A2P 10DLC Changes in 2026: Fees, Rules and What Businesses Must Update

If your business registered for A2P 10DLC in 2023 or 2024 and has not looked since, your setup may already be out of date. 10DLC changes in 2026 touched carrier fees, registration requirements, error reporting and state law. None of them are dramatic on their own, but together they explain many of the higher SMS bills and unexpected filtering issues businesses are seeing this year.

This post summarises what changed, with links to sources, and what to do about each change.

The baseline: unregistered traffic is blocked

Since February 2025, the major US carriers block unregistered A2P traffic on 10-digit numbers rather than throttling it. Every change below sits on top of that rule: registration is the entry ticket, and compliance now has to be maintained, not completed once.

2026 timeline

Sources: SIPNEX 10DLC news tracker, Tychron fee updates, TextBolt 10DLC guide. Confirm current figures with your provider before budgeting.

Change 1: carrier pass-through fees keep rising

Carriers charge per-message pass-through fees on top of your platform's own rates. In 2026, T-Mobile, US Cellular, Verizon and several regional carriers all raised or restructured them, and T-Mobile now charges a small fee on inbound messages to 10DLC and toll-free numbers. For a business sending tens of thousands of texts a month, these fractions of a cent add up.

What to do: review your SMS bill line by line, cut unnecessary sends (duplicate reminders, messages to unengaged contacts) and consider email or WhatsApp for long, non-urgent content.

Change 2: clearer rejection codes

Since March 23, 2026, TCR has returned granular error codes rather than generic rejection reasons, so each rejection points to a specific fix such as a privacy policy issue or an incomplete call to action.

What to do: read the code before editing anything, and fix only what it names. See A2P campaign rejection fixes.

Change 3: privacy and terms URLs are hard requirements

Since June 30, 2026, Twilio rejects new campaign submissions through its API that lack a working privacy policy URL and terms URL. Many platforms, including LeadConnector, have historically used Twilio, and carrier vetting expects these pages everywhere.

What to do: publish both pages with SMS-specific sections. Use our SMS privacy policy and terms templates.

Change 4: toll-free verification tightened

New toll-free verifications now require a business registration number. Toll-free is a separate track from 10DLC, so businesses that moved to toll-free to avoid 10DLC still face identity checks. See 10DLC vs toll-free vs short code.

Change 5: state laws stack on top of carrier rules

Virginia's SB 1339, effective January 1, 2026, requires businesses to honour a marketing text opt-out for at least 10 years. Texas SB 140, in effect since September 2025, treats marketing texts as telephone solicitations with private lawsuits allowed. Read state texting laws in 2026.

Change 6: carriers compare live traffic with registrations

Carriers increasingly use automated filtering to compare messages with the samples you registered. Messages that drift, such as promotions sent on a reminders-only campaign, are more likely to be filtered.

Mid-article CTA: Not sure if your 2024 registration still holds up? Book a free audit call for an A2P compliance review.

What did not change

The FCC's one-to-one consent rule, which would have banned shared lead-generation consent, was vacated by a federal court and formally removed by the FCC in September 2025. Consent rules still apply, but the one-to-one requirement is not in force at the federal level. See TCPA consent rules for texting.

Your 2026 A2P checklist

• Confirm brand details still match your legal name, EIN and website

• Confirm every live message type is covered by a registered use case

• Publish SMS sections in your privacy policy and terms

• Check opt-out handling, including long-term suppression for Virginia contacts

• Review SMS costs after the 2026 fee changes

• Re-review registrations quarterly

Frequently asked questions

Why did my SMS costs go up in 2026? Multiple carriers raised pass-through fees during the year, and many platforms pass those fees on to customers.

Do I need to re-register my 10DLC campaign? Not automatically, but update it if your messaging, website or business details have changed since you registered.

Is the FCC one-to-one consent rule in effect? No. It was vacated and formally removed in 2025, though you still need valid consent for marketing texts.

Do these changes apply to businesses outside the US? Yes, if you text US mobile numbers. 10DLC is enforced by the recipient's network.

Keep your texting compliant all year

Calari Solutions audits and maintains A2P 10DLC registrations, opt-in flows and SMS costs for businesses and agencies. Schedule a free audit call to bring your setup up to date.