Do Not Call List for Cell Phone: Register, Report, Sue

You can add your cell phone to the National Do Not Call Registry for free at donotcall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222 from the phone you want to register. Registration takes about two minutes, never expires, and applies to cell phones and landlines through the same list. Legitimate telemarketers have 31 days after your number appears on the registry to stop calling.¹

How to Register Your Cell Phone

Two methods, both free.

Online: go to donotcall.gov, enter your 10-digit cell number twice, and provide a valid email address. The system emails you a confirmation link that you must click within 72 hours or the registration doesn’t finalize. You can add up to three numbers at once.²

By phone: call 1-888-382-1222 from the cell phone you want to register. The system reads the number automatically, so there’s no email step. TTY users can call 1-866-290-4236.²

Your registration stays active permanently. The FTC only removes a number if the line is disconnected and reassigned, or if you ask to have it taken off.² One catch worth knowing up front: unwanted telemarketing calls during your first 31 days on the list aren’t violations, because that grace window is built into the rule.¹

Checking Whether Your Number Is Already Registered

If you signed up years ago and can’t remember, verify at donotcall.gov/verify. Enter up to three phone numbers and an email address, and the system emails back each number’s status. Check spam if it doesn’t arrive within a few minutes.³

What the Registry Actually Covers

The registry applies to telemarketing, meaning calls whose purpose is to sell you something. The underlying statute, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, also independently bars autodialed and prerecorded calls to cell phones without your prior consent.⁴

There is no separate cell phone list. The FTC’s database doesn’t even track whether a number is mobile or landline; every number goes on the same list.⁵

Text Messages Count

The FCC has confirmed that text messages qualify as “calls” under the TCPA, so marketing texts to a registered number carry the same consequences as marketing calls.⁶

If You Gave Written Consent, the Registry Doesn’t Block Those Calls

Companies you signed a written agreement with can still call you. The agreement has to include your phone number and signature, and electronic signatures on online forms count. You can revoke consent at any time, and once you do, the company must stop.⁷

Calls That Are Still Legal After You Register

Several categories of callers fall outside the registry’s reach. Reporting them won’t help, because they aren’t breaking any rules.

Political campaigns, PACs, and political surveyors.
Charitable fundraising calls from nonprofits.⁸
Genuine surveys and market research that don’t try to sell you anything.
Informational calls, like a fraud alert from your bank, a prescription reminder from your pharmacy, or a flight change from your airline.

Companies you’ve done business with also get a window. A business where you made a purchase within the last 18 months, or submitted an inquiry within the last three months, can keep calling. Tell them to stop and that established-relationship exception ends immediately.⁹

Why You Still Get Unwanted Calls

The registry works by telling law-abiding companies which numbers to avoid. It doesn’t block anything technically. Scammers and offshore robocall operations ignore the list because they’re already breaking the law, and one more violation doesn’t matter to them.¹⁰

Most robocalls today spoof the caller ID, displaying a fake number that looks local or looks like a real business. The number on your screen usually has no connection to the actual caller. Reporting still helps, because the FTC uses the data to spot patterns even when individual numbers are fake.2

To attack spoofing directly, the FCC requires carriers to use a verification framework called STIR/SHAKEN, which checks whether a call really originates from the number shown. Calls that fail verification can be flagged or blocked automatically.¹¹

How to Report Illegal Calls and Texts

Once your number has been registered for at least 31 days, you can report violations at donotcall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222. Detail matters: the date and time, the number that showed on caller ID, whether it was a live person or a recording, and what the caller was selling.¹²

For spam texts, forward the message to 7726 (SPAM on most keypads). Your carrier uses those reports to block the sender across its network. There’s no charge to text 7726.

Don’t expect a personal response. The FTC uses complaint data in bulk to build cases against the worst offenders, not to resolve individual calls.

Penalties and Your Right to Sue

The FTC can fine telemarketers up to $50,120 per illegal call.²

You can also sue. Under the TCPA, a company that autodials or uses a prerecorded message to your cell phone without consent owes $500 per call in damages, and a court can triple that to $1,500 per call for willful violations.⁴

For Do Not Call Registry violations specifically, you need more than one illegal call from the same company within a 12-month period before you can file a private lawsuit. Damages are up to $500 per call (the court has discretion to award less), and willful violations can still be tripled to a $1,500 ceiling.⁴

Blocking Tools to Pair With the Registry

The registry is a baseline, not a shield. Most carriers offer free or low-cost call filtering: AT&T ActiveArmor, T-Mobile ScamShield, and Verizon Call Filter. These work alongside STIR/SHAKEN verification to catch calls the registry can’t touch.¹³

Your phone has options built in. iPhone’s “Silence Unknown Callers” sends anyone not in your contacts to voicemail. Google Pixel’s “Call Screen” makes callers identify themselves before your phone rings. Third-party apps like Nomorobo, Hiya, and YouMail add another filtering layer.¹³

1
Federal Trade Commission. National Do Not Call Registry
2
Consumer Advice. National Do Not Call Registry FAQs
3
Federal Trade Commission. Verify a Registration
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 47 USC 227 – Restrictions on Use of Telephone Equipment
5
Federal Trade Commission. The Do Not Call Registry
6
Federal Register. Targeting and Eliminating Unlawful Text Messages, Implementation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act
7
Federal Trade Commission. QA for Telemarketers and Sellers About DNC Provisions in TSR
8
eCFR. 16 CFR 310.6 – Exemptions
9
eCFR. 16 CFR 310.4 – Abusive Telemarketing Acts or Practices
10
Consumer Advice. National Do Not Call Registry FAQsa>
11
Federal Communications Commission. Combating Spoofed Robocalls with Caller ID Authentication
12
USAGov. Complain About Phone and Text Scams, Robocalls, and Telemarketers
13
Federal Communications Commission. Call Blocking Tools and Resources