privacy policy URL. Carriers check that the policy says you don't sell personal data to third parties.
Step 4, Review. Confirm everything, pick how you want to pay, and submit.
Sole proprietors skip step 2 entirely. dialnote pre-fills what it already knows from your account, so a lot of this is confirming rather than typing, and every field has a Why this? link explaining what carriers do with it.
The form itself doesn't save as you go
Nothing is submitted to the carriers until the last step, and the quickstart doesn't save your progress partway through. Closing it mid-form discards what you typed, so set aside a few minutes and finish in one sitting.
Details you've already saved under Settings → Business Details are a different thing: those carry into the form for you, and the dashboard shows them as a Draft you can pick back up with Continue registration.
You won't write campaign descriptions or sample messages. dialnote generates that content for you from your business details.
Paying#
The review step shows what's due before you submit, and lets you pick how to pay: by card through a secure checkout, or from your dialnote wallet balance. Registration costs $19.50 one time, then $2.00 a month per approved campaign.
The full breakdown, including what's free and what happens on a rejection, is on what A2P registration costs.
After you submit#
This is the part the quickstart handles for you. Once payment clears, dialnote runs the whole pipeline and advances each stage as the carriers respond:
- Brand verification. Your business identity goes to the carriers. Sole proprietors also get a one-time verification text on the mobile number they gave.
- Campaign submission. As soon as the brand is approved, dialnote submits your campaign automatically.
- Number attach. Your eligible US numbers get added to the campaign's sender pool so they can actually deliver messages.
Watch progress on the Business texting card in Settings → A2P Compliance. You don't need to come back and click anything between stages.
Approval takes time
Brand verification usually takes 1 to 5 business days. Campaign vetting takes 7 to 21 days after that. You can't send business texts on a US number until the campaign is approved, so start registration well before you need it.
If something gets rejected, the card shows the carrier's reason along with specific tips for fixing it, and a button to fix and resubmit.
Next steps#
- What A2P registration costs - fees, refunds, and monthly billing
- A2P registration - statuses, campaign limits, and the advanced wizards
- Sending SMS - start texting once your campaign is approved
- Compliance overview - how A2P fits with regulatory bundles and recording consent