Your agency's text messages only arrive if it is registered to send them

Mobile carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon) require every organization that sends automated texts to register who it is and what it sends. Since February 2025 they block traffic from anyone who has not. Your agency can get there two ways. eCourtDate handles registration as an approved Campaign Service Provider, or your team builds it on Twilio and owns every step for as long as it runs.

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What carrier registration is

The registry and the carriers apply the same three steps to every organization, from a retailer to a probation department.

  1. 1

    Your agency registers as a brand

    A brand is the registry’s word for a registered sender: your agency’s legal identity, verified before anything else can happen. Every message you send is tied to it.

  2. 2

    You register what you send as a campaign

    A campaign describes the messages themselves, such as court date reminders, payment notices, check-in prompts, and victim notifications. Carriers review it and approve it for sending.

  3. 3

    Carriers assign a sending tier

    Each carrier decides how many messages your agency can send in a day and how quickly they go out. The tier depends on what kind of organization registered, and a verified government agency is placed at the top.

Two ways to get registered

At some point someone in IT will say the texting piece can run on Twilio for next to nothing. Sending a message is the easy part. Keeping a registered messaging operation healthy for years is the job, and one of two teams is going to do it.

Built on Twilio

  • Twilio keeps message logs for a limited period. A records request about a reminder sent three years ago needs its own archive, built and maintained by your agency.
  • Every rejected submission comes back to someone on your staff, who rewrites it and pays for another manual review.
  • Consent, opt-out keywords, quiet hours, and duplicate suppression have to be built, and then kept correct as the rules change.
  • Carriers can filter a message and still report it as delivered. Nobody is watching for that unless your team builds the monitoring.
  • Links go out through a public shortener unless you stand up your own domain for them.
  • Registration rules changed several times through 2026, and each change lands on whoever owns the integration.
  • A general-purpose messaging API is not a CJIS environment and does not run in AWS GovCloud, so the surrounding system has to make up the difference.

On eCourtDate

  • Delivery records are retained for the life of your account, with an audit trail on every message, so a records request is answered from a report.
  • Registration is prepared and filed by eCourtDate. If a submission comes back, we handle the resubmission.
  • Opt-out keywords are honored on every send, and scheduled messages to that person are cancelled automatically.
  • Carrier blocks are monitored and escalated, and affected messages can be resent through an alternate campaign while the issue is resolved.
  • Trackable links run on your agency’s own domain.
  • Rule changes are absorbed by the platform. Nothing on your side needs rebuilding.
  • CJIS compliant, hosted in AWS GovCloud, WCAG 2.2 AA.

Registration is one line item in a larger build. See Build or Buy for the rest.

The tier worth getting right

The registry places every sender in a tier that sets how much it can send and how fast. Commercial brands start at the bottom and pay a third party to vet them upward. A verified government agency is placed at the top.

Getting that status confirmed is where do-it-yourself registrations stall. Submissions fail on details most agencies have no reason to know, and a rejection sends the agency to the back of the queue. eCourtDate registers justice agencies every week.

Top Carrier Tier

A verified government agency receives the highest message class on AT&T and uncapped daily volume on T-Mobile, across every use case. Commercial senders start at the bottom tier and pay to climb.

No Vetting to Buy

Commercial brands pay a third party to vet them into higher tiers. Government status carries that placement on its own, so there is nothing for your agency to purchase.

Registered as a Justice Agency

Every eCourtDate customer is a justice agency. Government registration is the only path we run, where on a generic API it is an exception in documentation written for commercial senders.

Who does what, and how long it takes

Registration is part of onboarding. Your agency is not filing anything with the registry or the carriers, and there is nothing to resubmit on your side.

