Business text messaging service: business texting and SMS from your business number
A business text messaging service lets your team send and receive SMS and MMS from your business phone number instead of a personal cell, with a shared inbox so several people can answer the same thread. Phoner includes two-way business texting on the Team plan at $29 per user per month, on the same local or toll-free number you call from, with A2P 10DLC carrier registration handled for you.
Customers read a text in minutes and let a voicemail sit until Thursday. Appointment reminders, on-my-way notices, and quote follow-ups get answered because they arrive as a text from the number the customer already saved, and your whole team can see the reply.
TEXTING ON TEAM · $29/USER/MO · PER USER, NOT PER MESSAGE
Last updated July 2026
01 · Pick your number
02 · Your phone menu
03 · Incoming call
Press a key to answer the menu yourself
Voicemail to text
transcribed · texted to you · 0:42
Call sheet
Today
This number can be yours in about 5 minutes.
Recording consent laws vary by state and country. You are responsible for lawful use.
$29
Per user per month on Team, billed yearly. Texting is included, not a per-message credit
One number
Customers text the same local or toll-free number they already call
Shared inbox
Several teammates see and answer one thread, so nothing gets missed
We file it
A2P 10DLC brand and campaign registration is handled during setup
What a business texting service does that a personal cell cannot
01
One number for calls and texts
The customer texts the same business number they call, and you answer both from one app. No second SMS-only number to publish, and no personal cell in the thread. When someone leaves, the conversation history stays with the company.
02
A shared inbox, not one person's phone
Every teammate on the plan sees the same threads, so a text that lands while one person is at lunch gets answered by whoever is free. Assign a conversation, leave an internal note, and nobody double-replies or lets a message rot for two days.
03
Saved replies for the texts you send all day
The five messages you type twenty times a day, appointment confirmations, hours, directions, a payment link, become one-tap templates. New hires sound like the owner from day one, and the wording stays consistent.
04
MMS, so you can send the thing itself
Send a photo of the part, a PDF quote, or a picture of the finished job, and receive one back. A customer texting a photo of the error code beats a ten-minute call describing it, and it is on the record.
How to set up business text messaging in a few days
Turn texting on for your business number
Business texting lives on the Team plan. Switch it on for the local or toll-free number your customers already have, or pick a new one. There is nothing to install on a wall and no separate texting number to advertise.
Register for A2P 10DLC (we file it)
US carriers require every business to register its brand and campaign before texting on a 10-digit number. We prepare and submit the filing during onboarding. Approval usually takes a few days, so start it before you plan a launch.
Add your team to the shared inbox
Invite the people who answer customers and decide who owns which conversations. Everyone sees the same threads, can be assigned a chat, and can leave notes teammates read but customers never see.
Write the replies you send every day
Save the confirmations, directions, and follow-ups you type constantly as templates. Set an auto-reply for texts that land after hours so a customer knows they were heard and when you will answer.
What US rules require before you text a customer
Business texting in the US runs on a compliance layer most buyers only learn about after a message gets blocked. Know these three before you launch, because they decide whether your texts arrive at all.
A2P 10DLC
US carriers require every business to register its brand and campaign through The Campaign Registry before sending application-to-person SMS on a standard 10-digit number. Unregistered traffic is heavily filtered or blocked.
Source: CTIA / The Campaign Registry
$500 to $1,500
The statutory damages under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for each text sent without the required prior express consent, which is why opt-in records matter.
Source: FCC, Telephone Consumer Protection Act (47 U.S.C. 227)
Toll-free verification
A toll-free number must pass a separate carrier verification before it can send SMS reliably, a different process from 10DLC registration for local numbers.
Source: Somos, Toll-Free Messaging
Per-user texting vs credit-based texting vs a personal cell
The two pricing models in business texting decide your real bill more than any feature does. Here is how the approaches compare on the things that matter to a small team.
| Phoner (per user) | Credit / per-message tools | Personal cell | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $29 per user per month, texting included | A monthly credit bucket, then overage per message | Free, but it is your own number |
| Calls on the same number | Yes, calls and texts on one business line | Usually texting only, no phone system | Yes, but it is personal |
| Shared team inbox | Yes, included on Team | Common on higher tiers | No, one phone, one person |
| MMS (photos, PDFs) | Yes, send and receive | Usually, sometimes at extra cost | Yes |
| A2P 10DLC registration | Filed for you at setup | You complete it in their console | Not registered, so texts get filtered |
| Mass marketing blasts | No, this is 2-way conversation | Yes, this is what they are built for | No |
| Best for | Teams that call and text the same customers | High-volume marketing campaigns | A solo owner texting a handful of clients |
Swipe sideways for the full table
PHONER PRICES ARE OUR PUBLISHED LIST PRICES · CREDIT-TOOL AND CARRIER RANGES ARE TYPICAL US PRICING, RE-VERIFY BEFORE RELYING ON THEM
What this business texting service will not do
Four honest limits. If a page hides these, it is selling you something. Read them before you buy, because one of them may send you to a different kind of tool.
It is two-way conversation, not a mass-marketing blaster
Phoner texting is built for real back-and-forth with customers who called or opted in: confirmations, follow-ups, support. It is not a platform for blasting a 10,000-contact promo list with drip campaigns and segmentation. If bulk marketing is the job, a dedicated SMS marketing tool is the right buy, and we will tell you so.
