Why does my phone number say SMS is disabled, and how do I turn on texting?

Every phone number you buy shows SMS is disabled until it is assigned to an approved plan. In the US the phone carriers require every business that sends SMS to register its brand (your company) and its campaign (how you will use SMS). This is called 10DLC or A2P registration, and there is no way around it. It is only needed for texting: phone calls, email and social media work immediately.

1. Go to Settings, then Phone, and open the SMS / 10DLC tab. Create a plan.
2. Enter your company information and contact information: legal entity name, EIN and address. Most people register with their LLC or company. Registering as an individual may be possible, but it is uncommon.
3. In step 3, the plan or campaign details, choose your use case, describe the messages you will send, review the sample messages, say whether messages contain links, add your privacy policy link and describe how people give consent.
4. Review the opt-in, opt-out and help messages and click Continue to the page that shows the cost.
5. Submit.
6. When both your brand and your plan are approved, go to the phone section, change the number from disabled and pick your approved plan from the drop-down list. The plan only appears in the list once both approvals are done.

You fill this out once. One approved plan can be used with up to 49 phone numbers, so you do not repeat the process for every number.

Prepare your website before you submit, because fixing a rejection can take weeks. See the related answers on use cases, consent, the privacy policy and costs.