Your agency provides

  • A few identity details about your agency.
  • A confirmation of what you plan to send.

eCourtDate does

  • Prepares and files your brand and campaign under our Campaign Service Provider connection.
  • Handles anything the registry or a carrier sends back.
  • Assigns your numbers, or ports the ones you already use, and completes the carrier setup around them.
  • Monitors deliverability once you are live.
Agency verification
Usually within an hour
Campaign approval
5 to 15 business days
While you wait
Build templates and automations and run them in a test mode that sends nothing

Proof points

10,000+

Courts and justice locations run the platform

24

States with deployments

50%

Maximum reduction in failure to appear (FTA)

100+

Languages supported out of the box

The Campaign Registry, which carriers use to register senders, lists eCourtDate publicly as an approved Campaign Service Provider: a platform cleared to register and send on behalf of many organizations. eCourtDate is CJIS compliant and runs in AWS GovCloud, and your IT team can verify each claim in our security documentation.

Guides for agencies on the platform

The step-by-step process, the forms, and the troubleshooting live in the help center and the technical wiki, where they stay current.

Complete Carrier Registration

What to expect at each stage of registering your agency and its first campaign.

Help center

Texting Campaign Best Practices

Campaign planning for agencies on the platform: how many campaigns to run and how to keep them healthy.

Help center

Carrier Registration Reference

Number types, campaign structure, throughput, and porting, written for technical staff.

Technical wiki

For consent and opt-in requirements, see Opt-in Compliance. To register or port numbers, contact us.

Carrier registration questions, answered

What administrators, IT directors, and partners ask before choosing how to register.

Does our agency have to register to send text messages?
Yes. Since February 2025, mobile carriers block automated text traffic from any organization that has not registered, whatever its size or purpose. An unregistered reminder does not arrive.
Can we build this ourselves on Twilio?
You can, and some agencies have. Twilio will send the message. Registering, and then keeping the registration healthy, is the ongoing work: the resubmissions after a rejection, consent and opt-out handling, log retention long enough to answer a records request, a link domain of your own, number porting, and a rebuild when carrier rules change. On eCourtDate that work is already done, inside a platform that is CJIS compliant and hosted in AWS GovCloud.
What does registering as a government agency get us?
Placement in the top throughput tier on the major carriers, across every use case, with no third-party vetting to buy. Commercial senders start at the bottom tier and pay to move up.
Who does the registration work?
eCourtDate does. Your agency provides a few identity details and confirms what it plans to send. We prepare and file the registration under our Campaign Service Provider connection, handle anything that comes back, and set up your numbers, including dedicated registrations, special use cases, exemption requests, and number porting.
How long until we can send?
Agency verification usually completes within an hour. Campaign approval takes 5 to 15 business days, and live text messages cannot go out while it is pending. During that time your team can build templates and automations and run them in a test mode that sends nothing, so the first live message goes out the day the campaign is approved.
What does carrier registration cost?
The carriers and The Campaign Registry set the fees, and they change over time. Expect a one-time registration fee, a recurring campaign fee, and per-message carrier surcharges, with a short code adding a recurring lease. Plan for them as a first-year line item, and contact us for the current amounts for your agency.
What happens when a carrier filters a message anyway?
Carriers can filter a message without returning an error, and the delivery report can still read as delivered. eCourtDate monitors for carrier blocks, notifies your agency, and can resend the affected messages through an alternate campaign while the issue is resolved. Contact validation also moves landline numbers to a voice call before a text fails against them.
Do we need a short code?
Most agencies do not. A local number covers the majority of justice agency messaging, supports two-way replies, and shows a local area code. Short codes suit very high volume, take considerably longer to provision, and cost more.
Can we keep the phone number we already use?
Yes. Local numbers, toll-free numbers, and short codes can all be ported to eCourtDate, with no downtime during the transfer. Carrier registration has to be complete before a number is eligible to port. The help center covers the paperwork.
Does each of our courts or departments need its own registration?
Yes. Each eCourtDate agency registers as its own brand, so a county with several courts and departments, or a state office covering multiple jurisdictions, plans one registration per agency. Our team helps sequence a multi-agency rollout.
We deploy eCourtDate for agencies as a partner. Is registration handled for each one?
Yes. Each agency you deploy registers as its own brand under eCourtDate’s Campaign Service Provider connection, and eCourtDate does the filing. Your team does not register anything or hold a registration on an agency’s behalf. For a rollout covering several agencies, our team sequences the registrations with you so each goes live on schedule.

See it running for an agency like yours

Get a demo tailored to your agency, including how registration is handled on day 1.

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