Marketing texts need their own prior express written consent under the TCPA, a stricter bar than the Do Not Call exemption that covers a live phone call to a past customer (covered in full on our reactivation guide). A one-time checkbox for calls doesn't automatically clear a customer for texts. Once consent exists, a customer can revoke it through any reasonable wording, not just the word "STOP", and a marketing text can only go out between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the recipient's own time zone. That's the law. Separately, and just as often missed, mobile carriers enforce their own rulebook, the CTIA's Messaging Principles, through registration and filtering, not litigation. A text that's fully legal can still never arrive if the sending number isn't registered under the carriers' A2P 10DLC system. Two different systems, both have to pass.
By the numbers
- $500 per violation, up to $1,500 if a court finds it willful or knowing. That's the TCPA's own statutory damage range for an illegal call or text, set in the statute itself, not a plaintiff's estimate, and it applies per message. GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTED
- The FCC's one-to-one consent rule was vacated January 24, 2025, three days before its January 27 effective date. A federal appeals court ruled the FCC had exceeded its authority by narrowing what counts as valid consent beyond what the statute itself supports. The rule never took effect. GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTED
- An opt-out counts if the intent is clear, not just if the customer typed "STOP." The FCC's 2024 order confirmed that words like "quit," "cancel," "unsubscribe," or "remove me" all count as a valid revocation, and a business has to honor whichever one arrives. GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTED
- 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., in the recipient's own time zone. That's the calling-hours window the TCPA sets for telephone solicitations, and courts and regulators apply the same window to marketing texts. GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTED
- Unregistered business texting traffic has been blocked outright by U.S. carriers since February 2025. That's a carrier registration requirement (A2P 10DLC, run through The Campaign Registry), not a law, so it doesn't show up in a TCPA search, but it decides whether a legal text actually reaches a phone. INDEPENDENT RESEARCH
Two separate systems, and both have to pass
"Is this legal?" is only half the question. A text can clear every TCPA requirement and still never reach the customer, because carriers run their own, separate rulebook.
| What the law requires (TCPA / FCC) | What carriers require on top (CTIA / A2P 10DLC) | |
|---|---|---|
| Consent | Prior express written consent for a marketing text, separate from any consent to call | Not itself a consent rule, but campaigns get vetted at registration and unusual consent claims get flagged |
| Opt-out | Honor any reasonably clear revocation, not only the word "STOP" | STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE and CANCEL must all be supported by the sending platform; one plain confirmation reply is allowed, no further marketing after it |
| Timing | 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the recipient's local time zone | Same quiet-hours window is also a carrier filtering trigger, independent of the legal requirement |
| Before you can send at all | No federal pre-registration requirement | Brand and campaign registration with The Campaign Registry (A2P 10DLC); unregistered traffic is blocked outright |
| Content | No content restriction beyond general consumer-protection law | Certain categories (debt collection, get-rich-quick offers, unlicensed gambling, and similar) face extra vetting or an outright block |
This is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm current requirements, and your SMS provider's own registration status, against the sources below before a campaign goes out.
Getting a local service business text-compliant, in order
- Register the sending number. Brand and campaign registration through your SMS provider, under the carriers' A2P 10DLC system, before the first message goes out. This is a carrier requirement, not a legal one, but it decides whether anything downstream even arrives.
- Write a real opt-in, not a buried checkbox. The consent language should say plainly what a customer is agreeing to receive, at roughly what frequency, and that consent isn't a condition of doing business with you.
- Separate marketing from transactional messages. A missed-call text-back or an appointment reminder runs on a lighter consent standard than a promotional offer. The moment a message includes a discount code or a sales pitch, it's marketing, and needs the stricter written consent.
- Set up STOP and HELP handling, and keep the confirmation plain. A single confirmation reply after an opt-out is allowed. Anything promotional in that reply defeats the point of the opt-out.
- Log every consent, and keep the record. A dispute gets decided by what a business can produce, not by what it remembers. The date, the exact language shown, and how the customer opted in all belong in that record, not just a checked box in a database somewhere.
