Federal law limits unwanted telemarketing calls in two ways. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act generally bars autodialed or prerecorded calls to cell phones without prior express consent, and do-not-call rules bar most sales calls to numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry. A consumer may revoke consent in any reasonable way.
Most people searching for an unwanted calls attorney have already tried the obvious things. They signed up for the Do Not Call list, answered "STOP" to a text, or asked a live caller to take them off the list, and the calls kept coming anyway. What they want to know now is whether the law actually covers these calls, what the company was supposed to do, and what a consumer can do next. This page walks through the federal rules in that order.
What Federal Law Says About Unwanted Telemarketing Calls
The main federal statute is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or TCPA, at 47 U.S.C. § 227. It covers calls, texts and faxes. It has two parts that matter most here. One restricts calls made with certain equipment or with recorded voices. The other protects people who do not want sales calls at all.
Those two parts work differently. A robocall is a call made with an autodialer or a prerecorded or artificial voice message, as the FCC's consumer guide describes it. A live telemarketing call is made by a person. Robocalls fall mainly under the equipment and recorded-voice rules. Live sales calls fall mainly under the do-not-call rules. Some calls fall under both.
The statute defines an "automatic telephone dialing system," often called an autodialer, in 47 U.S.C. § 227(a)(1). It means "equipment which has the capacity— (A) to store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator; and (B) to dial such numbers."
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) writes and enforces the TCPA rules. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) maintains the National Do Not Call Registry and takes reports of Do Not Call violations under its Telemarketing Sales Rule. Both agencies accept complaints.
Calls and Texts the TCPA Restricts
For most readers, the key line is the cell phone. Under 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A), a company generally may not call a cell phone using an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice unless the call is made for emergency purposes or the person called gave prior express consent.
The same rule reaches a few other kinds of lines. It covers any emergency telephone line, such as a 911 line or a hospital's emergency line; the line of any guest room or patient room in a hospital, health care facility, elderly home or similar place; and any number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call.
Readers who look up the printed statute will still see a clause for calls made solely to collect a debt owed to or backed by the United States. The Supreme Court held that clause invalid and severed it in Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants (No. 19-631, July 6, 2020), so it is not a current exception.
Prior express consent means the called party's agreement, given before the call, to receive it. Whether consent exists depends on the facts, including how the number was given and for what purpose.
Home landlines have their own rule. Under 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(B), a caller generally may not use an artificial or prerecorded voice to deliver a message to a residential line without the called party's prior express consent. The statute's exceptions include calls made for emergency purposes and calls the FCC has exempted by rule or order.
The TCPA also restricts unsolicited fax advertisements under 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(C), but calls and texts are the focus here.
The National Do Not Call Registry and Telemarketing Sales Rules
The Registry is a list of landline and cell phone numbers that legitimate telemarketers agree not to call. According to the FCC's guide, registration is free at donotcall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222 from the number being registered. The FTC's Do Not Call FAQs say a number should show up the next day, but it can take up to 31 days for sales calls to stop.
Registration does not expire. The FTC removes a number only if it is disconnected and reassigned, or if the consumer asks. Under 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(c)(2), a registration must be honored indefinitely, or until the consumer cancels it or the database administrator removes the number.
The same rule bars any person from making a telephone solicitation to a registered residential number. A caller is not liable for such a call if it shows it got the subscriber's prior express invitation or permission in a signed, written agreement that names the number, if the telemarketer has a personal relationship with the recipient, or if the call resulted from error and the caller meets written standards. Those standards include written procedures, staff training, a list of numbers not to call, and use of a Registry version no more than 31 days old.
Some callers are treated differently. A "telephone solicitation" under 47 U.S.C. § 227(a)(4) does not include calls with prior express invitation or permission, calls to someone with whom the caller has an established business relationship, or calls by a tax-exempt nonprofit organization. The FTC notes its rules also allow surveys. The FCC treats political calls under separate rules. The exact scope depends on the rule that applies to a given call.
The Registry does not block calls. As the FTC puts it, being on it "won't stop calls from scammers making illegal calls."
Even without the Registry, 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(c)(1) bars telephone solicitations to a residential subscriber before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., local time. Under 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(d), a company making telemarketing calls must keep its own do-not-call list, honor a request within a reasonable time not to exceed ten business days, and honor it for 5 years.
