Compliance

Ready is compliant by default — 10DLC registration, opt-in/opt-out handling, and consent tracking are built in. This is what you need to know to stay on the right side of the carriers and the TCPA.

Overview

Business SMS in the US is governed by two things: carrier rules (10DLC registration, enforced by the mobile carriers via The Campaign Registry) and the TCPA (federal law requiring consent before you text). Ready gives you the tooling for both, but the legal obligation to have consent is always yours.

What Ready handles for you: 10DLC brand + campaign submission, opt-in page and privacy policy generation, automatic STOP/opt-out processing, DND syncing, and quiet-hours enforcement.

10DLC registration

10DLC (10-digit long code) is the carrier program that authorizes businesses to send application-to-person SMS on standard local numbers. Registration is required for production sending and directly affects deliverability and throughput.

Step 1 — Register your brand

Open the Registration tab and click Register a new business, then submit your details: legal business name, EIN, industry and business type, address, and contact info. Registration is usually approved within 1–3 business days.

Step 2 — Register a campaign

A campaign describes how you'll use SMS. Ready's AI generates your opt-in page, privacy policy, and terms of service and submits everything for you. Once approved, full-volume sending unlocks — with a short carrier warm-up ramp over the next couple of business days.

Step 3 — Phone number (automatic)

A local number is provisioned automatically when your campaign is submitted, using your preferred area code — usually within minutes.

Cost: $35 one-time at brand submit (covers brand + campaign + first month of number; $30 if you bring your own number). Then recurring: brand $10/mo, campaign $20/mo, number $5/mo — $35/mo for a standard setup.

Walkthrough: register your business (10DLC)4 steps

Open the Registration tab and click + Register a new business (or Start registration).
Step 1 · Your business — enter your Legal business name, EIN (9 digits, as registered with the IRS), and Business address (start typing and pick it — autocomplete fills the rest), then click Continue →.
Follow steps 2–3 to confirm how you'll text (your use case). Ready files the carrier paperwork (TCR + compliance) for you — you just confirm a few details.
You can text right away while approval finalizes in the background. On approval the 500/mo trial cap is lifted and you drop to the lowest per-text rates.

A card on file is required (~$30–$35 one-time; $30 if you bring your own number). Most approvals land within 1–3 business days.

The TCPA requires prior express written consent before you send marketing texts. In practice that means the recipient knowingly opted in (a checked box, a keyword opt-in, a form submission) to receive messages from your business at that number.

Keep a record of when, where, and how each contact consented.
Every message should make clear who's texting and how to opt out (e.g. "Reply STOP to unsubscribe").
The same consent obligation applies to API-driven sends, not just the dashboard — see the API reference.

Your responsibility: Ready provides the tools, but consent is a legal requirement you own. Don't import purchased lists or text contacts who haven't opted in.

Opt-outs & keywords

Ready processes opt-outs automatically and immediately. When a contact texts STOP (or UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT, or any keyword you configure), they are removed from all future messaging and their DND status is set in your CRM — this cannot be overridden.

STOP → opt out; the contact receives one confirmation and no further messages.
START / UNSTOP → the contact opts back in.

Opt-out events are also emitted as the new_opt_out webhook so downstream systems stay in sync — see API → Webhooks.

Quiet hours & sending windows

Federal law (the TCPA) restricts marketing texts to 8:00 AM – 9:00 PM in the recipient's own local time. Ready enforces this automatically at send time — using each contact's local time (derived from their number), not one account-wide clock — and applies stricter windows to Florida and Oklahoma (8:00 AM – 8:00 PM) and Connecticut (9:00 AM – 8:00 PM) numbers. A message that would land inside quiet hours is held and sent at the next open window, so no lead is dropped. When a contact's timezone can't be determined, Ready uses the most conservative window rather than guessing.

What Ready enforces for you automatically: the federal 8am–9pm window for every contact in their local time, plus stricter windows for Florida/Oklahoma (8am–8pm) and Connecticut (9am–8pm). That's the table below.

Where the contact is	Allowed hours (their local time)	Enforced by Ready
Federal floor — all US	8:00 AM – 9:00 PM	Automatic
Florida (FTSA) & Oklahoma (OTSA)	8:00 AM – 8:00 PM	Automatic
Connecticut	9:00 AM – 8:00 PM	Automatic

Not applied automatically — your responsibility. Beyond the windows above, several states add rules Ready does not enforce for you: day-of-week limits (e.g. Florida bars Sunday texts), per-recipient daily caps (Florida ~3/day, Oklahoma ~3 per 24 hours), and state-specific windows beyond FL/OK/CT. Around 18 states now have "mini-TCPA" laws stricter than the federal baseline, and some (e.g. Washington's CEMA) add consent requirements beyond timing. If your program needs these, set a tighter sending window and cadence in Settings → Compliance.

Your own window — in Settings → Compliance → Sending windows — applies on top of the legal floor. You can make sending tighter, but never looser than the law allows.

This area is actively litigated. Through 2025–2026 there's been a wave of class actions over text timing, and courts still disagree on whether quiet hours even apply to fully-consented texts. Ready defaults to the safe window on purpose. This page is compliance guidance, not legal advice — confirm the specifics for your program with qualified counsel.

DNC & scrubbing

Opted-out numbers are automatically suppressed from every future send across your entire account — permanently, and this can't be overridden. Before importing a list or launching a blast, use list scrubbing to check numbers against TCPA/DNC data and drop bad ones (billed per contact scrubbed).

Federal DNC is separate. The national Do Not Call registry (TCPA/FTC) is your own compliance obligation — Ready's per-account DNC does not replace it.

Deliverability

Registered, consented sending is the foundation of good deliverability. To keep your numbers healthy:

Only text contacts who opted in — high opt-out or spam-report rates hurt your sender reputation.
Personalize and vary content; avoid identical high-volume blasts.
Keep links minimal and use your registered brand identity.
Monitor your numbers' opt-out and delivery signals, and pause or rotate any number that carriers start flagging.

Ready to send? Once you're registered, head to Setup & Guides → Campaigns or the API.