Toll-free opt-out language is appended for you, and billed
The requirementstatement
On toll-free traffic, expect the carrier to append opt-out language to outbound messages — it is billable, cannot be removed and can only be shortened.
- Severityseverity
- MediumMEDIUMUsually survives review, but lowers your trust score or invites a manual look you would rather avoid.
- When it bitesphase
- After you are livepostFalls due once you are sending: STOP handling, quiet hours, suppression, record retention.
- What is checkedobject
- outbound toll-free message bodies
- Where it liveslayer
- OperationalOPERATIONAL
- How Ekas settles itdetectability
- Post-submissionUNDETECTABLE_PRE_SUBMISSION
- The subject does not exist yet at submission time: a reply window, an expiring PIN, a queue position. Reported with its deadline.
- What the fix involvesfailureClass
- Wait on someone elseTERMINAL_EXTERNAL
- Needs an external system or a waiting period, such as IRS propagation, a vetting result, or a carrier queue.
- Who requires itauthorities
- AT&T
- When it appliesapplicabilityText
- Applies to every 10DLC registration.
Why this rule existsrationale
How to fix itremediation
Size toll-free message bodies leaving room for the appended text, and include your own short opt-out line so the appended version is shortened rather than added in full. Done when a representative message still fits one segment after the append.
A compliant exampleexample
Body written to ~120 characters on toll-free, with "Reply STOP to end" already present.
Check this yourselfattestation
No tool can settle this one for you. Here is the check, and what wrong looks like.
Does a representative message still fit one segment after the carrier appends its opt-out language?
- 1Measure a real delivered message on a handset, not the body you submitted — the append is only visible there and on the invoice.
- 2Include your own short opt-out line so the appended version is shortened rather than added in full.
- 3Size bodies leaving room for it.
What wrong looks like: A body sized to 160 characters becomes two segments and the bill doubles with no change on your side. Nothing in the sending API mentions it, so the search for the fault starts in your own templates.
Notesnotes
Rules you will hit next
Other operational rules at the same severity. A registration is judged as a whole, not rule by rule.
OPS-074 is one of 139 operational rules in the 915-rule 10DLC registry. Free to cite under CC BY 4.0.