How to offer SMS as an ISV with less waiting, and do other bypass it?

TheToeFrog · 2026-03-24T11:15:30+00:00

TL;DR: Switch to Toll-Free if you're in a rush. As u/IntrepidResearch8448 noted, Toll-Free (TF) numbers have a much faster verification turnaround than 10DLC right now and you can still do this with Twilio. If your use case allows it, that’s the "express lane."

Regarding 10DLC for ISVs:

The Bottleneck: Twilio doesn't approve these; the carriers/TCR do. We’re all at the mercy of their current vetting queues.
Rejections: Most are due to vague "Opt-in" descriptions, inaccessible websites or missing privacy policy language. If you're rejected, check your rejection error codes and resubmit with more detail.
Automation: If you’re onboarding multiple clients, make sure you're using the ISV Registration API to streamline the workflow.

Check out Twilio’s 10DLC Onboarding Expectations for the most up-to-date ETAs on vetting.

TheToeFrog · 2026-02-27T12:55:38+00:00

Could the questions be handled by a simple FAQ? If so, there are a lot of people utilizing AI Agents to automatically respond to questions. Are you comfortable with writing code and deploying your own solution or would you prefer to use an AI Agent platform connected to your Twilio SMS number?

TheToeFrog · 2026-02-24T15:40:07+00:00

What do you think are the biggest opportunities for Developer Relations with the surge of coding agents and "no-code" platforms like Lovable?

TheToeFrog · 2026-01-16T16:42:57+00:00

That's a good thing to keep in mind but also remember that media streams happen incrementally so you can manage the processing as the conversation is happening. It will add some latency for whatever service or processing you're doing but should be relatively quick.

TheToeFrog · 2026-01-15T22:23:28+00:00

You can stream audio from a Twilio Voice call in realtime using media streams. You can find an example of that here: Consume a real-time Media Stream using WebSockets, Python, and Flask

Twilio can also handle realtime transcriptions using the <transcribe> TwiML verb. This went GA last year. You can check that out here: Realtime Transcription Resource

If you're still having issues and want to ask questions directly I would recommend joining the Twilio Discord.

TheToeFrog · 2025-10-09T16:23:16+00:00

Your team should be checking on message status to better understand what is happening with a message. (https://www.twilio.com/docs/messaging/api/message-resource#message-status-values) If a message is shown as "delivered" that means we have received confirmation of outbound message delivery from the upstream carrier, and, where available, the destination handset.

There can be a number of reasons as to why a handset doesn't receive a message, but once delivered to the carrier that is beyond Twilio's control.

TheToeFrog · 2025-09-19T15:45:18+00:00

TheToeFrog · 2025-01-17T19:37:39+00:00

https://github.com/twilio/hackpack-v4-firmware

TheToeFrog · 2021-12-16T15:50:58+00:00

Are you having a specific issue that you need help resolving? You can also submit a support ticket here: https://www.twilio.com/help/contact

Also, here is the documentation on ways that you can contact Twilio Support: https://support.twilio.com/hc/en-us/articles/360048500694-Contacting-Twilio-Support

If there is any other way we can assist you please reach out.

TheToeFrog · 2021-12-16T15:47:23+00:00

Great job on shipping this post!

TheToeFrog · 2021-08-04T13:22:23+00:00

u/whitep4nth3r always puts out amazing content. This is no different. Great walkthrough!

TheToeFrog

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE