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Twilio Step 3 Alternative: Toll-free Verification

 

Last updated: December 16, 2025

❗Important:❗

This article is ONLY for those who chose to purchase a toll-free number in Twilio. While MyStudio does not prevent connecting a toll-free number to our system, we do not know how receiving messages from your customers will behave with these types of numbers from Twilio’s perspective.

 

 

 

Table of contents

 

 

Things to know about toll-free numbers before doing verification

Purchasing a toll-free number from Twilio will mean the following:

  • Higher costs per text
  • A different verification process instead of the A2P 10DLC
  • Possible differences in how incoming messages are received

 

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Toll-free vs A2P 10DLC

Use Toll-Free when you want:

  • higher throughput
  • wider reach
  • possibly a number that’s consistent across regions (not local) — good for large-scale notifications, alerts, mass SMS, etc.

Use A2P 10DLC when you want:

  • local presence
  • lower volume
  • smaller campaigns where local-number familiarity is desirable.

Note: Toll-free verification is entirely separate from 10DLC / A2P Brand/Campaign registration — even if you already have a 10DLC-compliant setup, toll-free numbers require their own separate verification.

 

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Prerequisites before this step

Before you can complete the toll-free verification and create an SMS campaign, you will need to have completed all the steps in the following articles:



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What is the Toll-free Verification (TFV) and why do I have to do it?

Toll-free numbers (i.e. NANP numbers beginning with 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844, or 833) require a dedicated verification process to send SMS to U.S./Canadian users. This is to comply with regulatory changes to the industry requiring a business to state its intended purpose with bulk SMS.

 

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Toll-Free Verification (TFV)

Where to submit the Toll-free Verification

To submit this verification:

  1. Log into your Twilio account and go to phone numbers.
  2. Select your toll-free number.
  3. Choose “regulatory information”
  4. Click “Verify this toll-free number”

 

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Information requested with the Toll-free Verification

When you submit a TFV request, you’ll need to supply:

  • TFV Brand: This is prefilled to your brand you already provided. 
    • Business / legal entity information — entity name / doing-business-as, business type (e.g. private profit), address, contact info, etc.
  • Campaign description: describes what you are using the SMS for (IE: customer care communication, class reminders, etc.)
  • Provide at least 1 example of these messages.
  • Message contents: messages will include embed links since you may link to registration pages or the member app. 
  • How do end-users consent to receive messages: May not be required, but you can provide the following text in this field box, replacing [company] with the name of your business:
    • “By providing your phone number, you agree to receive text messages from [company]. Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency varies.”
  • Opt-in keywords: “Start”
  • Opt-in message: Requirements for toll-free verification are less strict, but you can provide the following text:
    • “To stop receiving messages from this number, reply with UNSUBSCRIBE or STOP.”
  • Compliance metadata such as opt-in confirmation sample, privacy/terms URLs (or other compliance-related data), and any other requested fields for transparency. 



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Verification status flow

Once submitted, a toll-free number goes through these stages: 

  • Not verified / restricted
    • What it means: Toll-free verification hasn’t been submitted or was previously rejected.
    • What to do: submit the toll-free verification
  • Pending / in progress
    • What it means: the TFV is being reviewed
    • What to do: wait for results
  • Approved
    • What it means: the verification was accepted
    • What to do: congrats! You can send SMS!
  • Rejected
    • What it means: the verification was rejected
    • What to do: 
      • Rejection is “resubmittable:” you can correct the info and resubmit within 7 days. 
      • Rejection is “not resubmittable:” The number is effectively permanently blocked from sending SMS to U.S./Canada. You cannot edit the submission. You cannot submit a new verification request for the same number. You will have to get a new toll-free number and redo the verification process with the new number.

 

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Waiting for approval

NOTE: If you experience any issues with approval for your verification or campaigns, you should receive an email from Twilio describing the issue. If you need any clarity on this, please reach out to Twilio directly so they can properly and efficiently assist in explaining and resolving your issue.

 

You will need to wait for campaign approval before the SMS will be successful. This could be as soon as 24 hours, or as much as 3 weeks depending on if it has to go to manual review. However, generally this verification is faster than the A2P 10DLC verification.

 

Important: You could do everything right and the campaign is still rejected. This is because Twilio sends these campaigns to a third party company for approvals and each agent there may have different standards for success. 

 

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Next step after filling out the A2P 10DLC brand registration

The next step is to connect Twilio to MyStudio.

 

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Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

I’m not located in the US, do I have to fill out the toll-free verification?

You are required to fill out the toll-free verification as long as you bought a toll-free number and are sending SMS to US or Canadian customers, even if your business isn’t located in either country.

 

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