Three real doubts about running SMS in-house
No. Consent to call a past customer runs on the Telemarketing Sales Rule's Do Not Call exemption. Consent to text runs on the TCPA's prior express written consent requirement, a separate and stricter standard. An old calling relationship doesn't carry over to texts automatically.
Depends entirely on the wording. A checkbox that's clear, unchecked by default, and states what the customer is signing up for can work. A checkbox bundled into a general terms-of-service agreement, with no specific texting disclosure, usually doesn't meet the "clear and conspicuous" bar regulators and courts expect.
You can, for a one-off reply to a real inquiry. What you can't do at any volume is run an ongoing marketing campaign from a personal number: it isn't registered under A2P 10DLC, so carriers will eventually filter or block it, and it doesn't have the logging and opt-out handling that keeps you on the right side of the consent rules above.
Questions we get
Frequently asked questions
Do I need separate consent for texts if I already have consent to call a customer?
Yes. Calling a past customer can fall under the Telemarketing Sales Rule's established business relationship exemption. Texting them for marketing purposes needs its own prior express written consent under the TCPA, a distinct and stricter requirement. One doesn't substitute for the other.
What happened to the FCC's one-to-one consent rule?
It was vacated by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals on January 24, 2025, three days before it was due to take effect. The court found the FCC had exceeded its statutory authority by narrowing the legal definition of consent beyond what the TCPA itself supports. As of this writing, the rule never took effect and consent standards reverted to the prior framework.
What counts as a valid opt-out under current rules?
Any reasonably clear request to stop. The FCC's 2024 order confirmed that words like "quit," "cancel," "unsubscribe," or "remove me" all count, not only the word "STOP." A business has to honor whichever wording a customer actually uses.
What are quiet hours for text marketing?
8 a.m. to 9 p.m., measured in the recipient's own time zone, not the sender's. That window comes from the TCPA's telemarketing calling-hours rule, which regulators and courts apply to marketing texts as well as calls.
Why would a fully legal text still not arrive?
Because carriers run a separate system from the law. Mobile carriers require A2P 10DLC brand and campaign registration through The Campaign Registry before they'll reliably deliver business texting traffic, and unregistered traffic has been blocked outright since February 2025. A text can satisfy every TCPA requirement and still get filtered for failing a carrier rule that has nothing to do with the law.
What's the real cost of getting this wrong?
The TCPA sets statutory damages of $500 per violation, rising to $1,500 if a court finds the violation willful or knowing, and each individual text counts as its own violation. A single unregistered or non-consented campaign sent to a full customer list can add up fast, independent of any carrier-level blocking on top of it.
Sources
- Insurance Marketing Coalition Ltd. v. FCC, No. 24-10277 (11th Cir. Jan. 24, 2025): the decision vacating the FCC's one-to-one consent rule, two days before its scheduled effective date.
- Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3) and § 227(c)(5): the statutory $500-to-$1,500-per-violation damage range for an illegal call or text.
- Federal Communications Commission, Report and Order on Consent Revocation (FCC 24-24, 2024): the "any reasonable means" opt-out standard and the single-confirmation-text allowance, cross-checked across multiple independent legal summaries of the same order since direct access to the FCC's own site is blocked in this environment.
- CTIA, Messaging Principles and Best Practices: the carrier-enforced quiet-hours window, STOP/HELP handling requirements, and restricted content categories, cross-checked across multiple independent compliance write-ups of the same industry document.
- The Campaign Registry / CTIA A2P 10DLC framework: the brand-and-campaign registration requirement and the February 2025 carrier enforcement date for unregistered traffic, cross-checked across multiple independent industry sources.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. Telemarketing, consent, and carrier registration rules change; confirm current requirements, and your own SMS provider's registration status, before a campaign goes out. Several primary regulator and carrier sources (fcc.gov, ctia.org) could not be fetched directly in this environment, so the facts above were cross-checked across multiple independent secondary sources that each cite the same underlying rulings and documents consistently.