Text Messaging / SMS Registration on the Corvum Network (10 DLC Compliance)

 

What is happening?

 

The major US mobile carrier networks have been working to regulate all SMS/MMS messages and reduce spam sent across their networks.

** Canadian customers: you do also need to register if you wish to send SMS messages.

 

The key component of their efforts involves ensuring that trust is established with the companies that are sending messages to their networks, from numbers that are not actually assigned to a mobile phone.  All spam messages originate from non-mobile phone systems that are able to send messages to mobile phones.  So, while Corvum customers most definitely have never been involved in any poor practices, all businesses are now required to register, regardless of how they are using text messaging.

 

How can networks establish this trust?  Create a regulatory system to identify who is using the network, and keep track of how they are using it.

This means that all business that send text messages to ten-digit US phone numbers are required to register with a 3rd party reputation authority called The Campaign Registry (TCR), who vets and then shares this information with the mobile networks.

 

We have avoided the necessity of forcing our customers to register for as long as possible, even when doing so increased our own costs.  The requirements and process have changed many times over the past year or so, and as such we have been able to avoid dragging our customers through multiple iterations of the process.

 

** Our primary upstream SMS carrier now blocks outbound text messages, from non-registered numbers - this started on September 30th 2024. **

 

The Corvum team has built a self-serve registration form that works directly with TCR to make the registration process as simple as possible.  We have also built automations that handle the formalized opt-in / opt-out process for you.

 

** 2024-09-30: The process is currently taking about one week after submission -- your information is sent to a team of humans that manually vet your account, and there appears to be a backlog at this time. **

 

 

What is Required?

• You need to provide your tax ID number (EIN) and matching legal name and address.
• If you do not have this, you can register as a 'sole proprietor'.
• You need to provide a copy of your privacy policy (your existing intake agreement, that establishes client-attorney privilege, often meets this criteria).
• The privacy policy needs to state that you do not sell or share any client information with third parties.
• Corvum will deploy new automations to inform your contacts of consent to receive messages (opt-in / opt-out & STOP / HELP), using templates you provide.
• Soon, whenever a text chat is established with an outside number, for the first time, Corvum will send a message thanking them for agreeing to receive text messages from you - using the opt-in template that you provide.
• The opt-in and opt-out lists are managed automatically by the Corvum system.  If someone sends STOP, you will see this, but will no longer be able to send or receive messages with that person.
• You will be able to see any automated messages the Corvum system sends as part of this compliance system.
• There is a small one-time registration fee, and an ongoing monthly charge (see below).

 

 

Steps to Take

Your account admin will be able to find the registration form in the Corvum web portal, under 'Settings / SMS'.  They will want to complete this as soon as possible to avoid interruption to your SMS services.

 

This form should take about 15 minutes to complete and submit.  Preparing can take some time and thought, as the registration may change how your firm / practice currently makes use of texting:

• Opt-in confirmation (consent to send messages to any contact) is now formalized.  It is important that consent is received from your clients and contacts before you start sending text messages.  Heavy fines can result from any complaints that are received.
• Your contacts must be informed how to opt out of receiving further messages.  The Corvum system will now include automated messages that help your team compliance.
• The Corvum system can also be used to automatically block you from sending messages to any contact that has opted out.  This helps to prevent accidental breaking of compliance, which can result in serious financial penalties being imposed.
• Following the new policies ensures that your brand and reputation remain intact, and that you are able to make ongoing use of this very useful tool.

 

During the registration process, you'll be asked to provide information about your business, messaging usage, and messaging types.  Our form auto-fills the answer space with templated examples of answers that meet the requirement - just make sure that these answers suit your case.

 

Expect to provide information on your legal company information (including EIN/TIN Industry Segment) and questions such as:

• What is the main use of your SMS/MMS messages?
• How are SMS or MMS messages sent to consumers, or mobile phone users, outside your company?
• Are third-party links or phone numbers sent in the messages?
• Do you collect Opt-In confirmation before contacting a consumer?
• How do you provide opt-out options or assistance to your consumers?
• You'll need to include examples of these messages and the regular automated and predefined messages you send for your campaigns.

