SMS Compliance Checker

What Is A2P 10DLC?

A2P 10DLC (Application-to-Person, 10-Digit Long Code) is the carrier industry's mandatory registration framework for businesses sending bulk SMS from standard 10-digit US phone numbers. Since mid-2023, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon block or heavily filter unregistered commercial SMS traffic.

For real estate wholesalers, this means every HighLevel sub-account, SMS platform, or CRM used for outreach SMS must have:

• Brand Registration - your legal business entity (EIN required)
• Campaign Registration - your specific use case (e.g., "Real Estate Marketing / Motivated Seller Outreach")
• Number Assignment - your 10DLC numbers linked to the approved campaign

Without all three, your messages will be filtered at the carrier level - meaning sellers never receive them, and you have no visibility into the failure.

TCPA Rules Every Wholesaler Must Know

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) governs commercial SMS and carries statutory damages of $500–$1,500 per violation. Key rules:

Prior Express Written Consent

If you're using an ATDS (any auto-dialing system including most SMS platforms), you need prior express written consent from recipients before sending marketing SMS. For cold outreach to property owners, this is the gray area most wholesalers operate in - consult a TCPA attorney.

Time-of-Day Restrictions

TCPA prohibits calls and texts before 8 AM or after 9 PM in the recipient's local time zone. Configure your SMS platform to restrict send windows accordingly.

Opt-Out Honoring

Any reply of STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, or QUIT must immediately remove the recipient from your list. HighLevel handles this automatically when configured correctly - but verify your opt-out automation is active.

Do Not Call Compliance

Scrub your lists against the National DNC Registry before every campaign. Services like BatchSkipTracing and PropStream offer built-in DNC flags. Never send to confirmed DNC numbers.

Carrier Filtering: What Gets Blocked

Beyond A2P registration, carriers use content-based filtering to block messages that look like spam. Triggers include:

• Shortened URLs (bit.ly, tinyurl) - blocked at the carrier level since 2021. Use your full registered domain only.
• High-pressure sales language - "Act now," "Limited offer," "You've been selected" trigger spam classifiers.
• Missing opt-out language - carriers require opt-out instructions in every commercial message thread.
• Excessive capitalization - all-caps messages are flagged as spam by content filters.
• Burst sending - sending 1,000 messages in 5 minutes from a single number triggers velocity filtering.
• High opt-out rates - if more than 1–2% of recipients opt out of a campaign, carriers flag it for review.

Compliant SMS Template for Wholesalers

HighLevel A2P Setup Checklist

If you're using HighLevel for SMS, complete these steps in order:

1. Go to Settings → Phone Numbers → A2P Registration
2. Complete Brand Registration with your legal business name and EIN
3. Create a Campaign - select "Mixed" use case for RE marketing + notifications
4. Add sample messages that match your actual templates (carriers review these)
5. Assign your 10DLC numbers to the approved campaign
6. Wait for carrier approval (typically 24–72 hours; T-Mobile can take 1–2 weeks)
7. Test delivery to all three major carriers before your first full campaign send

VA Horizon completes A2P registration as part of every CRM onboarding. We also configure opt-out automations, time-window restrictions, and DNC suppression in your pipeline.