Messaging Compliance FAQ

A2P (Application-to-Person) messaging refers to text messages sent from a business application to a consumer's phone. Carriers require A2P registration to reduce spam and ensure legitimate business messaging. CallBackOrElse handles the A2P registration process for you as part of account setup.

A2P 10DLC registration (the carrier approval that allows your business to send SMS through CallBackOrElse) is a third-party process administered by The Campaign Registry and the individual mobile carriers. The timeline is outside our control. In our experience the process typically takes approximately 48 hours after a clean submission, but it is not guaranteed — carrier vetting can take longer, particularly for brands whose names closely match an unrelated business, or campaigns whose use case requires additional review. We deliberately do not promise a same-day SMS go-live and we do not recommend marketing your business as "instant SMS" based on CallBackOrElse alone. While you wait for SMS approval, your voice features — the AI receptionist, call routing, recording, transcript, and lead capture — are available as soon as your phone number is provisioned (typically the same day). Your first 7 days of Service — included with your paid sign-up — begin when your Service is active, so registration time does not consume paid service days. See Terms of Service Section 9 for the contractual statement of this practice.

Customers must explicitly consent to receive SMS messages from your business. With CallBackOrElse, consent can be captured in two ways: (1) During an AI-handled phone call, when the caller verbally agrees to receive text messages, or (2) Through a web form submission where the customer checks a consent box. We log all consent events with timestamps for compliance.

Customers can opt out by replying STOP, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, END, QUIT, REVOKE, or OPT OUT to any message from your business. CallBackOrElse automatically processes these opt-out keywords and immediately stops sending messages to that number. You can also manually mark contacts as do-not-contact in your dashboard.

When a customer replies HELP to any message, they automatically receive a response with your business name and a customer support contact method. This is required by A2P messaging regulations.

Yes, but only to contacts who have explicitly opted in to receive marketing messages from your business. Our SMS campaign tools include consent tracking to help you stay compliant. You cannot purchase phone number lists or send messages to people who haven't consented.

CallBackOrElse supports several message categories: appointment confirmations, appointment reminders, follow-up messages after service calls, review requests, seasonal promotions (to opted-in contacts), and custom campaigns. All messages must comply with TCPA regulations and our Acceptable Use Policy.

Yes. Carrier policies prohibit certain content in A2P messages, including: content related to cannabis, firearms, gambling, adult content, debt collection harassment, and misleading or deceptive claims. Messages must include your business name and opt-out instructions.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is a federal law regulating telephone and SMS communications. Key requirements: you must have prior express consent before texting consumers, you must honor opt-out requests immediately, and you cannot send messages before 8 AM or after 9 PM in the recipient's time zone. CallBackOrElse enforces a stricter 8 AM–8 PM sending window, per recipient time zone, to comply with narrower state laws. Violations can result in $500-$1,500 per message in damages.

CallBackOrElse only sends automated messages between 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM in the recipient's local time zone. This is stricter than the federal TCPA window (which allows until 9:00 PM) and is enforced automatically to cover narrower state quiet-hour laws. This 8:00 PM cutoff applies to every automated send, including AI-drafted messages you approve through the assistant.

Yes. We maintain a complete audit trail of all consent events, including: the phone number, timestamp, method of consent (voice, web form, keyword), the source of consent, and any associated call or message records. These records are available in your dashboard and can be exported.

Every call answered by the CallBackOrElse AI receptionist begins with a single mandatory disclosure sentence that identifies the AI and notifies the caller that the call is being recorded. The disclosure is the FIRST thing said on every call and is enforced by the agent prompt configuration (see "What is the exact disclosure script?" below). The caller's decision to remain on the line and continue the conversation after the disclosure constitutes implied consent to the recording in jurisdictions that recognize implied consent. This satisfies one-party consent requirements in most U.S. states. For two-party (all-party) consent states — including Florida (Fla. Stat. § 934.03), California, and Illinois — courts have generally accepted a clear, audible pre-recording disclosure followed by the caller's continued participation as sufficient consent for recording in a business context, but you remain responsible for confirming compliance with your jurisdiction's specific requirements. We recommend Florida, Georgia, and Alabama operators consult local counsel before relying on the AI for recording in any context outside ordinary inbound business calls. See Terms of Service Section 8 (AI Disclosure and Call Recording) and Section 14A (Telecommunications and Messaging Indemnification).

The AI receptionist is configured to begin every standard inbound call with the following sentence, with the business name substituted at runtime: "Thanks for calling [BUSINESS NAME]. I'm an AI assistant and this call is being recorded. How can I help you today?" For calls handled in Storm Mode (severe-weather response), the disclosure is: "Thanks for calling [BUSINESS NAME]. I'm an AI assistant helping with [STORM NAME] response, and this call is being recorded. Can you tell me what's going on?" The disclosure is required to be the FIRST sentence on every call and cannot be split, paraphrased, or skipped by the AI. The agent prompt template explicitly instructs the model: "This single sentence handles all legal disclosures (AI identity + recording notice) and greeting. Do not split it up or add extra words." Business owners with permissions to customize the AI greeting must keep the AI-identity and recording-notice elements intact; removing either is a violation of the Acceptable Use Policy. The canonical script lives in src/integrations/elevenlabs/agentPrompt.ts in our codebase and is version-controlled; we publish this verbatim text so it can be entered into evidence in any dispute over consent. Every call that triggers the AI is recorded and the recording is retained for the duration of the customer account, providing a per-call evidentiary record that the disclosure was delivered.

You can import contacts into CallBackOrElse, but you must have valid consent records for any contacts you intend to message via SMS. Importing a contact for record-keeping is different from messaging them. You cannot import purchased lists or send messages to contacts who haven't opted in through your business.

Violations of messaging regulations can result in: carrier filtering or blocking of your messages, suspension of your CallBackOrElse messaging capabilities, fines from regulatory bodies, and potential TCPA lawsuits. We take compliance seriously and may suspend accounts that repeatedly violate messaging policies.

Informational (transactional) SMS — such as appointment confirmations, service updates, and scheduling notifications — requires prior express consent from the recipient. Marketing or promotional SMS — such as storm surge blasts promoting business availability, seasonal promotions, or review requests — requires prior express WRITTEN consent under the TCPA. Verbal opt-in during a phone call satisfies the consent requirement for informational messages but does NOT satisfy the written-consent requirement for marketing messages under the E-SIGN Act. Storm mode surge blasts that promote your business's availability to respond are classified as marketing messages and require written consent. CallBackOrElse tracks consent type (verbal vs. written) so you can identify which contacts are eligible for each category.

Yes, if you use CallBackOrElse for outbound calls or SMS campaigns (including storm mode surge blasts). You must scrub your contact lists against the National Do Not Call Registry at least every 31 days. The penalty for calling or texting a registered number is up to $53,088 per violation. The registry has over 258 million registrations. An established business relationship (EBR) exemption exists for 18 months after a customer's last purchase or transaction, but marketing messages still require separate opt-in consent regardless of the EBR exemption. You are also required to maintain your own internal do-not-call list and honor individual do-not-call requests. See our Acceptable Use Policy for additional requirements.