The major US carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon) are taking collective action to protect their customers from today's overwhelming volume of fraudulent calls and texts. Any business sending messages to US numbers through a cloud-based phone provider such as OpenPhone must register to be approved as a US carrier. This applies to businesses with and without a valid EIN or similar business ID.
A business identification number is required to complete US carrier registration
To register, you’ll need to have a valid EIN, CCN, or similar business ID.
- If your sole proprietorship is based in the US and you wish to get an EIN, you can apply for an EIN directly with the IRS. NOTE: Your Social Security Number can’t be used to apply.
- If you have a small business or are a sole proprietor without a business ID and based in the US or Canada, find out how to register here.
How to access and complete the US carrier registration form
To complete the registration form, follow the steps below. We've provided some screenshots below the steps to help.
- Go to your OpenPhone account’s settings page and select “Trust”.
- Click “Get started” to go through a short questionnaire to confirm your eligibility.
- Under the step to "Register your local numbers", you will confirm that you have an EIN or other business tax identification number.
Once you've completed these steps, you’ll be taken to a form to provide the following details about your company: legal name, address, and EIN or other business ID number. We all you need to know to make sure your company details are complete. See the section below these images for the descriptions.
Get Started
Questionnaire
Confirmation of tax ID number
Once you’ve confirmed in app that you do have an EIN or other business tax identification number, you’ll be taken to a form to provide the following details about your company:
Legal business name
A mismatch in business name entries is the most common reason for registrations being rejected; this can lead to a business having to resubmit and pay the $15 fee again. If you're providing your business EIN as a form of business ID, your business name, address, and EIN must exactly match the information as it appears on your IRS form CP-575. The legal business name you provide must not be abbreviated in any way.
If you are a healthcare provider, you can also ensure you’re providing accurate information by entering your business's EIN into the HIPAA Space lookup website. If your business appears in the results, please fill in your business name exactly according to the business listing information.
Additional legal name guidance for non-US businesses
- Canada Companies should ensure that your legal company name is consistent with your corporation registration and is correctly spelled before submitting.
- Europe Companies should use the VIES VAT number validation lookup to look up their brand information before submission.
- Australia Companies can either use their ABN or ACN number in the business number field. If using ABN, feel free to use the official ABN Lookup tool to look up the information.
- New Zealand Companies should use New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) and use the official NZBN lookup tool to look up the information.
If you have multiple businesses under separate legal entities in your workspace, reach out to us by clicking “Help” at the bottom of this page.
Business type
You will select one of the following business types:
- Sole Proprietorship (If you don't have a business ID and not prepared to get one, follow this guide to complete registration.)
- Partnership
- Corporation
- Co-operative
- Limited Liability Corporation
- Non-profit Corporation
Company type
You will choose one of these options:
-
Private
- Your company has a valid business Tax ID (see the “Business registration ID type and number” section below)
- Isn’t listed on a public stock exchange
- Isn’t a non-profit organization
- Public Profit Your company is listed on a public stock exchange. You’ll need to specify the exchange and ticker symbol.
- Non-Profit Your company must have a designated Non-profit status business.
- Government Only Your business is part of a government-run organization.
Business registration ID type and number
You must enter a business ID number or type. At this time, we can only register customers who have one of the following business IDs:
-
'USA: Employer Identification Number = EIN'
- Keep in mind if you've recently obtained an EIN for your business through the IRS, it can take up to 30 days for that information to be available in databases that organizations reviewing your carrier registration information can access.
- If you used your SSN to file your taxes as a sole proprietor, you can apply through our sole proprietor path. Check out this guide for more information on how to apply.
- If your company is publicly traded and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), you can use the SEC's EDGAR system to look up your EIN for free.
- 'Canada: Business Number = BN-9'
- 'Great Britain = Company Number'
- 'Australia = Company Number from ASIC = ACN or Australian Business Number = ABN'
- 'India = Corporate Identity Number'
- 'Estonia = VAT Number'
- Romania = VAT Registration Number'
- 'Israel = Registration Number'
- 'Other’
Industry
You will choose the industry category that best reflects your organization.
Website
You will enter your company's website, including the full URL such as http://www.xyz.com or https://www.xyz.com. If your business doesn’t have a live website, you can provide your Yelp listing or your business account’s social media.
Regions of operation
Select the primary region in which you conduct business:
- Africa
- Asia
- Europe
- Latin America
- USA and Canada
Business address
Enter the address associated with your business registration and/or tax ID. A mismatch on any of the following may lead to rejection:
- Address/street line
- City
- State
- Postal code/zip code
- Country
Business contact
This will not be the billing contact for the TCR registration fee. This information is for The Campaign Registry’s records.
Messaging details
Important: Be sure to describe the type of messages you plan to send in specific, accurate detail. Vague or short responses can result in your registration being rejected by The Campaign Registry.
How will your business use text messaging day to day?
Confirm the types of text messages your team will typically send to US phone numbers. For example, a massage therapy studio might enter: Our message therapy business will send an appointment confirmation text after someone opts in after scheduling an appointment on our website.
What specific text messages will you typically send?