Corvum does not review and approve this information - third-party regulators do.

Once completed, your campaign status (approved or denied) will show in the Corvum portal.

 

Costs

There are two parts to the registration process, each of which has associated fees:

• Organization registration / "Brand Registration" (one-time)
• Messaging practice details / "Campaign Registration" (ongoing)

These fees are determined and charged by The Campaign Registry, not Corvum.

 

 

 

Brand Registration Fees

This is the first step of the SMS Registration process.

 

This section validates the legitimacy of your business by gathering details about your business, type of business, and certifiable information (you can expect to be asked for your Tax Id, Company Website, etc).  TCR then checks the validity of your company against several databases, and sometimes enlists the help of 3rd Party Vetting (verification) services.

 

Brand registration fees apply for every brand application - here are the costs:

Type	Fee	Required For	Charged By
Brand Application Fee	USD $4.00 (One-time)	All Customers	TCR
Brand Vetting Fee (99.8% of customers do not require this)	USD $40.00 (One-time)	Specific High-Volume Use Customers Businesses sending more than 2,000 messages/day to T-mobile phones	TCR

 

These fees are subject to change, as they are out of Corvum's control.

 

 

Campaign Registration Charges

Campaign registration is the process of registering your organization's outbound SMS/MMS traffic.  Nearly all Corvum customers only need to register one campaign, which covers your normal messaging use across one or more phone numbers.

 

There are one-time setup fees to register a campaign, and then monthly recurring fees based on the type of campaign.

 

Some customers may need more than one campaign type based on different types of usage, but this is rare.

 

Campaign registration fees apply for every campaign:

Type	Fee	Required For	Charged By
Campaign Vetting Fee	$15 (One-time)	All Customers	Syniverse / TCR
Number Pooling	$100 (One-time)	Customers with more than 49 numbers that send texts	TCR
Campaign Fee	USD $1.50 / $2.00 / $10 (Monthly)	All Customers - the registration form determines which use case fits.  Most (if not all) Corvum customers fit a use case that is $2.00/month or less.	TCR

 

Note: These fees are subject to change and are not within Corvum's control.

 

 

Campaign Types and Monthly Fees (only the types that suit Corvum customers are listed):

Campaign Type	Which customers fit this type?	Charge
Low Volume - UCaaS (conversational) or Mixed	For customers who only send low volume conversational type text messages or a low volume of varying types of messages (nearly all Corvum customers)	$1.50 / month
High Volume - UCaaS (conversational) or Mixed	Only customers who send a high volume of conversational type text messages, or a high volume of varying types of messages	$10.00 / month
Sole Proprietor	For Customers who register as a sole proprietor - they do not have a tax ID number.	$2.00 / month

 

 

Messaging Rates

At this time, we are not making any changes to pricing on the Corvum texting subscription, other than adding the fees as noted above. If changes are deemed necessary, our support team will inform you prior to any change.

 

 

How the Registration Process Works

This registration system was designed by the mobile carriers, in tandem with the new organization set up to act as intermediary: TCR (The Campaign Registry).  The requirements were then handed down to service providers, like Corvum, to implement with our customers.

 

When you submit your registration, it is automatically and immediately sent to TCR, and then shared with our upstream carriers.  It is later vetted (by human eyes), and after that step, registration will finally be complete.

 

TCR is unable to provide information on your registration status. Corvum will inform you, in the portal, once your application has been approved, and if declined - provide the reason.  Corvum can also review your application and catch errors if any clear errors are present that might impact your chances of success.

For any questions about the SMS registration, please contact the Corvum support desk.

 

For more details on the privacy policy requirement, please have a look at this article.

Review this article for an example of a strong example of a legal-specific, 10DLC-specific privacy policy.