Which numbers can text Canadian mobiles?
Verified toll-free numbers. Canada has no 10DLC registry, and Canadian carriers filter business texts from ordinary numbers heavily, so Textually sends to Canadian recipients from toll-free numbers that have passed toll-free verification.
We verify each toll-free number for you as part of setup. A Canadian business gives its Business Number (BN); a Canadian sole proprietor can be verified without one. Verification typically takes one to two weeks, and there is no fee for it. A verified toll-free number can text both Canadian and US mobiles.
Each toll-free number is $12 a month. Teams that text both countries often use local 10DLC numbers for US leads and a toll-free number for Canadian ones; more in 10DLC registration, done for you.
What does CASL require for a business text?
Consent, identification and a working unsubscribe. A commercial text to a Canadian needs express or implied consent, must name the sender with contact details, and must let the person unsubscribe, honored within 10 business days.
- Express consent lasts until the person withdraws it. Implied consent lasts two years after a purchase and six months after an inquiry.
- A text can’t be used to ask for consent: get it on a form, at the counter or on a call, then text.
- CASL covers US businesses texting Canadians too, because the phone that receives the text is in Canada.
The CASL guide reads the Act section by section for texts, with the exemptions and penalties. It is not legal advice.
How does Textually handle the rules for Canadian leads?
The same checks run on every text, wherever the lead lives. Canadian leads get the French opt-out words too.
- Consent first. A text step skips a lead with no consent record (where and when they agreed), unless you confirm consent for the whole campaign at launch.
- The opt-out line goes on every text until the person writes back.
- STOP and ARRET end texts to that person at once, well inside the 10 business days CASL allows. HELP and AIDE get your business name and how to reach you.
- Local sending hours. With each lead’s local time on (the default for new campaigns), texts go out in your sending hours on the lead’s own clock, read from the area code, from Newfoundland to British Columbia.