In this section, you’ll need to provide at least two example texts your workspace typically sends. We recommend sharing more than two if you have other messages you often send — just be sure to click “+Add another example” when entering in separate text message examples.
If you wish to send templated messages, please make sure to indicate the templated fields in sample messages with brackets, to help reviewers better identify which parts are templated. For example, please write “Dental check due for [Mary Doe], Visit [www.contoso.com] to schedule an appointment or call [123-456-7890]. To opt out of receiving text messages, reply STOP”.
We recommend having opt-out language in at least one of your sample text messages. If you’re unsure if we support your use case for texting, be sure to check out our guide to messaging categories and examples not allowed on our platform.
How you collect consent to send text messages
Select the opt-in method(s) your team uses to collect consent to send text messages.
Keep in mind if you indicate that your customers opt-in to your messages via the website, but provide a website address that does not function, your application will be rejected. In some cases, you may also be asked to provide proof of how you gather consent.
General registration form best practices
Before submitting your form, keep in mind also these best practices:
Ensure data accuracy and consistency
Make sure you submit an application with accurate and consistent data:
- EIN, business name, and address exactly match the letter sent by the IRS. If you provide an EIN to register, the EIN, legal business name, and address should match exactly what's shown on the form CP-575 sent to you by the IRS.
- Consistency in the business name, website, and text sample messages. If your brand name is Acme, your website is www.acme.com, but your sample messages say “Here’s your one-time passcode for logging into www.contoso.com”, your campaign will be rejected.
- Consistency in email domain and company name. If you register as Apple Inc., but you provide an email address containing a Gmail domain name, your campaign will be rejected. Note that this check only applies to large, well-known corporations that should have dedicated email domains.
- Make sure the business you register is the actual brand that you’re sending messages for. For managed service providers, agencies, and some forms of third-party vendors if you register a business with your own company’s information (e.g. a company that provides tech for dental offices), but end up sending messages for your customers (e.g., individual dentist practices), your application will be rejected.
Ensure your use case involves consumer consent before sending messages
If you aren't already, take the appropriate steps to collect consumer consent. Please refer to the CTIA guidelines to see detailed instructions and best practices on handling consumer consent.
- Make sure consumer opt-in is collected appropriately. If you indicate you collect opt-in via text messages, but your sample messages say “Hi, is this the owner of 123 Oak street? I’d like to discuss how I can help you sell your property”, it is clear that you have not collected appropriate consent before sending messages and your campaign will be rejected.
- Make sure opt-in language is available on your website if you indicated in your application that a consumer opts into your campaign on your company website. If your brand Acme uses its website, www.acme.com, to collect phone numbers but your website does not contain opt-in language such as “By providing your phone number, you agree to receive text messages from ACME. Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency varies.”, your campaign will be rejected.
What happens after I submit my US carrier registration?
Once completed, we will submit the form to the carriers for approval. Due to the number of businesses across the world registering, The Campaign Registry and other third-party entities in charge of reviewing your application currently have a backlog of requests. So, keep in mind it may take a few days for your registration to be completed on the carriers’ end. We still recommend that you register as soon as possible.
Brand and Campaign registration are required to become fully registered for texting to US numbers. STIR/SHAKEN registration provides an additional designation for your number to be verified for trusted calling:
- Brand registration: This is an initial automated review of the company information you provide in your registration.
- Campaign registration: With this step, a third-party entity completes a manual review of the messaging details that you supply in your registration.
- STIR/SHAKEN registration: This step helps prevent carriers from accidentally labeling your phone number as scam likely when you call their customers.
There are three possible statuses for each of the registrations above:
- Pending - waiting for approval
- Approved - registration was successful
- Rejected - registration was rejected
You can easily track the progress of your application by returning to the “Trust” settings. If approved, your workspace and its associated phone numbers will be registered, which will help ensure that your messages are delivered and calls have a lower chance of being mislabeled as SPAM. After approval, any additional numbers you add to your workspace will also automatically be tied to your existing registration information so you won’t need to apply again.
If your application has been rejected or failed, please verify the details submitted and submit your registration form again. If you need us at any point, please click “Help” at the bottom of this page for us to assist you.
What do I do if my registration is rejected?
If your registration is rejected, please reach out to our Support team and we will escalate it with our carrier partners on your behalf. This can be initiated by using our "Chat" feature.
When contacting our team, please submit documentation that shows your business tax ID, business name, and address. For US customers, submitting a copy of IRS form CP-575 (shown below) has been successful in resolving rejections.
Register with the Free Caller Registry
We also recommend registering with the Free Caller Registry to help support the reputation of your phone numbers. The information you provide on that site is used by major US wireless carriers, including T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, US Cellular, and AT&T.
If you add additional numbers to your workspace, you must register any new numbers with the Free Caller Registry. However, you won’t need to complete the US Carrier Registration form again.
Learn more about carrier registration
- For more frequently asked questions about registration including fee details, check out our carrier registration FAQs.
- For small businesses or sole proprietors without a business ID and based in the US or Canada, check out our guide to registering as a sole proprietor.
- If you’re using OpenPhone to text friends and family only and based in the US or Canada, check out our guide to registering for personal use.