You have to register before you can text
US carriers require A2P 10DLC brand and campaign registration, and toll-free numbers need separate verification. We file it for you, but approval takes days, not minutes, and there is nothing we can do to skip the carriers' queue. Plan your first texts around it.
Consent is on you, and the law has teeth
You still need the customer's permission to text them, especially for anything promotional. We give you the tools, but we cannot consent on your behalf. The TCPA penalties for texting without it are real, so treat opt-in as a requirement, not a nicety.
No texting on the Starter plan
Business texting starts on Team at $29 per user per month, because it needs the shared inbox and carrier registration that Starter does not include. If you only want a business number to call from, Starter at $15 is enough and you can add texting later.
Who uses a business texting service, and for what
Contractors and trades
On-my-way texts, photos of the finished work, and a payment link, all from the number on the truck. The customer texts back a picture of the problem before the truck rolls.
Contractor phone systemReal estate agents
Showing confirmations and listing details by text, answered between appointments, from the one number on every yard sign instead of a personal cell.
Real estate phone systemRestaurants
Order-ready and reservation texts from the restaurant's own number, so a diner is not waiting on a call they will not pick up in a loud room.
Restaurant phone systemProperty management
Maintenance updates and rent reminders to tenants by text, logged against the property line so any teammate can see the last message.
Property management phone systemInsurance agencies
Policy questions and document requests handled by text, with the whole agency able to see and pick up a client thread.
Insurance agency phone systemSmall businesses
A shop or studio that wants customers to text the business, not an owner's cell, with everyone on the counter able to answer.
Small business phone systemHow texting fits the rest of your phone system
Texting is most useful when it shares a number with everything else. A customer who calls, gets voicemail transcribed to text, and then texts the same line is one conversation, not three. Because the texting inbox and the call routing sit on the same business number, the person who answers the call is the person who sees the text, and a caller never has to explain themselves twice.
The registration step is where most first-timers get stuck, so it is worth understanding before you start. US carriers filter unregistered business SMS, which is why we walk you through A2P 10DLC registration during setup rather than leaving you to a carrier console. If your number is toll-free, it goes through a separate verification, and both are covered in onboarding so your first campaign is not the thing that discovers the problem.
Texting rides on top of the same service as the calls, so the choices you make about the VoIP phone service behind your number, local or toll-free, one line or many, apply to text the same way they apply to voice. If you are still choosing a number, the business phone number guide covers picking one you can both call and text from.
Business text messaging: the questions people search
A business text messaging service lets a company send and receive SMS and MMS from its business phone number, usually through a shared inbox so several employees can answer the same conversation. It separates work texts from a personal cell, keeps the history with the company, and, in the US, handles the A2P 10DLC carrier registration texting requires.
Yes. A business texting service turns your existing local or toll-free number into one that both calls and texts, so customers reach you at a single number. On Phoner this is included on the Team plan at $29 per user per month. US carriers require A2P 10DLC registration first, which we file for you during setup.
Business texting usually costs either per user, around $15 to $30 per user per month, or per message through a monthly credit bucket. Phoner is $29 per user per month on Team with texting included, no per-message credits. Credit-based tools can look cheaper at very low volume but get harder to predict as you scale.
Yes. US carriers require every business to register its brand and a messaging campaign through The Campaign Registry before sending application-to-person SMS on a 10-digit number. Unregistered texts are filtered or blocked. Phoner prepares and submits this filing during onboarding, and approval typically takes a few days.
Yes, and it is the main reason teams stop texting from a personal phone. A shared inbox shows every teammate the same conversations, lets you assign a thread to one person, and supports internal notes customers never see. Whoever is free answers, and nobody replies twice to the same message.
Yes. MMS support lets you send and receive photos, screenshots, and PDFs, so a contractor can send a picture of the finished work and a customer can text back an image of the problem. Phoner supports MMS on the same business number, and the images stay in the shared conversation history.
No. Business texting is two-way conversation with customers who called or opted in: confirmations, support, follow-ups. SMS marketing is one-way bulk promotion to a large list with drip campaigns and segmentation. Phoner is built for the conversational kind. If your goal is mass promotional campaigns, a dedicated SMS marketing platform is the better fit.
Yes, but a toll-free number needs a separate carrier verification before it can send SMS, which is a different process from the 10DLC registration used for local numbers. Once verified, a toll-free line texts the same way. Phoner handles the verification during setup, so a national 800 or 833 number can both call and text.
No. Customers text your business number from their normal phone the same way they text anyone, with no app to download and no keyword to remember. On your side, your team answers from the Phoner app or browser. To the customer it is a plain text conversation with a number they already have saved.
Yes. US law requires prior express consent before you send marketing texts, and the TCPA penalties for texting without it run from $500 to $1,500 per message. A business texting service gives you the tools to collect and honor opt-outs, but the consent itself is your responsibility, so keep clear records of who agreed to be texted.
Keep reading
BP-34
How to get a business text number
The four setup steps, local against toll-free, and the registration that gates it.
How to get a business text numberBT-01
Business texting
The feature detail: shared inbox, templates, MMS, and how it is set up.
Business textingBN-01
Business phone number
Pick a local or toll-free number you can both call and text from.
Business phone numberTX-01 BUSINESS SMS · Your line is open
Text customers from your business number, not your cell
Two-way SMS and MMS on the same number you call from, with a shared team inbox and the carrier registration filed for you. Texting is on Team at $29 per user per month.
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