TCPA

TCPA is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the 1991 US federal law that restricts automated calls and text messages: calls made with an autodialer or a prerecorded or artificial voice, texts sent the same way, and telemarketing to numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry. Marketing messages need the consumer’s prior express consent, written consent for the most restricted kinds, and every sender must honor a stop request.

Key facts

• Under the TCPA, a recipient can recover actual loss or $500 per violation, whichever is greater, and up to three times that for willful or knowing violations. (Source: 47 U.S.C. § 227 (govinfo), checked Oct 17, 2026)
• No telephone solicitation to a residential subscriber before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., local time at the called party’s location. (Source: eCFR – 47 CFR 64.1200, checked Oct 17, 2026)
• A request to stop calls or texts must be honored within a reasonable time, no more than 10 business days. (Source: eCFR – 47 CFR 64.1200, checked Oct 17, 2026)
• In February 2024 the FCC confirmed that AI-generated voices count as an “artificial or prerecorded voice” under the TCPA (FCC 24-17). (Source: FCC Declaratory Ruling FCC 24-17, checked Oct 17, 2026)

What the TCPA covers

The law itself is section 227 of title 47 of the US Code, and the FCC’s rules under it are in 47 CFR 64.1200. The main restrictions:

• Calls to mobile phones. A call made with an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice to a cell phone needs the called party’s prior express consent unless it is an emergency call. If the call is telemarketing, the FCC’s rules generally require prior express written consent.
• Prerecorded calls to home lines. A call to a residential line that uses an artificial or prerecorded voice needs prior express consent, and written consent when it advertises or telemarkets, with a short list of exemptions in the FCC’s rules.
• Texts. The FCC’s rules ban autodialed texts to a mobile phone without the owner’s prior consent, except for emergencies. Commercial texts need written consent; for informational texts, oral consent can be enough.
• Telemarketing hours and Do Not Call. No telephone solicitation to a home before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., local time at the called party’s location, and none to a number on the National Do Not Call Registry. The law’s definition of a telephone solicitation leaves out calls made with the person’s prior invitation or permission, calls to someone the caller has an established business relationship with, and calls by tax-exempt nonprofits.
• Fax advertising. Unsolicited advertisements sent to a fax machine are restricted as well.

What counts as an autodialer

The statute defines an automatic telephone dialing system as equipment with the capacity to store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator, and to dial them. In Facebook v. Duguid (2021), the Supreme Court held that a device must have that random-or-sequential capacity to qualify. The case was about Facebook’s login alert texts, sent to numbers it had stored, and that system did not count as an autodialer.

The voice rules do not depend on the dialer. A call that plays a prerecorded or artificial voice is covered however it was dialed, and in February 2024 the FCC confirmed in a declaratory ruling that AI technologies that generate human voices fall under the TCPA’s restrictions on artificial or prerecorded voices.

Consent, and taking it back

The FCC’s rules define prior express written consent as a signed written agreement that names the phone number and clearly authorizes the seller to deliver advertisements or telemarketing using an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice. The agreement must say plainly that the person does not have to sign it as a condition of buying anything. An electronic signature counts where federal or state law recognizes it, so a website form or a keypress can serve.

Consent can be revoked in any reasonable way. Under the FCC’s rules, replying “stop,” “quit,” “end,” “revoke,” “opt out,” “cancel” or “unsubscribe” to a text revokes it, and so does using a call’s automated opt-out or the website or number the sender set up for opt-outs. A sender may not insist on one exclusive method, and must honor a revocation within a reasonable time, no more than ten business days. One confirmation text with no marketing in it is allowed after the request.

Penalties

The TCPA lets the person who received the call or text sue. For a violation of the autodialer and prerecorded-voice rules, the recipient can recover their actual loss or $500 per violation, whichever is greater, and a court can raise that to as much as three times the amount when the violation was willful or knowing. Do Not Call violations carry their own claim, up to $500 per violation, for a person who got more than one such call within 12 months made by or on behalf of the same entity. The FCC can also impose its own forfeitures. Each call or text counts separately, and these claims are often brought as class actions.

Why it matters for a service company

You want to text customers: a confirmation of the appointment they just booked, a “tech is twenty minutes out” text, and perhaps a spring tune-up offer to last year’s customers. The law treats those differently. A message about the customer’s own appointment, sent because they contacted you, is transactional or informational; that kind of message is generally permitted on the consent the customer gave by handing you their number and asking for service. A promotional text to the same number is marketing, and marketing needs prior express written consent, a clear way to opt out, and a record of both.

Several states have added their own telemarketing laws with different hours, consent and registry rules, and those lists change. This page explains the federal law in general terms and is not legal advice. Confirm your own texting program with counsel before you send anything promotional. The TCPA compliance checklist walks through consent, calling hours, opt-outs and records for a service business.

On DispatchLine, the AI receptionist answers calls your customers place to you and texts only booking confirmations, to callers who said yes on the call, never marketing; SMS compliance has the details.

Related terms

• A2P 10DLC, carrier registration for business texting from local numbers
• Robocall, the calls the same law restricts
• One-party consent, the separate rules for recording a call
• Guides: TCPA consent, SMS compliance and the site’s SMS terms

Sources: 47 U.S.C. § 227, 47 CFR 64.1200, Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid, the FCC’s declaratory ruling on AI-generated voices (FCC 24-17) and its consumer guide Stop Unwanted Robocalls and Texts.