How Consent Works — and How a Consumer May Revoke It
Consent is often the deciding fact. Under 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1), an autodialed or prerecorded call to a cell phone may be lawful when the called party gave prior express consent, and may violate the statute when they did not.
The kind of consent needed depends on the call. The FCC's guide says a caller needs prior written consent, on paper or electronically, including website forms or a keypress, before a prerecorded telemarketing call to a home or wireless number. Oral or written consent is needed before an autodialed or prerecorded call or text to a wireless number. Commercial texts require written consent; for informational texts, consent may be oral.
Many people who replied STOP and kept getting texts wonder whether the reply counted. Under 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(10), a called party may revoke prior express consent, including prior express written consent, by any reasonable method that clearly says they do not want more calls or texts. Some methods count as reasonable by themselves: an automated or key-press opt-out on a call; replying "stop," "quit," "end," "revoke," "opt out," "cancel" or "unsubscribe" to a text; or using a website or phone number the caller set up for opt-outs. Once a consumer uses one of these, consent is definitively revoked and the caller may not send more robocalls and robotexts.
A text reply in other words must be treated as a revocation if a reasonable person would understand it that way. A revocation made in any reasonable manner must be honored within a reasonable time not to exceed ten business days from receipt. Under the current text, callers covered by the rule may not designate an exclusive means to request revocation.
Under 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(11), other methods, such as a voicemail or email meant to reach the caller, create a rebuttable presumption that consent was revoked once the consumer produces evidence the request was made, absent evidence to the contrary. More on how revocation fits with other privacy rules appears in this site's guide to consumer privacy and call consent.
What the TCPA Makes Potentially Available to Consumers
The statute sets out two separate private actions, each tied to a different set of rules. Whether a particular call violates either one depends on its facts, such as the equipment used, whether consent existed, and whether the number was registered.
For the autodialer and prerecorded-voice rules, 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3) lets a person or entity, if otherwise permitted by the laws or rules of court of a State, bring an action in an appropriate court of that State to enjoin a violation, to recover actual monetary loss or "to receive $500 in damages for each such violation, whichever is greater," or both. If the court finds the violation willful or knowing, it may, in its discretion, increase the award to not more than 3 times that amount.
For the do-not-call rules, 47 U.S.C. § 227(c)(5) applies to a person who has received more than one telephone call within any 12-month period by or on behalf of the same entity in violation of those regulations. That person may, if otherwise permitted by State law or court rules, sue to enjoin the violation, to recover actual monetary loss or "up to $500 in damages for each such violation, whichever is greater," or both. It is an affirmative defense that the defendant established and implemented, with due care, reasonable practices and procedures to prevent such calls. The court may, in its discretion, triple the award if it finds the violation willful or knowing.
These are amounts the statute allows a court to award, not amounts anyone is owed. This site's overview of federal consumer rights remedies compares how other federal statutes set theirs. Calls from a debt collector raise separate rules, covered in the page on a debt collector who keeps calling.
How to File a Complaint with the FTC and FCC
Both agencies take reports, and each handles them its own way. The FCC's guide says a consumer may report illegal calls or texts to the FCC under the "unwanted calls" category and note whether a number is being spoofed, blocked or mislabeled. The FCC does not resolve individual complaints. It uses them to guide policy and possible enforcement under the TCPA or the Truth in Caller ID Act, and may share them with other agencies. The same page notes a consumer may report phone scams or Do Not Call violations to the FTC.
The FTC's Do Not Call FAQs say the FTC gets millions of reports a year and cannot respond to each one. It and other agencies analyze reports to identify and act against those responsible, and it releases reported numbers each business day to carriers working on call blocking. For a sales call from a company the consumer asked to stop, the FTC suggests writing down the date of the request.
Someone who has already reported the same number several times may feel nothing changed. That fits how the system works: a complaint informs the agency, but it is separate from a private legal action and does not itself produce a payment or a promise that calls will stop.
If You'd Like a Consumer Rights Case Review
Unwanted call cases often turn on small details: whether a recorded voice was used, whether consent was ever given, when a STOP reply or do-not-call request was made, and how many calls came from the same company within a year. A consultation can cover the company calling, the call and text logs, screenshots of any opt-out replies, the Registry date and any agency report already filed. This page covers federal law only; state law may add protections that differ from state to state and are not discussed here.
To discuss unwanted calls or texts with an attorney, a reader may request a consumer rights case review through Federal Consumer Rights. Related questions are collected in the consumer law FAQ.
